Leadership Development Strategic Priority Diagnostic
A structured way to align leaders around the leadership capabilities that will most improve
business performance over the next 24 months.
Eight leadership categories, scoped to the leader level(s) you're focused on and weighed against
the priority you assign to each one, producing a priority ranking with guidance on where to focus
first. Takes 15-20 minutes to complete thoughtfully. Your answers save automatically on this
device as you go.
Why this matters
Leadership capability gaps are expensive, even when nobody names them directly. They show
up as slow decisions, inconsistent execution, unplanned turnover, and initiatives that
stall after the kickoff meeting. This diagnostic gives you a structured, defensible way to
see which leadership category is most worth fixing first, and why.
What happens after you submit
You'll get a personalized report that ranks every category by priority, explains what your
scores mean, and names the specific questions - sequencing, format, how it fits your
calendar - that are worth a direct conversation rather than a guess. If you request a
consult, we work through those questions with you.
How this form flows
1
Who's completing this
→
2
Business framing
→
3
Priority rating
→
4
Capability ratings
We found a saved draft from earlier.
Resume where you left off or start over.
Who's completing this
We use this to route your report and, if you opt in, to schedule a follow-up.
Next→Connect that context to what the business actually needs from leadership over the next 24 months.
Business framing
Connect business needs to leadership capability needs.
This narrows which statements you rate in Step 4 to the level(s) where you want the most immediate
leverage. Select more than one if you're assessing across a range of leaders (for example,
Mid-Level and Senior together), but for the sharpest read, consider submitting once per level
instead - pooling very different populations into one rating can blur two different realities
together. It does not affect your score by itself - the ratings you give still drive the result.
Next→Turn those business risks into a priority rating for each category, rather than assuming they all matter equally.
Rate the priority of each category
This is what actually drives your priority ranking. For each category, rate how important it is
to address right now, given the outcomes and risks you named above. When you pick a priority,
assume you're already weighing impact and urgency together - there's no separate weighting step.
There's no default here on purpose - a guess would quietly skew the ranking, so every category
needs your own call before you can see results.
Scale: 5 = critical, needs attention now. 1 = not a current priority. The dropdown
spells out what each number means when you open it.
Next→Rate what's actually happening in each category today. This is the longest step, but Steps 1-3 are what turn these ratings into a ranked priority list instead of a plain self-assessment.
Leadership capability diagnostic
Rate each statement based on what you see today. Scale: 1 = significant gap,
3 = mixed or inconsistent, 5 = consistent strength across leaders. Choose "N/A" if you can't
observe this directly - it will be excluded from your average rather than counted as a low score.
Other considerations
These do not affect scoring. Use them to capture context that should shape design and implementation decisions.
Your Results (preview)
This is a live preview. Submit the form to receive your full report by email.
Completed
0
Overall avg
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High priority
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Top priority
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What do these results mean?
Each category below gets an average rating, a plain-language status, and a priority score.
The priority score blends how big the gap is with the priority you set for that category in Step 3,
so the category at the top is not always the one with the lowest average - it is the one most worth
acting on first.
Avg
Your average rating (1-5) across the items you rated in that category. Not affected by the Step 3 priority rating.
Status (Strength / Generally solid / Inconsistent capability / Material capability gap)
A plain read of that average alone - how strong the category looks today, independent of priority.
Priority score (0-10)
The number that actually ranks the list. It combines the capability gap, the priority you set for that category in Step 3, and how much of the category you were able to rate.
High / Meaningful / Lower priority
Bands on that 0-10 score: High is 5.5 and up, Meaningful is 3.0 to 5.49, Lower is below 3.0.
Tied
This category's priority score is essentially equal to a neighbor's. Ties are broken by the Step 3 priority rating, then coverage, but treat tied categories as equally important rather than reading the order between them too literally.
Items rated / Limited coverage
How many of that category's statements you actually rated. A category scored from just one or two items still gets ranked, but it's flagged as directional rather than conclusive when coverage is thin.
N/A
Items marked "not observed" are left out of the average rather than counted as a low score.
Priority ranking
Priority = the capability gap (how far a category's average sits below a perfect 5) ×
the priority rating you set in Step 3 × response confidence, then scaled to 0-10.
Address top areas first.
Get Your Full Report
Submitting sends your responses to Burns Leadership Consulting for scoring. You'll receive a
personalized PDF report by email at the address above. Your full report includes:
Every category ranked by priority, with the score behind each ranking
A status read on each category (strength, inconsistent, or a material gap)
A specific next step for every category, not just the top one
Early win guidance: how to scope a first 90-120 day move
Where the data stops and a conversation with us is the right next step
