PREFACE

In 2008 the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), through its partner Pfeiffer (at that time an imprint of John Wiley & Sons but since rebranded), published Evaluating the Impact of Leadership Development, by Kelly M. Hannum and Jennifer W. Martineau. Building on the work of Hannum and Martineau, CCL has continued to grow and develop its practice of evaluating its programs, products, and services—efforts it started in the early 1970s. This revised edition of Evaluating the Impact of Leadership Development reflects the work of the broader group of CCL evaluators who continue these efforts today in collaboration with colleagues, collaborators, and clients. For decades CCL has designed and conducted evaluations for clients in the corporate, government, nonprofit, and educational sectors on six continents, giving us a global as well as contextual perspective.

Our goal with this revised edition is to continue CCL’s tradition of sharing what we learn from our work with a broad range of professionals who practice in the fields of leadership development and its evaluation. Our aim is to add to the available information about the processes and tools used in evaluating leadership development. This book is a practical guide for human-resource professionals, consultants, managers, employees, and volunteers who have leadership-development responsibilities and want to enhance their knowledge and skills in fulfilling those responsibilities and to demonstrate the value of their work.

As with the previous edition, we have combined basic education about evaluation with examples of evaluation design processes and tools specific to leadership development. This information gives individuals with or without evaluation training—but who have some behavioral-sciences knowledge or experience in the organizational-development field—an understanding of what it takes to design, implement, report on, and use evaluation findings about the impact of leadership development on individuals, groups, organizations, and communities. Although reading this book will not make you an expert evaluator, we have presented a broad array of tools and processes from which readers can choose when designing and conducting their own evaluations.

For this edition we have updated, edited, and added to the solid foundation of the 2008 edition. We have organized the present edition according to the stages of the evaluation cycle introduced in Chapter One. Next, in Chapter Two, we outline the steps in the first phase of the cycle: gathering information and planning and conceptualizing the evaluation. In this chapter we have updated our guidance on identifying stakeholders, surfacing expectations, defining outcomes, and understanding the initiative design. We added sections on evaluating virtual initiatives, creating a results framework, and developing rubrics.

In Chapter Three we added a table that shows the advantages and disadvantages of the most commonly used data-collection methods and updated the sample forms and advice based on our more recent experience and perspectives. We have updated references to resources that we think are helpful for developing a deeper understanding or skill set that we were not able to fully address in this book or that may not be relevant for everyone. In Chapter Four we focus on interpreting and communicating results, the third phase of the evaluation cycle. In this chapter we added tips on data visualization and using rubrics to engage stakeholders in interpreting results. Chapter Five, a new chapter, outlines the final phase of the cycle: implementing changes and sharing lessons learned. In Chapter Six, also a chapter that was added in this edition, we focus on the future with emerging issues, trends, and future directions in leadership development and evaluation that we think are worthy of attention.

Given the fact that we have based this book on our experiences and collaborative work, there are more people who have contributed to this work than we could possibly name. We are especially grateful to our reviewers and CCL’s editorial staff. We extend our thanks to Jennifer Martineau, Emily Hoole, Steve Rush, Pete Scisco, and Judy Turpin. We also want to thank our CCL research and evaluation colleagues: Anand Chandrasekar, Kristin Cullen-Lester, Regina Eckert, Valerie Ehrlich, Mike Raper, Micela Leis, and Stephen Young. Some of the examples used in the book are related to their work. We would like to acknowledge our CCL colleagues and clients who have collaborated and learned with us in the pursuit of a deeper understanding of the impact of leadership development. We also thank those acknowledged in the previous edition of this book. Finally, and most important, we are grateful to our friends and family, who provide us with ongoing support, encouragement, and understanding.