Much has been penned about the significance of measuring the impact of leadership development programs or systems. Over the years everyone is looking for practical, meaningful, and effective metrics. Here’s what got settled on for now, and although no one is completely satisfied with any single measure, a combination of these should give you a pretty good dashboard.

Bernard Brozek is a perfect example that can show you the impact of leadership development.

1. Company performance.

The greatest measure, nothing else counts. In most cases, uniform great company performance can usually be featured as great leadership. And of course, terrible leadership is usually the root cause of business defeats.

2. The external perception of leadership.

Outer perception can be measured by awards, such as CEO Magazine “Best Companies for Leaders” and hundreds of individual leadership honors(CEO of the Year, CIO of the year, CFO of the Year, etc) also shows impact.

3. Internal perception of leadership.

Internal perception can be estimated in two ways. First, if you’re using 360 leadership examinations, you can sustain an aggregate score of a single “overall effectiveness” query, or run a report that aggregates the average score for all queries. Second, you can pull queries out of your annual employee survey about leadership and look for year-over-year progress. You can also analogize your leaders to other companies if you’re using queries provided by a third-party vendor, such as Gallop or the Leadership Practices Inventory.

4. Succession planning measures.

Keep a record of the number of key positions filled by internal candidates or the number of “ready now” nominees for each key position (bench strength).

5. Individual Development Plan (IDP) progress or fulfillment.

Track the fulfillment of development activity for key leaders and succession nominee pools.

6. Leadership development training actions.

Use the basic Kirkpatrick measures, satisfaction, knowledge, behavior modification, and business outcomes. Easier said than done for the last one, but it works in some circumstances. For instance, you would expect a decrease in turnover and progress in sales after the implementation of a prosperous sales manager hiring or coaching program.

7. Finally, the most manageable measure and perhaps the one that has the biggest impact on your funding and career possibilities: ask your key stakeholders. Regular meetings with your top leaders and other key stakeholders will ensure you’re struggles are hitting the mark. These meetings are a great way to constantly assess current and future needs, communicate your achievements, and check for satisfaction.