About This
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Validity &
Reliability
Understanding
Your Report
Taking Action On
Your Results
KnowlEDGE
for Leaders
Interpreting Your
Assessment Results
About This
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Validity &
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About this
Assessment
KnowlEDGE for Leaders will help you identify your strengths as well
as any needs you might have for further leadership development. It
measures what you know about effective leadership in several important
areas using multiple-choice questions. You’ll be able to see, in black and
white, whether you know the most effective leadership behaviors in
these critical skill areas.
This assessment is very important in helping you build on your identified
strengths and allowing you to focus your development efforts on those
areas where you have the greatest need.
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Tasks
The term “leadership” covers quite a number of tasks, skills, and behaviors
that are important in dealing with the people you supervise in a workplace.
In developing KnowlEDGE for Leaders, we identified the most critically
important skill areas, and grouped these skills into the tasks we measure with
this assessment test.
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Coaching & Counseling
Communicating Effectively
Influence & Negotiation
Managing Change
Performance Management
Setting Goals and Standards
Managing Conflict
Problem Solving & Decision Making
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Tasks
Coaching & Counseling
Providing an employee with feedback on his or her present job
performance; counseling an employee who has unsatisfactory job
behaviors; taking disciplinary action or invoking a consequence for an
employee’s behavior; one-on-one training with an employee to teach a
new task; giving positive feedback to employees
Communicating Effectively
Effective oral communications; conducting meetings; giving presentations
Influence & Negotiation
Persuading and influencing employees; negotiating with an employee in
order to reach agreement
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Tasks
Managing Change
Helping employees deal effectively with change
Managing Conflict
Dealing with employee complaints, grievances, and conflicts on the job
Performance Management
Giving work assignments; delegating; managing time; conducting
performance appraisals
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Tasks
Problem Solving & Decision Making
Working with employees to identify problem causes and apply solutions;
analyzing information to make effective decisions
Setting Goals and Standards
Establishing measurable objectives when planning; creating job
performance standards for employees
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Perception
vs. Knowledge
There are two major types of assessment tests:
perception-based and knowledge-based.
A perception test measures how you see yourself and/or how
others see you.
A knowledge test tells you what you know or don’t know.
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Perception Test
The EDGE360 for Leaders is an example of a perception-based assessment.
Using the EDGE360, raters (including yourself, your direct supervisor, your
direct reports, your peers, and customers) read a behavior statement and then
assess how frequently you exhibit that behavior on the job.
For example The person being assessed . . .
Asks open-ended questions to
gather more information.
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Almost Always
Usually
Often
Sometimes
Not Usually
Almost Never
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Knowledge Test
A knowledge test such as KnowlEDGE for Leaders uses multiplechoice questions or similar techniques to measure what you actually
know and don’t know about the tasks being assessed.
For example You’ve just gone over some new procedures with one of your employees
and want to find out what the employee thinks about the changes. Which
of the following questions is likely to gain the most information?
A. “Does this sound okay to you?”
B. “What problems do you see with these procedures?”
C. “Am I overlooking any problems with these new procedures?”
D. “Do you see any problems with these procedural changes?”
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Knowledge Test
A knowledge test such as KnowlEDGE for Leaders uses multiplechoice questions or similar techniques to measure what you actually
know and don’t know about the tasks being assessed.
For example You’ve just gone over some new procedures with one of your employees
and want to find out what the employee thinks about the changes. Which
of the following questions is likely to gain the most information?
A. “Does this sound okay to you?”
B. “What problems do you see with these procedures?”
C. “Am I overlooking any problems with these new procedures?”
D. “Do you see any problems with these procedural changes?”
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Uses
Leadership training programs and career development systems should
provide clear training solutions for clear training needs. The more accurately
we pinpoint an individual's developmental needs - areas in which additional
knowledge and training is needed - the more effective we can be in meeting
those needs.
A knowledge-based assessment test like KnowlEDGE for Leaders can be
used for a variety of purposes, including:
•
Needs Assessment
•
Career Development
•
Training Evaluation
•
Selection / Succession Planning
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Uses
Needs Assessment
Your organization receives feedback on its leadership training needs
by administering this instrument to all (or a random sample) of your
leadership employees.
The group reports you receive with the KnowlEDGE for Leaders
assessment results can help you pinpoint group training needs and
plan for better utilization of your training resources.
In addition, you can use the data from this assessment to measure
specific needs and strengths across the organization, between
departments, or at differing levels of leadership responsibility.
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Uses
Career Development
Each participant receives detailed individual assessment results.
This feedback identifies areas of strength as well as areas in need
of further development.
This information is helpful in personal career development planning,
and allows each participant the opportunity to tailor an individual
development plan to meet his or her own needs.
Individuals can build on their strengths and further develop their
needs, based on their own personal results.
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Uses
Training Evaluation
KnowlEDGE for Leaders is very useful as a pre- and post-assessment
test when used in conjunction with group or individual training.
The test can be given prior to a group’s participation in a training
curriculum to establish group and individual baselines. At some point
following training, a post-test can be administered to measure the
effectiveness of the training that was given.
Measuring the effectiveness of training in an objective way is often a
challenge for most organizations. This assessment test can help provide
that objective training evaluation data.
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Uses
Selection / Succession Planning
KnowlEDGE for Leaders gives supporting data that, when used
properly, can be useful in making promotional or selection decisions.
No test should be the sole or determining factor in a selection decision,
but the additional information provided by this instrument will help
provide a more complete view of your candidates.
As you identify future leaders and develop leadership succession plans,
this instrument can help you identify strong candidates, and build
appropriate development plans for their preparation prior to assuming
leadership positions.
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Clients
3M
AT&T
Alcoa-Fujikara
Affinity Insurance Group
Allied-Signal
Amana
American Electric Power
AMP, Inc.
Atmos Energy
Bob Evans Farms
Canon
Caterpillar, Inc.
Champion International
Checkpoint Systems
Collier County Sheriff's Dept
Comcast Cable
Understanding
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Edge Training Systems, Inc. has worked with a wide
variety of clients on their leadership and employee
assessment needs. The following is a sample of Edge’s
assessment client list:
County of San Diego
DuPont
East Jefferson Hospital
Federal Reserve Bank
Gateway 2000
Growmark
Hannaford Brothers
Ingram Industries
John Deere
Kraft Foods
Mayo Clinic
MCI
McKesson-General Medical
Media One
Michelin Tires
Miller Brewing
NSK Corporation
Pacific Gas & Electric
Parson's Technologies
Paychex
PrimeStar
Public Service of New Mexico
Qwest
Ralston Purina
Scripps Howard
Seagate Technologies
Southwest Missouri State University
Universal Instruments
Venator Group - Kinney Shoes
V A Medical Centers
Walgreens
Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories
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About Edge
Edge Training Systems, Inc. is a leading producer of innovative
assessment and training products for leadership and employee development.
Located in Richmond, Virginia, Edge offers products and services to clients
across the United States and internationally.
In addition to knowledge-based assessments for leaders and team members,
Edge offers 360-degree or multi-rater assessment instruments such as the
EDGE360 for Leaders, and personality and general abilities instruments such
as the Prevue.
Edge’s training films include the best-selling “With All Due Respect:
Promoting A Respectful Workplace” and “Conflict Resolution: The Skill That
Makes The Difference.”
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Validity &
Reliability
How do we know if a test gives an accurate measurement?
Test developers determine the validity and reliability of tests to make sure
that the measurements they give are correct.
•
A test is said to be “reliable” if it gives a consistent
result each time it is given.
•
A test is said to be “valid” if the measurement it gives
is accurate.
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Validity &
Reliability
For example If we were to test the validity and reliability of a State Trooper’s radar gun,
we might have a car pass through the radar several times at exactly the
same speed each time and see what measurement the radar gun gives.
If, each time the car passes by, the radar consistently clocks it at 60mph,
we could say the radar was reliable.
If, however, the car was actually travelling only 45mph each time, then the
radar would be reliable but would not be valid.
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Validity & Reliability
KnowlEDGE for Leaders has been built on a solid base of research
regarding effective leadership behaviors.
The question pool from which this instrument is built has been tested and
found to be both valid and reliable.
This test consistently and accurately measures your knowledge of the most
effective leadership behaviors.
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Research &
Development
The KnowlEDGE for Leaders instrument of today has a research and
development history dating back more than a decade.
Originally developed and released in 1987 as the Leatherman Leadership
Questionnaire, this instrument came about as a result of much research,
with the active participation of many leaders in the training and human
resources field.
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Research &
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Existing Assessment Tests Evaluated
Over 400 existing supervisory assessment tests were evaluated, and none
could be found that:
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Tested more than ten tasks
Used a multiple-choice format to reduce guessing errors
Was shown to be valid and reliable
Exhibited a clear linkage between the leadership tasks and
the test questions
Clearly, a new and better test was needed for
leadership assessment.
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Research &
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Development Process Defined
This new assessment test was developed over a five-year period using a
five-step process:
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A panel of industry experts was selected to oversee the process
Key leadership tasks were identified
Key behaviors for each task were researched
Questions were written for each behavior
Reliability and validity studies were completed
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Research &
Development
Industry Panel Selected
The industry panel selected included many of the top experts in the field of
training and development:
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Dr. Ron Zemke, Senior Editor of Training Magazine
Dr. David Jamieson, Past National President of the ASTD
Dr. Chip Bell, nationally-known author and consultant
Dr. Michael Wriston, consultant
James Kelley, Senior VP of Human Resources for a financial organization
Dennis LaMountain, consultant
Ashton Trice, Manager of HRD for a large electric utility
Robert Kelley, VP of HRD for a food service organization
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Research &
Development
Key Leadership Tasks Identified
Key leadership tasks were identified using a variety of sources, including:
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Industry studies
Training product suppliers
Articles and published studies
Needs assessment research
From these sources, an initial list of 36 leadership tasks was
identified. With input from the industry panel, this list was
reduced to 27 tasks by deleting and combining some tasks.
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Research &
Development
The 27 leadership tasks originally identified included:
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Assigning Work
Career Counseling
Coaching Employees
Oral Communication
Managing Change
Handling Employee Complaints
Dealing with Employee Conflicts
Counseling on Performance
Helping an Employee Make Decisions
Delegation
Taking Disciplinary Action
Handling Emotional Situations
Setting Goals, Objectives, and Planning
Handling Employee Grievances
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Conducting Employee Meetings
Giving Positive Feedback
Negotiating
Conducting Performance Appraisals
Establishing Performance Standards
Persuading/Influencing Employees
Making Presentations to Employees
Problem Solving with Employees
Conducting Selection Interviews
Team Building
Conducting Termination Interviews
Helping an Employee Manage Time
One-On-One Training
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Research &
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Leadership Behaviors Researched
The specific leadership behaviors that are critical to each leadership task
were researched.
Over 300 individual behaviors were identified. Each behavior was reviewed
by the industry panel and evaluated for its importance to the task.
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Research &
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Questions Written
A questionnaire was created to test a participant’s knowledge of these
identified leadership behaviors. Each question was content-specific, with
one or more questions relating to each of the 300+ behaviors.
The multiple-choice format was used to reduce guessing errors. Each
question was written with one most correct answer, and three plausible
but less correct responses.
A total of 339 questions were selected for use in the test.
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Validity and Reliability Studies Conducted
Over 300 people at nine different organizations completed the test and
the results used to determine the reliability of the test. The test was
determined to be very reliable, at .9657 on a scale of .0001 to .9999.
Fourteen studies were then conducted with 443 people at 11 different
organizations to test for validity, using various other measurements as
criterion. The test consistently produced validity results in the .7000 to
.9000 range, showing high validity.
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KnowlEDGE for Leaders Published in 1998
The original 339-question assessment test was used with thousands of participants for
more than ten years. In 1998, an inter-item correlation study was conducted to identify
those questions which had the highest correlation to total score, and to eliminate as many
questions as possible without adversely affecting the validity and reliability of the test.
In addition, new studies of the relative importance of the leadership tasks were
conducted, leading to the elimination of several tasks rated less than “very important” and
the combining of other tasks.
The resulting 120-question assessment test was published in 1998.
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Understanding
Your Report
The Scoring Report for your KnowlEDGE for Leaders assessment results
has been designed to provide you with a lot of information about your
assessment in an easy-to-understand format.
But what might be “easy-to-understand” for one person might look
complicated and confusing to another! We all have different ways of
processing information.
So, perhaps some explanation of the report and its format may help ensure
that all participants can make the best use of the data provided.
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Report
Your Assessment Results
Name: DOE JOHN Q
Task
Percentage Correct
Coaching & Counseling
Incorrect answers given to questions:
12, 22
Organization: The XYZ Corporation
Number of Questions = 17
Questions Attempted = 17
Questions Correct =
15
Percentage Correct =
0%
25%
50%
Your Percentage Correct Score
Your Group’s Range of Scores and Group Ave
88.2%
Your Percentage Correct Score
Number of Questions = 15
Questions
Attempted
= 15 shows the task being
The
first
column
of
the
Scoring
Report
Communicating Effectively
Questions Correct =
15
Range of Scores and Group Ave
assessed and the questions
for
that
task
that Your
youGroup’s
answered
Percentage Correct =
Incorrect answers given to questions:
incorrectly. The second column shows how many questions on
100.0%
the test were counted as part of that
task. It also show how many
of those questions you attempted to answer, and how many you
answered correctly.
Your Percentage Correct score equals the Questions Correct
divided by the Number of Questions.
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Report
Organization: The XYZ Corporation
Percentage Correct
Number of Questions = 17
Questions Attempted = 17
Questions Correct =
15
Percentage Correct =
0%
25%
50%
75%
Your Percentage Correct Score
Your Group’s Range of Scores and Group Average Score
88.2%
Number of Questions = 15
Questions Attempted = 15
Questions Correct =
15
Percentage Correct =
Your Percentage Correct Score
Your Group’s Range of Scores and Group Ave
100.0%
Your Percentage Correct score is also represented by the bar
graph in the third column. This graph lets you quickly see how
your scores for the various tasks compare to each other.
If you did much better on some tasks than others, the bar
graph will give you an easily visible way to see this.
100%
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Report
Organization: The XYZ Corporation
Percentage Correct
Number of Questions = 17
Questions Attempted = 17
Questions Correct =
15
Percentage Correct =
88.2%
If you took this assessment with
Number of Questions
= 15
others in your organization
and your
Questions
Attempted
= 15
report was run as
part of
the larger
Correct =
group, the thirdQuestions
column
of your 15
Percentage Correct =
report will also have a bar graph
showing how your group did. 100.0%
The bar graph shows the range of
percentage correct scores received
by your group. The Group Average
Score is shown by the darker line.
0%
25%
50%
75%
Your Percentage Correct Score
Your Group’s Range of Scores and Group Average Score
Your Percentage Correct Score
Your Group’s Range of Scores and Group Ave
100%
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Report
50%
75%
100%
Percentile Rank
You scored as well as
or better than
nd Group Average Score
89.8
percent of all others
taking this assessment.
You scored as well as
or better than
nd Group Average Score
99.9
percent of all others
taking this assessment.
Strengths
and Needs
Your Percentile
Rank for each task
is shown in the fourth column of
the report.
AStrength
percentile rank is a way of
comparing your performance to the
performance of others.
On the first task of this sample
report,
the Percentile Rank shows
Strength
that this person scored as well as or
better than 89.8% of all others taking
this assessment.
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Report
50%
75%
100%
Percentile Rank
Strengths and Needs
You scored as well as
or better than
nd Group Average Score
89.8
Strength
percent of all others
taking this assessment.
You scored as well as
or better than
The fifth column of your report is titled
“Strengths and Needs.”
99.9
nd Group Average Score
In this column you will see the percent
word of all others
taking this assessment.
Strength, Need, or Okay.
This rating provides a quick way to
compare your tasks and identify strengths
you can build on and areas of need in
which you can seek further improvement.
Strength
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Taking Action
Develop Your Personal Action Plan
Once you’ve received this report of your assessment results, it’s time to put
this information to immediate use.
The first step is to develop a personalized action plan for your continued
development as a leader. This action plan should include steps to build on the
strengths you have identified, and to further develop areas of need.
You might want to turn to your supervisors, peers, or others to help develop
your action plan. Discuss this plan with others, get additional ideas and
feedback, involve others in helping you to achieve your objectives.
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Taking Action
Task:
Actions:
Resources / People:
Objective:
The back page of your report is a
form to use in creating your action
plan.
Use this form to write down your
personal action plan for putting your
results to immediate use.
Milestones / Target Dates:
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Taking Action
Task:
Actions:
Resources / People:
Milestones / Target Dates:
Managing Conflict
Objective:
Learn how to respond to
employee complaints
without defensiveness.
The first step is to write down the
task on which you want to take
action.
Then specify your objective for that
task. What is it you want to do in
regard to this task? Is this a
strength on which you can build, or
an area of need for further
development?
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Taking Action
Actions:
1. Attend class on “Handling
Employee Complaints” this quarter
at the training center.
Next, you should plan appropriate
actions, learning experiences,
and exercises to further develop
this area.
2. Role play with my colleague Bill,
who is very good at handling
complaints, to get practice in this
area.
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Taking Action
Resources / People:
1. Training Manager
2. Learning Resource Center
3. Bill
Identify other
resources and people
that you can turn to for
assistance in
developing this area.
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Finally, set specific
milestones or target
dates for completion of
these development
activities.
Milestones / Target Dates:
1. Finish training class on
24th of next month.
2. Have practice session
with Bill by 27th of next
month.
Taking Action On
Your Results
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Taking Action
Task:
Managing Conflict
Objective:
Learn how to respond to
employee complaints
without defensiveness.
Actions:
Resources / People:
1. Attend class on “Handling
Employee Complaints” this quarter
at the training center.
1. Training Manager
2. Role play with my colleague Bill,
who is very good at handling
complaints, to get practice in this
area.
2. Learning Resource Center
3. Bill
Milestones / Target Dates:
1. Finish training class on
24th of next month.
2. Have practice session
with Bill by 27th of next
month.
Make your action plans specific, measurable, and
achievable.
Then begin, step by step, to accomplish your
objectives. Take time to review and update your action
plans on a regular basis.
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Taking Action
What are some of the resources you can
turn to for help in your leadership
development . . .
•in your organization?
•in your community?
•elsewhere?
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Taking Action
Within your organization you might find:
•training classes
•learning resource centers
•mentors
•tuition reimbursement plans
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Taking Action
Within your community you might find:
•college courses
•public seminars
•libraries
•civic organizations
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Taking Action
Other resources available elsewhere include:
•books & magazines
•audio tapes
•videos
•internet-based resources
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Taking Action
One internet resource available to you is the
Online Leadership Development Center
located on the web at:
http://www.edgetraining.com/assessment
Your assessment report will contain your username
and password to access this resource center.
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Taking Action
Your leadership development should continue to
be an ongoing process.
Assessing your current level of knowledge about
leadership is just a starting point.
You should work to improve your areas of need,
build on your areas of strength, and always seek
continuous improvement in your role as an
effective leader.
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