An effec­tive global lead­er­ship devel­op­ment (GLD) program is like a well-oiled machine. It involves many moving parts, all of which must work in conjunc­tion with one another for optimal program success.

In the begin­ning, the main moving parts are focused on creating orig­inal program content, deciding on appro­priate partic­i­pants and estab­lishing a CEO’s commit­ment to global lead­er­ship devel­op­ment.

Once these tasks have been accom­plished, the next step is to execute the program content through regular learning sessions and semi­nars. Before this can be done, though, it’s essen­tial to set specific GLD program goals. This includes both short and long-term goals that you’re hoping to achieve from the program. 

Every GLD program is unique to each orga­ni­za­tion. Although the general end goal is to create global leaders — or at the very least, give your employees a push in the right direc­tion by setting the frame­work for what it means to be a global leader — specific goals will vary. 

But how will you know if your specific goals have been met? 

You eval­uate, of course. And it’s one of the most vital — and often under­es­ti­mated — steps in a GLD program. But consider this: Imple­menting a GLD program in a multi­na­tional company can cost up to six figures. Some­body has to approve of this budget — and carry the conse­quences. They have a vested interest in reporting on the program’s success!

Read on to find out exactly what the eval­u­a­tion of an in-house GLD program entails and how you can imple­ment it for yours. 

The Impor­tance of Eval­u­ating Your GLD Program

To deter­mine whether goals and objec­tives are accom­plished, program eval­u­a­tion must take place. Without eval­u­a­tion, it’s impos­sible to know if the program has made any posi­tive impact, both for the indi­vid­uals involved and the company as a whole. 

The United States Office of Personnel Manage­ment (USOPM) believes that eval­u­ating lead­er­ship devel­op­ment programs can be accom­plished in several ways, but it requires some plan­ning. The USOPM says that “creating an eval­u­a­tion plan will help you align the eval­u­a­tion objec­tives with the program’s objec­tives, activ­i­ties, and expec­ta­tions regarding outcomes”. 

Devel­oping an eval­u­a­tion plan is a crit­ical moving part of the well-oiled machine we mentioned before. But creating a plan for eval­u­ating program success isn’t always easy, which is why we’re here to answer the question:

How can an eval­u­a­tion of an in-house global lead­er­ship devel­op­ment program be set up and carried out?

The Main Chal­lenges Relating to Program Evaluation

Before answering how, let’s focus on the most common chal­lenges relating to eval­u­ating a GLD program. Harvard Busi­ness Publishing says that measuring the impact of lead­er­ship devel­op­ment is chal­lenging, but not impossible: 

“There is still great debate about our ability to measure the impact of lead­er­ship devel­op­ment. The debate is under­stand­able — it’s much easier to measure things with a direct result, like reducing errors in a manu­fac­turing plant… But lead­er­ship devel­op­ment feels like a different animal that shouldn’t be held to the same measure­ment standard.”

Three common hurdles get in the way of successful program eval­u­a­tion, including:

• Setting Immea­sur­able Goals/Objectives
• Failing to Track Real Life Results
• Failing to Receive Input from Participants 

Let’s take a look at these hurdles, one by one:

Setting Immea­sur­able Goals/Objectives

Some indi­vid­uals feel that setting lofty goals is the best way to accom­plish some­thing BIG, but in reality, the most impor­tant aspect of a goal is not how big it is. It’s whether or not the goal can be attained and measured. It’s extremely diffi­cult to eval­uate the progress of general goals that can not be measured in terms of direct results.

Failing to Track Real Life Results

If you fail to track results throughout the program, you can’t possibly expect to deter­mine whether or not the program has had a posi­tive ROI. Tracking results needs to be a part of the entire process — not just a one-time survey that is distrib­uted at the end of the program.

Failing to Receive Input from Participants

No one knows about the program’s success better than the partic­i­pants involved. If you fail to receive their input throughout the process, it is unlikely that you’ll get the full picture. One of the best times to receive partic­i­pant input is during peer coaching sessions, so use this time wisely. 

6 Essen­tial Steps for Eval­u­ating Your GLD Program

There are several possible methods for success­fully eval­u­ating your program, but the very first step is to create an eval­u­a­tion plan. You can’t expect to “wing it” when it comes to eval­u­ating GLD program progress and end results. Here are a few ques­tions that can help with the plan­ning process:

• What inputs/resources/areas of exper­tise will be needed for successful evaluation? 
• What is the eval­u­a­tion time frame? (Will there be one final eval­u­a­tion, or will it take place over a 12-week program?) 
• Are there any eval­u­a­tions that must be completed pre/­post-program?
• What data needs to be collected, who will provide it, and when/how will data collec­tion take place? 

Only once these ques­tions have been answered can an eval­u­a­tion plan be created. But devel­oping the plan is just the first step of many for eval­u­ating the progress and end results of your GLD program.

1. Always Be Mindful of Goals & Objectives

Every GLD program begins with a goal-setting phase. During this period, goals will be set based on the company’s specific needs as well as the hoped-for program outcomes. Branching from these goals will be smaller objec­tives, which should be achiev­able within a set time frame. 

According to the Objec­tives and Key Results goal-setting program, it’s impor­tant to set clear objec­tives and avoid gener­al­iza­tions. By doing this, it’s not just helping you to achieve the objec­tive, but also to eval­uate progress and results. 

The main point here is that you must always be mindful of preset goals and objec­tives as the program progresses. Eval­u­a­tion is an ongoing process, espe­cially for long-term programs that take place over several weeks or months (as many GLD initia­tives do). One of the most effec­tive eval­u­a­tion methods is to observe the progress of the goals/objectives throughout the program.

2. Follow the SMART Method for Goal Setting

Setting SMART goals is another key player in the eval­u­a­tion game. There are 5 aspects to SMART goal setting: 

1. Specific
2. Measur­able
3. Achiev­able
4. Rele­vant
5. Time-Bound

When your goals are specific, measur­able, achiev­able, rele­vant, and time-bound, eval­u­ating their progress and outcomes is a much easier task. Each of the 5 factors plays an inte­gral role in eval­u­a­tion, but the main thing to remember is to be specific.

Setting a general goal, such as create global leaders, won’t be nearly as easy to eval­uate as a specific goal, like help partic­i­pants to develop skills that will allow them to better navi­gate cultural differ­ences. As you can see, the second goal offers specific details (once you’ve deter­mined the para­me­ters), so deter­mining whether that goal has been met is much more clear-cut. 

3. Collect the Neces­sary Data

An eval­u­a­tion wouldn’t be possible without data collec­tion. Even if you’re constantly observing all aspects of the program sessions, data needs to be collected in some way or another. There are many methods of data collec­tion to choose from, but one of the most successful is to gather honest insights from the program participants.

This can be done through satis­fac­tion surveys, espe­cially when eval­u­ating the personal impacts that the program has on each indi­vidual. Testing partic­i­pants on the program’s content is another great method of gath­ering data, mainly when it comes to under­standing what each person has learned throughout the process.

Collecting data on how the GLD program has impacted the company’s overall perfor­mance is a long-term process, often taking anywhere from six months to one year for the full picture. This can be very complex, but long-term data collec­tion of solid facts and figures is a must. In other words, don’t just focus on the opin­ions of partic­i­pants when collecting data. 

4. Thor­oughly Analyze Data

Let’s consider the case study on the floun­dering expa­triate. In this case study, a successful Amer­ican busi­nessman, Bert, strug­gles to adapt to the cultural differ­ences of Euro­peans. But what happens when Bert goes through a GLD training program?

The goals at the start of the program are clear: to help Bert develop cultural intel­li­gence and open his mind to diverse ways of thinking. This will, in turn, help him relate more effec­tively to Euro­peans by building his inter­per­sonal and commu­ni­ca­tion skills across cultural boundaries.

To deter­mine if the program was a success for Bert, the best form of data collec­tion would be through indi­vidual surveys (both from Bert and the employees he works with) as well as obser­va­tion of Bert’s overall job perfor­mance. But simply collecting the data isn’t enough. 

You’ll need to thor­oughly analyze the collected data to under­stand if the goal to turn this floun­dering expa­triate into a cultur­ally intel­li­gent busi­nessman was met.

5. Measure your ROI

Imple­menting any type of lead­er­ship program takes resources, including time, effort, and of course, money. As is the case with any type of invest­ment, investing in global lead­er­ship devel­op­ment is a finan­cial endeavor that needs to give back more than it costs. 

This means that one must measure the success of a GLD by eval­u­ating its tangible finan­cial impacts, or ROI. During the eval­u­a­tion, you should be asking your­self, does the program give back a high return on invest­ment? If so, the net finan­cial profit in the long term is greater than the initial program cost, making the invest­ment into global lead­er­ship devel­op­ment entirely worth it. 

Because lead­er­ship devel­op­ment is often seen as a social endeavor rather than a finan­cial one, measuring ROI can be chal­lenging. It is typi­cally easier to measure ROI in terms of intan­gible factors, like improved cultural aware­ness, work habits, inno­va­tion, job satis­fac­tion, and reten­tion figures, rather than the tangible dollars and cents. 

eurac uses a formula based on the Utility Analysis method to quan­ti­tively esti­mate the value of bene­fits gener­ated by an inter­ven­tion, like a GLD program, based on the improve­ment it produces in productivity. 

The two crit­ical measures of a utility analysis are the following:

• change in perfor­mance (skills or compe­ten­cies), expressed in a stan­dard devi­a­tion measure,
• value to the orga­ni­za­tion of a stan­dard devi­a­tion change in performance. 

Here’s an example of how transfer logix uses utility analysis to measure their ROI of train­ings. Through utility analysis, the company is able to esti­mate the ROI of every training program with minimal addi­tional effort.

In summary, although there are chal­lenges involved and every company might have to focus on different stan­dard devi­a­tion measures, try not to merely focus on the posi­tive social impacts, but also the finan­cial ROI. Measuring data-driven return on invest­ment has many bene­fits, mainly the fact that it shows the bottom-line results of the program. By comparing the actual cost of the program with the mone­tary bene­fits, you’ll be able to better eval­uate its effectiveness. 

6. Create Opti­miza­tion Possibilities

Now that you’ve set goals, collected data, and analyzed the results, it’s time to put the find­ings into action. The last step of the eval­u­a­tion process — and possibly the most impor­tant — is to make improve­ments by creating opti­miza­tion possi­bil­i­ties. Consider what can be done to improve the GLD program and put those plans into action — but don’t forget to eval­uate them as you go!

How eurac Can Help You to Eval­uate Your GLD Program

It’s commonly thought that eval­u­ating the progress and outcome of a GLD program is the simplest step of the entire process. Eval­u­a­tion is not quite as simple as many assume it to be, but when executed prop­erly, eval­u­ating program success doesn’t need to be difficult.

This is espe­cially true when you team up with eurac’s team of global lead­er­ship experts. Here at eurac, we’re not only focused on executing an effec­tive program to develop global leaders within your company, but also to eval­uate the progress and make changes to find success.

If you’re on board with getting started, get in touch with us here. For more ideas, infor­ma­tion and topical discus­sion on global lead­er­ship, sign up to our newsletter to get new insights every week.