From diagnosis to development
How to deliver the diagnostic so the leader can hear it, then the sprint that turns it into changed behavior.
Delivering the diagnostic
The delivery decides whether the diagnostic produces development or defensiveness. Do not open with scores. Do not open with praise designed to soften what follows; leaders recognize the sandwich and discount the bread. Open with purpose, evidence, and agency.
Before the conversation
- Send nothing in advance except the purpose and the time. A leader who reads raw 360 data alone builds a defense before the conversation starts.
- Prepare three to five observed situations for the headline gap, each in situation, behavior, impact form.
- Prepare the strongest disconfirming evidence you found. Showing it builds credibility.
- Book 90 minutes. Expect to use 60.
The opening
Use these words or close to them:
"I want to start with the headline. The evidence says you are creating real value through some of your strengths, but the way you are operating today is also limiting your effectiveness at this stage of leadership. I am going to show you the data, including where the sources disagree, and I want you to challenge it. The objective is not to get you to agree with a score. It is to identify the one change that would create the greatest leverage from here."
It states the purpose, grounds the conversation in evidence rather than judgment, names strengths as part of the evidence rather than as padding, and says plainly that disagreement is allowed.
The sequence
- Headline. The opening above.
- Leader reads first. Hand over the summary. Ask: "What stands out to you? What surprises you?" Let them interpret before you do.
- Strengths as evidence. What is working, with examples, and how it shows up in results.
- The pattern. The headline gap, shown through situation, behavior, and impact. Then ask about intent: "What were you trying to achieve in that moment?" Intent is worth understanding. It does not erase impact.
- The time picture. Actual allocation against the stage standard. Calendars are hard to argue with.
- Choose together. The leader chooses the headline gap from the top two or three by leverage. Chosen gaps get worked; assigned gaps get managed.
- Close. One sentence linking the gap to the leader's own 18-to-24-month goal, the first experiment, and the date of the first check-in.
When the leader disagrees
Do not defend the diagnostic. Diagnose the disagreement. Ask:
"Which part do you disagree with: the data, our interpretation of the data, or the implication we have drawn from it?"
Those are three different problems.
| Disagreement | Sounds like | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Data | "Those responses are not representative." | Inspect it together: sample size, which rater groups, the specific examples, calendar and activity evidence. If the data is weak, say so and fix it. |
| Interpretation | "Yes, I do that, but you are misreading why." | Walk through situation, behavior, impact, then intent. Separate what they meant from how it landed. |
| Priority | "Maybe it is true, but it is not what I need to change right now." | Return to the stage, the business outcomes, and the leverage math. Sometimes the leader is right: the gap is real but not the highest-leverage one. Say so. |
The priority dispute is the one most often missed, and the one where the leader is most often correct.
Rules for disagreement
- Go below the average. If peers rate collaboration highly and direct reports rate it poorly, the disagreement between sources is itself the signal.
- Make it falsifiable. Ask: "What evidence would tell us this conclusion is wrong?" and "Where do you consistently behave differently from what this data suggests?" A strong diagnostic can be proven wrong.
- Never demand confession. The leader does not have to say "you are right, I am a poor coach." Forced agreement produces compliance, not development.
- Turn unresolved disagreement into an experiment. Define one observable behavior, run it for 30 to 90 days, and measure what changes in behavior, stakeholder experience, and results.
When disagreement persists, use:
"You do not have to agree with my interpretation today. But we should not ignore repeated evidence either. Let us define what would prove or disprove the diagnosis and test it in the work."
The standard of the conversation
Not: "The assessment says you are a 2.8."
Instead: here is the signal, here is our hypothesis about what it means, here is what would make us wrong, here is the behavior we will test, and here is when we will look again.
The 90-day development sprint
Start with the leader's goal
Before any data is shared, ask two questions in order.
"Project forward 18 to 24 months. What is going to be different in your life?" Listen for goals beyond the role, personal and professional, and for an intrinsic motivator the leader is willing to share. A leader who answers only in role terms has not yet connected development to anything they care about.
"What are you doing today to achieve that goal?" Place the answer in the process: not started, planning, acting, or progressing. A leader who has not started on their own goal will not start on a development plan without help.
| Reading | What it means for the sprint |
|---|---|
| Big goal, already progressing | Self-driven. Link the headline gap to the goal and get out of the way |
| Big goal, not started | Motivated but stuck. Make week-1 commitments small, public, and visible to stakeholders |
| Role-only goal, acting | Reliable executor. Tie the headline gap to the role outcome they already care about |
| No goal, nothing started | Development will not stick yet. Spend the first conversation on what they want before what they lack |
Linking. Write one sentence that connects the headline gap to the goal: "You want to run a larger organization within two years. The reason you are not trusted with one yet is that your managers wait for you to decide. That is the gap we are working on." A link the leader agrees with is what carries the sprint through week 8, when enthusiasm drops.
Guardrails. Use the answers to understand motivation, never to evaluate the person. Do not record or act on family, health, or other protected details. If the leader keeps the answer professional, accept it and anchor in professional goals.
Choosing the headline gap
Score each candidate gap 1 to 5 on three factors and multiply.
| Factor | 1 | 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Importance to the role now | Nice to have | Blocking the role's top outcome or the next stage transition |
| Size of the gap | Small | Large, confirmed by multiple rater groups |
| Feasibility in 90 days | Requires years | Visible behavior change possible in a quarter |
Highest product wins, maximum 125. Secondary gaps (2 to 3) are documented but not worked this sprint. If blind spots appear on several competencies, self-awareness is the headline regardless of the math.
Strengths carry the plan
Plan roughly 70% of the effort around deploying existing strengths, 30% around the gap. Name strengths as evidence, not as padding before bad news. A gap-only plan demoralizes and produces defensive participation.
The sponsor agreement
The leader's own manager is the biggest single factor in whether development sticks. Before week 1, agree three things in writing between the leader, the manager, and the coach if there is one:
- Expectations: the headline gap, the target behavior, and the success criteria
- Support: what the manager will do (observe, give feedback, remove a system obstacle) and how often
- Review: the dates of the monthly check-ins and the month-6 review
A sprint without an engaged manager rarely survives the first busy quarter.
Success criteria, set in advance
Write the month-6 bar on day 1, so nobody grades the result after the fact. Use three tiers:
| Tier | Question | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Activity | Is the leader running the experiments? | Experiments completed per week; skip-level sessions held; deal calls attended under the cap |
| Leading | Is the behavior changing how the team performs? | Stakeholder ratings on the headline behavior; time allocation moving toward the standard; team conversion rates, ramp time, forecast accuracy |
| Outcome | Is it producing results? | Team results against plan; regrettable attrition; manager readiness for promotion |
Stakeholder improvement is necessary, not sufficient. If activity and stakeholder ratings improve but outcomes do not move past the expected lag, revisit the headline gap.
Stakeholders
Pick 5 to 8 people who interact with the leader weekly, cover different vantage points, and will stay engaged for 6 months.
Feedforward, at the start. The leader asks each stakeholder: "I am working on {behavior}. What is one suggestion for me going forward?" The leader listens, says thank you, and does not explain or defend.
Monthly check-in. Two questions to each stakeholder: "Have I gotten better, stayed the same, or gotten worse at {behavior}?" and "What is one suggestion going forward?"
The 13 weeks
| Weeks | Work |
|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Share the headline gap with stakeholders; collect feedforward |
| 3 to 4 | Design 2 to 3 behavioral experiments: specific, observable, repeated weekly |
| 5 to 8 | Practice; first monthly check-in at week 8 |
| 9 to 12 | Adjust the experiments; second check-in at week 12 |
| 13 | Retrospective: extend the sprint, or rotate to a secondary gap |
Weekly: 15 minutes of written reflection. What did I try, what happened, what will I change. If a coach or sponsor exists: 30 minutes every two weeks.
Writing an experiment
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| "Be more open to feedback" | "In every forecast call, ask the team for the biggest risk before giving my view, and write down what I hear" |
| "Delegate more" | "Attend no more than two late-stage deal calls per week; brief the manager beforehand instead" |
| "Communicate better" | "Close every leadership meeting by reading back decisions and owners" |
The 12-month arc
A sprint is 90 days. A stage transition takes about a year. Plan two to four sprints:
| Sprint | Typical focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | The headline gap, usually the behavior most tied to the old stage |
| 2 | Extend or deepen it, or move to the second-highest leverage gap |
| 3 to 4 | Consolidate; shift time allocation fully to the new stage standard |
After each sprint, check for relapse at 30 days: has the behavior held without the sprint structure? Old-stage behavior returns under pressure, so check hardest after a difficult quarter.
Re-measurement
Month 6: repeat the full diagnostic with the same raters, re-pull time allocation, and compare against the success criteria set on day 1. Success means most stakeholders report improvement on the headline behavior and the linked business consequence has moved.