Net Talent Score
One question that tells you how much people would recommend this leader.
Most 360 reviews measure how well a leader performs. They don't measure whether people want to keep working for them. A leader can score well on every dimension and still have a team that is actively looking for the door. Net Talent Score catches that. One question: "How likely are you to recommend working on a team or project led by [name]?" Respondents answer on a 1-10 scale. Ambassadors (9-10) would seek this leader out again. Supporters (7-8) are satisfied but not committed. Sceptics (6 or lower) have already started to disengage.
Why one question works
In 2003, Fred Reichheld published "The One Number You Need to Grow" in Harvard Business Review. His insight: customer loyalty could be measured with a single question. "Would you recommend this company?" It worked because it was short enough to answer and predictive enough to matter.
We took that insight and applied it to leadership. Instead of asking whether someone would recommend a company, we ask whether they would recommend working for a specific person. The Net Talent Score is the percentage of Ambassadors minus the percentage of Sceptics, producing a number between -100 and +100.
What the number reveals
Net Talent Score answers the question that most 360s avoid: would people choose to work for this person again? High scores on individual dimensions can mask the fact that people are looking for the door. A leader can score well on Focus and Standards and still lose the people they need most.
It surfaces something HR teams usually discover in exit interviews. When a strong performer leaves citing their manager, the data existed. No one chose to ask.
The distribution matters as much as the score itself. A leader with 60% Ambassadors and 20% Sceptics has a very different problem from a leader with 40% Ambassadors and zero Sceptics, even though both might score around +40. One has a loyalty gap. The other has a ceiling. The report shows both, because the path forward depends on which problem you're solving.
References
- Reichheld, F.F. (2003). "The One Number You Need to Grow." Harvard Business Review.