What is leadership potential?
Identifying leadership potential is becoming one of the most important strategic issues. But what exactly is leadership potential and how can it be defined? Leadership potential is a set of competencies that are needed in order to assume a leadership role. These competencies are specific to each organization and need to be identified in advance as key leadership competencies. Leadership competencies include curiosity, resilience, a growth mindset, coaching and mentoring competencies, proactivity, pronounced emotional intelligence, and many others.
In order to identify employees who can and know how to lead others, it is important to recognize leadership potential in a timely manner, and this potential is precisely something that cannot be assessed through standard qualifications and résumés. This is why scientifically based tools for assessing and developing potential are increasingly being used, enabling organizations to objectively and thoroughly assess the abilities, leadership styles, and development needs of their leaders.
Some of these tools include extensive assessment centers or questionnaires such as DNLA (Discovering Natural Latent Abilities).
What is the DNLA questionnaire?
DNLA is based on research by the Max Planck Institute and decades of experience in the field of industrial and organizational psychology. For the purpose of leadership development, DNLA includes two key modules:
- Social competencies – a questionnaire that measures emotional and social competencies that are the foundation of successful collaboration, professional behavior, and development (e.g., empathy, engagement, self-confidence, openness to feedback).
- Managerial competencies – a questionnaire focused on assessing managerial competencies such as strategic thinking, team leadership, decision-making, problem-solving, and influence.
DNLA addresses several needs—from identifying potential and succession planning, through the development of talent programs, to supporting individuals in key positions through coaching and mentoring.
This tool is also used to compare participants’ results with a reference group of individuals, i.e., a peer group. In this way, we obtain a range of expression of the required competencies and gain a realistic overview of competency levels and further potential.
Assessment of leadership potential through the DNLA questionnaire
Creating a leadership pipeline is very important because it ensures business efficiency and growth, creates a foundation for tailored development programs, improves employee motivation and engagement, and reduces the need to recruit external candidates.
The DNLA questionnaire is extremely useful in this context because it allows us to recognize and then develop leadership potential in a timely manner—even among employees who have not yet assumed a leadership role. DNLA first identifies the strengths and potential areas for improvement of each candidate. Based on this, individual development plans are created, focused on specific competencies. Such an individualized approach communicates to employees that they are heard, seen, and understood, and shows that we know what needs to be done to further develop the potential we have identified.
By introducing objective and transparent processes for early identification of talent and leadership potential, the sense of fairness and equal opportunity for everyone within the organization increases. In addition, it is crucial to interpret individual DNLA results to the participants of the entire process. In this way, objectivity and transparency are further enhanced, and participants receive valuable feedback for their own development.
Finally, with DNLA we can track progress through two measurement points. After identifying potential, creating an individual development plan, and implementing development activities, it is possible to repeat the measurement within a one-year period and see concrete data on progress in potential and the development of managerial competencies.
Using the DNLA questionnaire in practice
Now that we have covered the theory, we move on to practice. Let us assume that an organization decides to use the DNLA questionnaire specifically for the purpose of potential development. Identified talents within the organization access the online DNLA questionnaires and begin completing them, which takes a maximum of two hours.
It is worth noting that the questionnaire is not in the standard “agree–disagree” format. In this questionnaire, participants are placed in specific situations and are required to actively reflect, after which their reactions in particular situations are evaluated.
After completing the questionnaire, the expert team of our consultants creates individualized reports that are sent to HR. The HR team then analyzes the interpreted results in the context of organizational culture, strategic goals, and specific roles. At this stage, a meeting is most often organized in which the expert team comments on the report in order to clarify the identified strengths and areas for improvement for each individual respondent.
In the case of a larger number of participants and talents, a group report is created so that the level of development of the entire group of participants can be seen in one place. This is very valuable information because at the organizational level it provides key insights and raises awareness of development areas.
Finally, an individual conversation is conducted with all participants, often involving the line manager and HR, together with our consultants. Such a conversation lasts 60 minutes, which opens space for a detailed analysis of each segment. Participants state that this conversation was the most useful for their development, motivation, and understanding of expectations. At that point, each participant also receives guidelines for development and fulfilling their potential. Based on this, individualized development plans can also be created.
The organization then independently takes over the further development of participants through internal mentoring programs, rotation or job shadowing practices, and internal leadership academies. On the other hand, some organizations opt for external programs for leadership potential development or other training programs for the development of professional skills targeted at the entire group of employees, with the aim of collectively working on certain competencies. After one year of intensive work on competency development, the process is concluded with a repeat DNLA measurement and evaluation of progress.
In short, the entire questionnaire process looks like this:
- Assessment – Selected employees complete the online DNLA-ESK and/or DNLA-MM questionnaires.
- Results analysis – The expert team interprets the results in the context of organizational culture, strategic goals, and specific roles.
- Feedback – Each participant receives individualized, constructive feedback that encourages developmental motivation.
- Development plan – Based on the findings, individual development plans are created, which may include coaching, training, internal mentoring, or role rotations.
- Monitoring and re-evaluation – The process is concluded with repeat measurement, evaluation of progress, and additional adjustments to the development path.
Assessing leadership potential is therefore not just an evaluation tool, but a key process for strategic HRM, optimal utilization of potential, and the sustainable development of the organization. It is also the only way for an organization to objectively and thoroughly assess the abilities, leadership styles, and development needs of its leaders.
