70%
of the variance in employee engagement scores is driven by a direct manager’s behavior — not company culture or pay
Gallup, State of the American Manager
#1
Driver of professional satisfaction — supervisor behavior ranks above culture, salary, benefits, and the work environment
Mayo Clinic Research, Shanafelt et al.
66%
Lower likelihood of intent to leave within 2 years when a leader scores in the top performance tier
Mete et al., BMJ Open 2022
9
Specific leadership behaviors — each validated by Mayo Clinic research — that predict team satisfaction, retention, and performance
Leadership Impact Index
The Problem

You’re investing in leadership development.
You have no proof it’s working.

Most organizations can tell you how much they spent on leadership programs. Almost none can tell you which behaviors changed, which leaders improved, or whether the investment moved the needle on retention and engagement.

Leadership programs cost millions. Proof they work costs nothing — but almost no one has it.

The typical Fortune 500 spends $3,000–$10,000 per participant on leadership development programs. Yet most organizations measure success with post-session satisfaction surveys — not by measuring whether leadership behaviors actually changed.

Turnover is expensive. You suspect leadership is the cause. You can’t prove it.

Replacing a mid-level employee costs an estimated 50–200% of their annual salary. The data consistently shows that people leave managers, not companies — but without measurement, you’re reacting to exits instead of predicting and intervening early.

Traditional 360-degree assessments cost thousands per leader and take weeks to deliver.

Major 360-degree vendors charge $1,000–$8,500 per leader, require certified facilitators, take 30–60 minutes to complete, and produce results weeks later. At that price point, meaningful scale is impossible for most organizations.

How It’s Used

Three ways corporate teams deploy the Leadership Impact Index

Whether you’re measuring a single cohort or rolling out across an entire organization, the platform is built to scale with you.

Prove coaching and development program return on investment

Run a baseline assessment before any leadership program. Run it again after. The platform automatically links the two and shows exactly what changed — by dimension, by leader, and across the cohort.

  • Baseline assessment before the program begins
  • Leaders complete development coaching or training
  • Follow-up assessment at program close
  • Before/after comparison report available immediately

Identify at-risk leaders before turnover becomes a crisis

The organization heatmap shows every assessed leader’s scores across nine dimensions at a glance. Low scores in coaching, recognition, or communication are leading indicators of disengagement and turnover — visible months before an exit interview.

  • Deploy across all people managers in a department
  • Heatmap surfaces low-scoring leaders immediately
  • Prioritize coaching conversations with data, not guesswork
  • Track improvement after targeted intervention

Give your board and executive team measurable leadership data

Leadership development is often one of the largest line items in a people budget — and one of the hardest to defend. Organization-wide heatmaps, trend data, and before/after comparisons give you board-ready proof the investment moved the needle.

  • Annual or quarterly org-wide assessment cycle
  • Department and team trend comparisons over time
  • Export reports for board presentations
  • Benchmark against prior cycles to show year-over-year progress
Who Uses It

Built for every stakeholder in corporate leadership development

From the CHRO to the first-time manager, every person with a stake in leadership quality gets something concrete from the platform.

CHROs & VP of People

Get organization-wide visibility into leadership quality across every department. Use trend data to connect leadership scores with engagement and attrition metrics — and finally have the data to support leadership investment decisions.

“I need to connect our leadership programs to business outcomes. Right now we’re flying blind.”

Learning & Development Teams

Run pre and post assessments around every major development initiative. For the first time, you can show your executive sponsors and your board exactly what changed — not just how many people attended or how they rated the facilitator.

“We spend $400K on leadership programs and all we have is post-session survey scores.”

Executive Coaches & Internal Coaches

Use the baseline assessment to focus coaching sessions on the dimensions with the most room for growth. Use the follow-up to show measurable improvement to your client, their manager, and the program sponsors.

“My clients ask for data showing coaching worked. I’ve never had a clean way to provide it.”

Department Leaders & Directors

See exactly how the managers in your department are experienced by their teams. Surface coaching conversations with data rather than instinct. Use trend data to recognize leaders who are genuinely improving — and support those who need help.

“I have 12 managers. I have no way to know which ones are struggling until their team starts leaving.”

Individual Managers & Team Leads

Get honest, anonymous feedback from your team on the specific behaviors that most affect their experience of your leadership. Know exactly where you’re strong and where you have the most room to grow — without waiting for an annual review.

“I want to know how my team actually experiences me. Not what they’ll say in a one-on-one.”

Chief Financial Officers & Finance Partners

Leadership development is a major budget line. The Leadership Impact Index provides the before/after data that turns a program expense into a documented investment — with measurable returns in retention, engagement, and leadership performance.

“Leadership coaching is one of our top people costs. I’ve never seen a real return on investment calculation.”
app.leadershipimpactindex.org/reports/heatmap
LeaderCareerEmpower.Coach.Recognit.Innov.Overall
Org Average788172707675
Sales & Revenue
A. Martinez889284808686
B. Thompson717863616868
Technology & Engineering
C. Nguyen829077748882
D. Park647055526261
Operations
E. Robinson798375727777
F. Chen667367586566
The Reporting Dashboard

Every leader. Every dimension. One view.

The organization heatmap gives your HR and leadership teams an instant, color-coded picture of leadership health across every department — no pivot tables, no analyst, no waiting.

  • Scores across all nine dimensions for every assessed leader
  • Group and filter by department, location, level, or cohort
  • Drill into any leader’s full report with one click
  • Trend sparklines show trajectory over time — not just a snapshot
  • Before/after comparison view for any coaching or development program
  • Export to spreadsheet or PDF for board and stakeholder reporting
vs. Traditional 360-Degree Assessments

All the insight. None of the friction.

Traditional 360-degree assessments were built for a different era. The Leadership Impact Index delivers clinically validated data at the speed and scale modern organizations actually need.

FactorLeadership Impact IndexTraditional 360-Degree Assessment
Time to complete Under 60 seconds 30–60 minutes
Results available Immediately (once 5 responses received) 2–4 weeks
Cost per leader Starting at $100 $995–$8,500
Consultant or facilitator required No — fully self-administered Usually yes (certified facilitator required)
Clinical validation 14+ peer-reviewed studies — Mayo Clinic Varies by provider
Before/after comparison Built in — automatic, same-leader linking Manual or separate engagement
Organization-wide view Interactive heatmap across all leaders Individual reports only
Number of questions 9 validated questions 50–100+
Pricing

Transparent pricing. No surprise fees. No consultants.

Pay per assessment. Volume discounts apply automatically. Free to explore the platform — only pay when you’re ready to deploy your first assessment.

Starter
$250/assessment
1–4 assessments per year
  • Full nine-dimension report per leader
  • Organization heatmap
  • Before/after comparison tracking
  • Anonymous response collection
  • Exportable reports for stakeholder review
Get Started →
Enterprise
Custom
Large organizations & enterprises
  • Everything in Growth
  • Dedicated account manager
  • Custom reporting and data exports
  • HR information system integration
  • Single sign-on support
Talk to Sales →
FAQ

Questions from corporate teams

The nine dimensions measured — career development, empowerment, coaching, recognition, respect, innovation, communication, growth, and overall satisfaction — are universal leadership behaviors that research shows predict team outcomes across industries. The clinical validation adds rigor, not constraint. Organizations across corporate, technology, finance, and other sectors use the tool effectively.
Engagement surveys measure how employees feel about the organization broadly. The Leadership Impact Index measures how team members experience the specific behaviors of a specific leader — and does so in a way that can be repeated frequently and tracked over time. It’s a measurement tool for individual leader development, not a replacement for organization-wide engagement programs.
Most leaders who understand the tool welcome it. The framing matters: this is a development tool, not a performance evaluation. Leaders receive private access to their own scores first and can see exactly which behaviors their team rated most highly and which have room to grow. Resistance typically comes from leaders who haven’t experienced honest, anonymous feedback before — and that’s exactly what this changes.
The platform is designed for development, not evaluation. Using assessment scores as direct input to compensation or promotion decisions can undermine respondent trust and reduce the honesty that makes the data valuable. We recommend using the tool as a development and coaching resource, with organizational decisions informed by a broader set of factors.
There’s no limit. Organizations assess tens, hundreds, or thousands of leaders. The platform supports bulk import, department and cohort tagging, and organization-wide heatmap views that scale to any size. Volume pricing applies automatically as your assessment count grows.
Enterprise customers can discuss custom integrations with HR information systems and existing people platforms. Contact our sales team to talk through your tech stack and what’s possible for your organization size and requirements.

Start measuring what your leadership
development actually changes.

Create a free account, explore the platform with demo data, and see exactly how the Leadership Impact Index delivers for corporate teams — before you spend a dollar.

Free to explore. Only pay when you’re ready to deploy your first assessment. No credit card required.