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How we measure

How to Interpret Our Leadership Ratings

Every leader we work with is rated by the people around them on the same 1 to 5 scale. Here is what each number means, so a move from 3.9 to 4.2 reads the way it should.

The 1 to 5 scale

Rating scale from 5 down to 1, with what each range means
5Walks on water

The most exceptional person raters have seen in this role. You will see very few fives.

Rare by design. Protect it.

4The bar: exceptional

Above average, with an outsized positive impact. This is what you want in your organization.

The standard we aim every leader toward.

3.0 to 3.9Average, and average is not good

Not fatal, but anything in the threes needs a development plan to reach a 4.

A development priority, not a pass.

1 to 2.9A red flag

Taken seriously. A decision is needed quickly: a plan to reach a 3 fast, or what happens next. A 1 is the polar opposite of a 5.

A serious conversation, right away.

Why a 4 is the bar

A 4 is what you want across a leadership team: above average, with an outsized positive effect on the people who work with that leader. That is why a 3.9 is not a near miss. It is still average, and it calls for a plan.

Moving from 3.9 to 4.2 is the difference between average and exceptional in the eyes of the people who work with that leader every day.

What the scores do and do not mean

  • Raters judge the person in the seat, not the seat itself.
  • The score is not a grade; it is a decision.
  • Scores come from the people who work with the leader: the supervisor, peers, direct reports and key partners. The leader's own rating is context, not the measure.
  • This is our scale for reading stakeholder ratings. It is not a standardized psychological test, and a rating is not by itself a measure of business results.

Where you will see it

We use this scale in every 14-Day Executive Leadership Diagnostic and in the stakeholder pulses at day 30, 60 and 90, so every number on this site reads the same way.

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GPS Leadership Solutions helps CEOs and executive teams find out where their organization is bottlenecked and fix it. Our work centers on the 14-Day Executive Leadership Diagnostic: we identify the real bottleneck, then give the executive team a strategic plan and the tools to implement the changes that increase speed, effectiveness and profitability. We support implementation through executive coaching, retreats and workshops, and we run it through the Executive Impact System, which gives leaders an automated, metrics-based way to track behavior change and hold the organization accountable to what it agreed. Based in Woodbridge, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

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