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Part II. How Close is Your Company to Prime Performance?
First Name
 
Last Name
 
By providing your email address, you will automatically receive a complete report, showing your responses, test score, and interpretive comments.
Email
 
*Title:
President, CEO, CFO, CTO, CIO, etc.
Vice President
Director
Manager
Professional Staff
*Industry/Area of Expertise:
Business Services - Legal, Consulting, etc.
Creative - Artist, Design, Writer, etc.
Engineering, Technology, Telecommunications
Financial/Insurance
Health Care, Pharmaceuticals
Manufacturing
Sales, Marketing, Advertising
Other
  Area
 
*Sex:
Female
Male
*Age:
Under 25
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
1. Compared to similar companies in our defined marketplace, my firm is:
The industry leader—widely respected and emulated by other firms.
A solid top-tier company with a loyal base of customers that is growing.
Highly specialized, delivering excellent solutions to a small group clients.
A middle of the road firm delivering reliable products and services to a large group of customers.
A growing company with cutting edge products and/or services.
2. An observer of leadership in our organization would see:
Dynamic, inspirational leadership prevailing at all levels.
Dynamic, inspirational leadership among the senior leadership team and similar leadership among key mid-level managers.
Dynamic, inspirational leadership occurring sporadically at various levels of leadership.
Leadership styles that are less than ideal for a knowledge company.
3. The talent that our organization attracts is:
Top-notch; we attract top candidates; and our alumni are sought after by other firms.
Excellent; we are able to hire our first or second choice candidate for most positions.
Good; we are able to hire solid candidates and invest in their growth and development.
Fair; we often lose preferred candidates to competitors.
4. Our reputation and relationship with our customers is:
Very solid, we partner with them and deliver outstanding solutions.
Solid, we understand their needs and deliver excellent solutions in a timely manner.
Tenuous, our market is becoming commoditized and price determines purchasing decisions.
Difficult, we are losing market share.
5. The degree of innovation in our products and services can best be characterized as:
Outstanding—we continually deliver cutting-edge solutions for complex challenges.
Excellent—we are ahead of the competition in delivering creative solutions.
Good—we deliver incremental improvements in our products and services.
Needing improvement—our competitors are innovating more rapidly than our firm.
6. Cohesiveness among our leadership team is:
High—based upon respect for one another’s professional competence as well as knowing and trusting one another as people.
Moderate—professional respect, knowing and trusting one another is increasing over time.
Low—our leadership team has not been able to develop respect and trust; or this is a new leadership team that has not yet bonded.
Non-existent—team members do not respect and/or trust one another or are split into competing subgroups.
7. Our process for effective planning and problem-solving is best described as:
Vigorous analysis and debate with persistent brainstorming and study until a “best,” agreed upon solution is constructed.
Objective analysis of multiple options with vigorous, uncensored debate on the merits of various solutions. Responsible leader makes final decision.
Responsible leader presents plans and the leadership team provides input to enhance plans.
An undisciplined decision-making process.
8. Conflict resolution on our leadership team is most often exemplified by:
Respectful and active listening; clarification of various points of view; and insistence upon finding win-win solutions wherever possible.
Solid listening and clarification skills; with a tendency to compromise or “split the difference” to quickly minimize conflict.
Avoidance of open discussion of conflictual issues so that problems often linger with no real solution.
Aggressive confrontation and unwillingness to reach agreed-upon solutions.
9. Shared accountability among our leadership team grows through: A)Clearly defined goals, objectives and measures of success. B) Primary accountability for each goal assigned to one leader with active support from other leaders. C)Follow-up and holding one another accountable without fear of jeopardizing relationships.
One of the above.
Two of the above.
All of the above.
10. When the leadership team needs to make decisions in the best interest of the organization that may negatively impact one or more members:
Team members put the good of the organization first.
Work together to mitigate the negative impact for each leader in ways that benefit both the organization and each leader.
Both a and b above (good of the organization comes first, team works together to mitigate negative impact).
Making difficult decisions is avoided in favor of the status quo.
The best interest of powerful leaders comes before the best interest of the organization as a whole.
11. Succession planning at our company is evidenced by:
A formal succession plan with two to three internal candidates for all Officer, Director, and Manager positions.
A formal succession plan with two to three internal candidates for all Officer and Director positions.
Informal discussions of succession plans for all management positions.
Informal discussions of succession plans for all senior management positions.
Succession planning has not been a priority.
12. When seeking to fill a position, our company:
Enhances a standard job description by considering the specific skill set and leadership competencies needed for success now and in the next three years.
Utilizes a standard job description and considers the specific skill set immediately needed for the position.
Makes a written list of skills immediately needed for the position.
Attempts to duplicate the skills of the last person in the position.
Chooses the best looking resumes and informally compares candidates to select the one that seems to fit best.
13. Our company’s interview process is best characterized by:
Utilization of a formalized system of behavioral interviewing with targeted questions requiring candidates to provide examples of past experiences.
Each interviewer constructs a list of questions, and we encourage interviewers to ask candidates to provide examples of past experiences.
We encourage interviewers to develop and use a standard list of questions.
Our interviewers review job histories on candidate resumes and then ask whatever questions they feel would be helpful.
Our managers are free to choose whatever style of interviewing they prefer.
14. To protect our company against the possibility of a talent shortage, we:
Select candidates with little experience and plan on aggressively developing their skills to keep costs down and utilize their energy and enthusiasm.
Actively manage the careers of high potential managers to maximize their leadership growth.
We consider non-traditional candidates and value maturity and business experience. When appropriate, part time and semi-retired candidates are considered.
Both a and b (hire/train low-mid level staff; develop high potential leaders).
All of the above. (hire/train low-mid level staff; develop high potential leaders, consider non-traditional candidates).
15. At what level does your firm utilize the services of a consulting psychologist to evaluate the final candidates to ensure a “best-fit” hire?
President, CEO, COO, CFO, CIO, etc.
Vice President or Director
Manager
All professional staff
Outside assessments of leaders is not utilized by our firm
16. My company’s strategy for meeting customer needs and growing the business is:
Clearly defined and consistently communicated to staff at all levels.
Clearly defined and consistently communicated to our managers.
Clearly defined; yet, infrequently communicated to staff at all levels.
Clearly defined yet, infrequently communicated to our managers.
Ill-defined and not well-communicated.
17. Our internal strategy to continually advance critical technology; business processes; proprietary methodology; and professional knowledge is:
Clearly defined and consistently communicated to staff at all levels.
Clearly defined and consistently communicated to our managers.
Clearly defined; yet, infrequently communicated to staff at all levels.
Clearly defines; yet, infrequently communicated to our managers.
Ill-defined and not well-communicated.
18. Participants in strategy development include:
Senior Leadership Team (SLT), Vice President and above.
SLT and middle managers (Directors and Senior Managers).
Managers at all levels.
Managers and professional staff.
All employees.
19. Excellent strategy development processes include: A) Strategy is championed and driven by SLT. B) It includes a mechanism to efficiently gather strategic ideas and feedback throughout the organization. C) It utilizes a disciplined approach to critically evaluate and make decisions about strategic direction and priorities.
One of the above.
Two of the above.
All of the above.
20. Execution of strategic initiatives includes: A) Measurable goals and plans for all initiatives. B) A senior leader is responsible for oversight and evaluation of each strategic initiative and associated goals. C) Strategic checkpoints are defined to re-evaluate and refine goals.
Measurable goals and plans for all initiatives.
A senior leader is responsible for oversight and evaluation of each strategic initiative and associated goals.
Strategic checkpoints are defined to re-evaluate and refine goals.
Two of the above.
All of the above.

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