Before a leader can guide a team, solve a problem, or launch a new initiative, they must first understand the landscape. Assessment—both casual and structured—is foundational to strong team and organizational leadership.
In this article, we explore two essential diagnostic skills:
- Informal Assessment – uncovering insights through everyday conversations and observation.
- Formal Assessment – gathering reliable data through structured tools and systems.
Skill 37 – Informal Assessment
Definition: The practice of engaging in casual, open communications—one-on-one and in teams—to understand their experiences, concerns, fears, opportunities, and ideas. This skill requires being approachable and creating space for honest dialogue.
Why it matters
- Teams are constantly communicating—whether you listen or not.
- You’ll learn more in a hallway chat or coffee break than in a meeting.
- Informal assessments build trust, reveal undercurrents, and help you stay ahead of issues.
How to implement
- Be available and present. Create unstructured time to simply connect.
- Use curiosity, not interrogation. Ask questions like:
- “What’s working well for you right now?”
- “What’s something we could improve?”
- “What do you wish leadership knew?”
- Read the room. Pay attention to body language, tone, and group dynamics.
- Take notes—but don’t make it formal. Capture insights to follow up later.
Practice activity
Pick one day this week to walk through your department or team space just to connect. Initiate three brief conversations with no agenda other than to ask how things are going. Afterward, reflect: What did you learn that surprised you?
Skill 38 – Formal Assessment
Definition: Conducting systematic, structured research through interviews, surveys, diagnostic assessments, or focus groups to gather actionable data to improve individuals, teams, or the organization.
Why it matters
- Data drives clarity, and clarity drives solutions.
- Formal tools help cut through bias, assumptions, and surface-level talk.
- Leaders can only lead well with accurate, real-world feedback.
How to implement
- Choose the right method for the question.
- Survey for broad trends
- Interviews for depth
- Focus groups for collaboration
- Assessments for benchmarked insight
- Ensure anonymity where needed. This encourages honest responses.
- Use validated tools. At CRG, our suite of assessments (e.g., the Leadership Skills Inventory, Values Preference Indicator, Team Values Indicator, Personal Style Indicator) provides high-value insights for individuals and teams.
- Analyze and communicate findings. Make results easy to understand and actionable.
Exercise – Mini Audit
Choose one team, department, or project. Ask yourself:
- What do I know to be true based on evidence?
- What am I assuming?
- What would I want to learn through a formal tool?
Now, design three questions you could include in a team pulse survey or informal interview—and try them out.
The Assessment Advantage
Informal and formal assessments don’t compete—they complement each other.
- One builds culture.
- The other builds clarity.
Together, they give you the whole picture—and that’s where transformational leadership begins.
Authors Note:
One of our consulting clients was an automotive dealership where the owner was frustrated with his sales teams lack of follow-up. After doing an investigation we discovered that doing follow-up calls was nearly impossible as the owner had only one outbound phone line – as he was saving money on costs. It was only after doing an assessment did we confirm the root cause of the behaviors – which was not enough resources to fulfill his expectations.
Coming next: Skills 39 & 40—Facilitating Change and Communicating Change.
Until next time, Keep Living On Purpose!
PS. Stay tuned to your opportunity to pre-register for the Online Transformational Leadership Course. That link will be available soon. To bench your (or others) leadership skills, access our Leadership Skills Inventory-Self or LSI-360′.