Growing Great People Diagnostic

Why it Matters

70% of people's engagement (and thus, their productivity and discretionary effort) is determined by their immediate manager. This is true on the front lines. It's just as true in the boardroom. We know this firsthand.

Michelle Rushton and Shaun Kenny, co-founders of the Influence Engine platform, have worked with hundreds of thousands of leaders around the globe. From this experience they've learned that effective people leaders do two things well: they Stretch their people (challenging them to grow), and they Support them in getting there.

Support

The leader provides the encouragement, coaching and mentoring people need to succeed.

Safe

People feel valued, supported and guided, but not challenged or growing.

Growing

People are growing in competence, confidence and commitment.

Stagnant

People feel neglected, without direction or guidance, like they're treading water.

Stressed

People feel challenged but not supported. They feel overwhelmed and not set up for success.

Stretch

The leader challenges people to grow through high expectations, accountability and increasing responsibility.

What it measures

This diagnostic focuses on the interactions between people leaders and their direct reports. It measures the quality and quantity of specific leadership behaviours, as reported by the leader themselves, their direct reports and their direct manager.

	Support	Stretch
ConversationsWhat leaders do	Coaching Positive Feedback Training	Expectation-Setting Constructive Feedback Delegation
MindsetsHow leaders think	Empathy Strengths-based approach	High expectations Growth mindset
Systems & StructuresWhat leaders create	Regular 1:1s Development Plans Learning Opportunities Accessible Support	Clear Goals Performance Standards Stretch Assignments Decision Ownership Accountability Reviews

Metrics

Quantity. Is the leader engaging in specific behaviours with enough frequency and consistency?

Quality. Are these leadership behaviours having a positive impact on their relationship with, and the results of, their people?

Feedback · Conversations

Sample Excerpt

People Leader · Q3 2025

Two feedback behaviours (each scored for both Quantity & Quality).

Constructive Feedback Stretch

Quantity

82

Quality

61

Positive Feedback Support

Quantity

34

Quality

76

AI Insight

"This leader gives plenty of constructive feedback and it mostly lands. The clear gap is recognition. Positive feedback is rare. When they do acknowledge good work it’s specific and well-received, so the opportunity is frequency, not skill."

Showing 2 of 6 conversations

What you get

Diagnostic report

For the individual leader

✓Report – a beautifully presented, clear, detailed and practical report accessed through the Influence Engine portal (or exported to PDF)
✓Future state – a clear vision of what great looks like
✓Current state – a precise picture of how others experience your leadership today
✓Gap – the gap between your intention and your impact
✓Insight – AI-powered insight informed by benchmarking data and personalised to your profile
✓Roadmap – specific development priorities for increasing Stretch and Support
✓Reinforcement – periodic behavioural nudges to your inbox to reinforce continuous, practical improvement

Dashboard

For the organisation

✓Clarity – a clear, beautifully presented dashboard depicting patterns across a cohort (individual identifiers removed)
✓Current state – see the spread of specific leadership behaviours and their impacts at a glance
✓Trends – track behavioural trends over time: the shifts in leadership behaviours and leadership impact
✓Insight – AI-powered insight informed by benchmarking data and personalised to this cohort
✓Roadmap – development priorities across the cohort, and the actions the organisation and executive can take

Executive Cohort

38 General Managers

⚠ Low Stretch

Support74

Coaching82

Positive feedback54

Training86

Stretch46

Expectation setting36

Constructive feedback40

Delegation62

Key pattern: this cohort supports its people well — training and coaching are standouts — but under-stretches them. Expectation setting and constructive feedback are dragging Stretch down, and they're the levers with the most headroom.

What you also get

Guidance from experts

Each diagnostic report is debriefed in a group workshop setting by Shaun Kenny or Michelle Rushton. This is usually part of a leadership development program, team offsite or leadership conference.

Shaun and Michelle are co-founders of the Influence Engine platform and the leadership consultancy People of Influence. For over sixteen years, they have worked closely with executives and their teams, helping them uplift their leadership impact. They have administered the Growing Great People diagnostic to companies across the globe.

This diagnostic pairs with the Growing Great People program that Shaun and Michelle deliver in leadership development programs, at team offsites and at conferences.

Shaun Kenny

Co-Founder, People of Influence & Influence Engine

Michelle Rushton

Co-Founder, People of Influence & Influence Engine

Who's it for

This diagnostic is powerful for anyone with direct reports, including executives. As you may have noticed at your organisation, some of the people who’d most benefit from this are executives. Not only that, if they shift their approach, it has an outsized impact on organisational success.

Executives Senior Leaders People Leaders Managers & Team Leaders

How it Works

Assessment Sources

Self-assessment

Manager

Reports

Manager

Leader

Self-assess

Reports

A 360° view of each leader