The Upwrd Manager Capability Diagnostic
Stop guessing where your manager capability gaps are.
Identify the real causes of ineffective leadership behaviour. Target development where it will actually change behaviour.
Most organisations have a sense that something isn't quite right with how their managers are leading. Engagement data suggests it. Escalation patterns hint at it. Senior leaders feel it.
But sensing it and seeing it clearly are two very different things.
The Upwrd Manager Capability Diagnostic gives HR, People teams and Senior Leaders a clear, evidence-based picture of where capability gaps sit across your manager population - and, crucially, why those gaps exist. So development investment goes where it will actually make the biggest difference.
Why This Matters
Engagement scores. Performance ratings. Competency frameworks. Learning participation data.
None of these tell you where to focus first to strengthen manager capability. They capture sentiment, not behaviour. They measure individuals, not the system. They set expectations. They don't show what's actually happening.
So most organisations end up with a sense of the themes - "we need a better feedback culture," "we need more accountability" - without knowing which specific behaviours are creating the biggest risk, which cohorts of managers are struggling most, or where to start.
That's the gap the Diagnostic closes.
Most managers believe they're addressing underperformance or damaging behaviours more consistently than their teams experience it. They overestimate how clearly they set expectations. They overestimate how regularly they give feedback.
This isn't dishonesty. It's the absence of a mirror.
The Diagnostic provides one.
What The Diagnostic Reveals
Behavioural data across three core dimensions:
The Diagnostic maps management behaviour across the three dimensions that define effective leadership:
Courage
- Are managers having the difficult conversations?
- Addressing underperformance promptly?
- Owning decisions and their consequences?
Compassion
- Are they genuinely developing their people?
- Giving specific, actionable feedback?
- Creating the conditions for psychological safety?
Ownership
- Are they setting clear expectations - for both outputs and behaviour?
- Holding themselves to the same standards they set?
- Handling people situations independently?
For each dimension, you see where behaviours are strongest and weakest across your manager population, and where the gap between self-perception and team experience is largest.
What Makes The Diagnostic Different
Most diagnostics tell you scores are low. We tell you why.
By measuring four distinct layers, we can pinpoint exactly what kind of intervention will actually work:
- Whether managers know what behaviours are expected of them
- Whether they know how to demonstrate those behaviours
- Whether they believe those behaviours matter
- Whether employees actually experience those behaviours consistently
That's what allows us to recommend developmental solutions with confidence - from leadership standards creation, communication and expectation-setting, to leadership skills training that builds real confidence, to group or personalised leadership coaching that shifts mindset and embeds lasting behaviour change.
The behaviours we measure are defined by accredited practitioners with deep experience across people-first organisations - grounded in what teams actually experience, not what leadership theory says should matter.
Frequency-based behavioural questions: not opinion, not attitude. What managers and teams report actually happening.
Paired manager and team member surveys: surfaces the gap between how managers see themselves and how their teams experience their leadership.
Ranked findings with development recommendations: clear evidence for your investment decisions, not a data dump.
How The Manager Capability Diagnostic Works
Four steps from setup to recommendations
1. Cohort setup
You define your cohort structure - a team, a division, or your whole manager population. We generate unique survey links for each group, which you distribute through your own channels.
2. Surveys completed
Three short, anonymous surveys - one for team members, one for managers, one for senior leaders. Each takes under 10 minutes. The behaviours we measure are drawn from years of leadership development practitioner experience - grounded in what teams actually experience, not what leadership theory says should matter.
3. Analysis
We analyse the data - identifying where the biggest gaps sit, how far manager self-perception diverges from team experience, which behaviours to prioritise first, and the likely root causes behind the gaps.
4. Debrief session
We present findings and recommendations in a live session, walking you through the output report and what it means for your organisation.
The Output Report
The data to say: this is where we focus, this is why, and this is what we're doing about it.
The report moves leadership development from intuition to evidence. Six things it gives you:
✓ Priority behaviours ranked - where to focus first, not everywhere at once.
✓ Scores by manager level and function - which cohorts have the biggest gaps and where the risk is highest. Individual responses are never surfaced.
✓ Perception gap analysis - where managers' self-image diverges from how their teams experience their leadership, dimension by dimension.
✓ Likely root causes identified - whether the issue is clarity, capability, belief, or experience - so the right intervention is matched to the right problem.
✓ Recommended development formats - which solutions address each gap and why.
✓ Development roadmap - a sequenced plan you can take to leadership and act on immediately.
Who Is The Diagnostic For?
The right starting point for organisations rethinking manager development.
The Diagnostic is designed for HR, People, Talent and OD leaders or senior business leaders who:
✓ Have a sense that manager capability is an issue - but lack the data to act with confidence.
✓ Have invested in leadership development before but aren't sure it landed how it needed to.
✓ Need to make a case to senior leadership for focused, targeted investment.
✓ Want to avoid spreading development effort too thinly across too many people and programmes.
✓ Are operating in a fast-moving environment where misdiagnosing where to focus carries real cost.
We'll walk you through the Diagnostic and whether it's the right starting point for your organisation. If it isn't, we'll tell you that.