Assessing leadership capability to drive excellence in customer operations

Energy and Utilities is undergoing significant change. With system migrations, large-scale restructures, and rapid growth, suppliers face a complex landscape that requires strong leadership to navigate – but how do you measure this strength?

As organisations evolve, it's important to assess whether leaders are truly meeting the needs of both customers and employees, which will have undoubtably shifted during a transformation. This involves a thorough evaluation of operational effectiveness and organisational capabilities, ensuring leaders possess the necessary skills, values, and behaviours to drive business goals forward.

Based on our experience, most transformations fail to achieve their intended outcomes. They often succeed in completing a process or system change, but overlook the impact on people. This is typically due to poor leadership and a lack of sustainability planning, while research from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) suggests there are wider issues at play:

• Only 27% of workers view their manager as highly effective, despite 25% of the UK workforce holding management roles
• 82% of managers in leadership positions have never received formal management training, leaving many in roles they were unprepared for
• 46% of managers surveyed believe that promotions within their organisations are frequently awarded for the wrong reasons

In this blog, we’ll show how leadership capability can be assessed, producing insight to improve performance, enhance culture, and increase customer satisfaction. We’ll draw on our award-winning Leadership Excellence programme, which has helped organisations uplift leadership capability by 30-60% while navigating periods of change.

Combining three methods for a holistic understanding of people capability

To drive improvements in leadership capability, you must first gain a comprehensive understanding of your people, their capabilities, and potential opportunities. Consider a multi-faceted approach, focusing on three key areas:

Bespoke psychometric testing, tailored to your business

A strengths-based assessment, looking at natural working styles, behaviours, and competency profiles, is key for understanding the personality traits most common amongst leaders. These results can be benchmarked against national middle-management data, providing valuable insights around internal performance.

From here, leaders can be categorised based on their potential and readiness for development:

• High-performers: These individuals are well-equipped to drive change and inspire others. Empowering them to take on more strategic roles can amplify their impact
• High-potential: These individuals show promise but may need encouragement, targeted development, or opportunities to refine their skills
• Needing additional support: Some leaders may require specific interventions to thrive in their roles
• Opportunity to reposition: Individuals may be identified as better suited to roles outside of leadership – identifying this early means talents can be realigned to more valuable areas

For example, if the bespoke testing reveals gaps in commercial awareness among leaders, it provides a clear starting point for targeted action. This might include deeper diagnostic work to uncover the root causes, followed by tailored development initiatives. Bespoke training sessions could focus on bridging knowledge and experience gaps with real-world scenarios, addressing the most pressing challenges in that operational area.

Face-to-face interviews

Immersion into business operations is also highly valuable, engaging directly with a cross-section of leaders through in-depth interviews, to explore everything from company culture and operational dynamics, to individual strengths and areas for growth. This often uncovers critical challenges, such as vulnerabilities stemming from “face-fit” cultures, struggles with time management, or a lack of confidence in handling difficult conversations. These insights provide a more nuanced understanding of what’s working well, and where targeted improvements can make the greatest impact.

Additionally, "go see" activities can be incredibly effective. Observing leaders as they interact with teams in everyday settings - whether through visual communication, real-time coaching, or managing daily operations - provides a deeper understanding of their leadership style and helps identify opportunities for improvement. In our experience, these observations have uncovered insights such as that only 20% of leaders discuss team performance daily, with 60% rating these discussions as effective. They can also highlight how hybrid working affects team dynamics, such as a preference for online discussions even when team members are in the office, reducing opportunities for face-to-face interaction.

Observational leadership capability assessment

Engaging directly with leaders through performance discussions, coaching sessions, and problem-solving exercises provides insights into how they handle challenges and lead their teams. This hands-on approach allows you to observe real-world leadership behaviours and identify areas for development that might not be apparent from surface-level trends.

To make the most of these observations, consider combining qualitative insights with quantitative analysis. This dual approach can help uncover recurring themes, establish baseline capabilities, and pinpoint where leadership improvements are most needed. For example, tracking metrics such as the percentage of performance discussions that lead to actionable outcomes, whether previous actions were reviewed, and if recommended performance tools were utilised, can offer a clear picture of current effectiveness and opportunities for growth.

Building your organisational readiness for change

In addition to evaluating leadership capability, it’s equally important to assess the systems and structures that support your people. Are they truly set up to help leaders thrive?

A key part of this is understanding whether the frameworks you have in place enable performance at every level. A thorough assessment of your organisation's core systems can uncover whether they’re fit for purpose and support the growth of high-performing teams.

Here are four essential areas to consider:

• Building Brilliant People – Are your structures and systems designed to encourage the development of high performing teams and individuals?
• Driving High Performance – Does your organisation have a culture of continuous improvement, striving for excellence in every aspect? Are your leaders equipped with the right tools to engage in meaningful performance conversations that push for consistent high performance?
• Fostering a Culture of Improvement – Is there a genuine a problem-solving culture that consistently seeks opportunities for improvement, empowering individuals with the autonomy to drive meaningful change?
• Standardising Best Practices – Are the habits in place to consistently identify operational efficiency, leading to cost reduction, continuous improvement opportunities, and increased customer satisfaction?

If you aren’t answering yes to these questions, any efforts to improve leadership capability are likely fall short. Instead, view this as an opportunity to take targeted action, ensuring the right environment is in place for leaders to grow, thrive, and drive meaningful change across your organisation.

Accelerating leadership development in a dedicated programme

Everything we’ve explored here comes together in our Leadership Excellence programme, which has delivered real, tangible results for our clients - improving employee engagement, boosting customer satisfaction, and achieving operational savings.

The insights we gather are utilised in a detailed diagnostic report that maps out the strengths and development areas of your leaders. We align leadership capability with your organisation’s values and goals, providing a clear sense of direction for improvement.

By establishing a baseline and identifying specific priorities, we help you focus on where leadership development will make the biggest impact. This tailored approach ensures your efforts are targeted, effective, and measurable - leading to meaningful change across your organisation.

At BFY, we partner with clients to complete the diagnostic phase, leading to the design and successful implementation of bespoke solutions that strengthen leadership and embed sustainable practices. Our clients typically see leadership capabilities improve by 30-60%, driving better outcomes across operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement.

Here's an example of how this transformation typically unfolds:

For more on how we can help your leaders to thrive, contact Kev Brown.