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    WebinarSystemic Collaboration 2009 60 min

    Measuring What Counts: Leadership Effectiveness

    In March 2005, Bill Sullivan became Agilent Technologies’ second CEO and declared that our strategic intent was to be the “world’s premier measurement company.” To shift the focus, he outlined a clear set of metrics related to our customers, markets, employees and shareholders and a critical plank in this strategy was leadership. Bill stated that a best-in-class General Manager bench development was one of his top three priorities. In parallel with the rollout of the first General Managers’ development program, members of the Human Resources function helped Bill establish clear metrics and processes to manage accountability for General Management development. While Bill was clear what the business fundamental metrics needed to be, Agilent needed a change management process to ensure these metrics became institutionalized as levers of accountability and continuous improvement, starting at the top. As part of the enterprise balanced scorecard, Agilent implemented a Quarterly Leadership Audit as a metric for leadership effectiveness and culture. The Quarterly Leadership Audit is a tool to create company-wide focus and accountability on the critical few areas of leadership that most need improvement in the next year based on the Agilent business priorities for the year ahead. The audit has been in place for almost five years and the Leadership Audit targets established reflect the external 75th percentile as a way to reinforce the high, externally focused bar that Bill set for the top leaders.

    Presenter

    TR

    Teresa Roche

    o How to align leadership development to strategic business goals o How to focus on the critical few leadership behaviors that really matter to your organization o How to assess leadership effectiveness against external benchmarks

    Key Takeaways

    • 1.Leadership development must be treated as a critical plank in the overall business strategy.
    • 2.Clear metrics and formal processes are required to create accountability for management development.
    • 3.A change management process is necessary to institutionalize new metrics as levers of accountability.
    • 4.A Quarterly Leadership Audit can serve as a key metric for leadership effectiveness and culture.
    • 5.The audit should focus on the few critical leadership areas that align with the business priorities for the year ahead.
    • 6.Setting leadership targets benchmarked against the external 75th percentile reinforces a high, externally focused standard.

    The Challenge: Aligning Leadership with Business Strategy

    In 2005, Agilent Technologies' CEO Bill Sullivan set a new strategic vision: to become the "world’s premier measurement company." A critical component of this strategy was elevating leadership capabilities within the organization. Sullivan identified developing a "best-in-class" bench of General Managers as one of his top three priorities, signaling a clear link between leadership and business success.

    The Solution: A Framework for Accountability

    To translate this priority into action, Agilent's Human Resources function collaborated with the CEO to establish clear metrics and processes for GM development. The challenge wasn't just defining what to measure, but ensuring those metrics were adopted and used. The company implemented a change management process to institutionalize these new standards as levers for accountability and continuous improvement, starting from the very top.

    Implementing the Quarterly Leadership Audit

    As part of its enterprise-wide balanced scorecard, Agilent introduced the Quarterly Leadership Audit as a key metric for leadership effectiveness and culture. The audit was designed with a specific purpose:

    • Create Focus: It centers the entire company on the "critical few" areas of leadership that require the most improvement.
    • Align with Priorities: The focus areas are directly determined by Agilent's business priorities for the upcoming year.
    • Drive Accountability: The audit functions as a recurring, measurable process to ensure continuous improvement.

    For nearly five years, this audit provided a consistent mechanism for tracking progress. To ensure the standards were ambitious and competitive, the Leadership Audit targets were benchmarked against the external 75th percentile, reinforcing the high, externally-focused bar set by the CEO.

    This session details how organizations can define, measure, and improve leadership effectiveness, drawing lessons from a real-world case study. It explores the implementation of robust metrics and change management processes to foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement for leaders, which remains highly relevant for driving organizational success today.

    What you'll learn

    • Strategies for defining clear, measurable metrics for leadership effectiveness.
    • How to integrate leadership development into broader strategic business objectives.
    • Techniques for creating accountability for leadership performance and growth.
    • The design and implementation of tools like a Quarterly Leadership Audit for continuous improvement.
    • Methods for setting high, externally focused benchmarks for leadership performance.

    Who this webinar is for

    • HR leaders and professionals focused on talent management and organizational development.
    • Executives and senior leaders responsible for driving strategic change and growth.
    • Managers seeking to improve their team's and their own leadership capabilities.
    • Anyone interested in establishing data-driven approaches to leadership development.

    Why it matters now

    In today's dynamic business environment, effectively measuring leadership is crucial for sustainable growth and organizational resilience. The principles discussed, such as aligning leadership development with business strategy and implementing clear accountability, are more critical than ever. Organizations must ensure that their leaders are not only effective but also continuously evolving to meet new challenges and drive innovation.

    How leaders can apply this

    Leaders can start by identifying key business priorities and then mapping leadership behaviors and outcomes that directly contribute to those priorities. Implement a balanced scorecard approach to track performance across various dimensions, ensuring that leadership metrics are integrated. Establishing regular audit processes, similar to the Quarterly Leadership Audit mentioned by Teresa Roche, helps maintain focus and drives accountability. Leaders should also commit to setting ambitious, externally benchmarked goals to foster a culture of continuous improvement and high performance.

    About this session

    Key takeaways

    Watching this webinar gives you grounded, practical perspective on Growth. Expect ideas you can use in leadership conversations, not abstract theory, drawn from Teresa Roche's direct experience.

    Who this is for

    CHROs, HR business partners, talent leaders, executive coaches, organizational development practitioners, and senior leaders who are responsible for systemic collaboration inside their organization.

    Why it matters now

    Workforce expectations, hybrid work patterns, and AI-driven change keep raising the bar on culture and leadership. Sessions like this help leaders make smarter, more evidence-informed decisions about Growth.

    How to apply it

    Use the ideas here to challenge a current assumption on your team, design a single concrete experiment in the next 30 days, and bring one finding back to your leadership group for discussion.

    Frequently asked questions

    Topics

    Growth

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