Developmental Assessments
Build leadership capabilities with clear, evidence-based insights to drive mission results.OPM offers leadership and talent development assessments and services to help agencies build the capabilities needed to achieve their mission. Grounded in federal leadership and workforce competencies, these tools give current and aspiring leaders clear, actionable insight into their effectiveness. Together, these tools offer complementary perspectives that deepen self‑awareness and support focused, meaningful development.
Leadership assessments
Based on years of research and OPM expertise, each leadership assessment aligns with the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) competencies, ensuring relevance to the leadership demands of government service. Participants receive evidence‑based feedback on strengths and development needs, while select solutions also provide aggregate, data‑driven findings to identify skill gaps, inform workforce planning, and guide targeted development investments.
The OPM Leadership 360™ is a feedback tool that gives government leaders a clear, comprehensive view of their leadership strengths and development needs based on the Executive Core Qualifications. The OPM Leadership 360™ uses a structured process to collect feedback from multiple sources—the leader, their supervisor, peers, direct reports, and other stakeholders—to reveals how others experience a leader’s behaviors, helping them build self‑awareness and focus their development where it matters most.
The OPM Leadership Potential Assessment (OPM LPA) is a feedback tool designed to provide insights to aspiring government leaders on nine competencies and five motivational factors that are critical for career growth and success in a formal leadership role. The OPM LPA uses a structured process to collect feedback from multiple sources— the aspiring leader, their supervisor, peers, and other stakeholders—revealing how others experience their leadership behaviors to provide a powerful foundation for targeted development and career growth.
The OPM Personality Assessment for Leaders (OPM-PAL) is designed to deepen leaders’ self-awareness by providing insights on personality-based preferences and tendencies that shape their leadership style.
Based on the well-established, research-backed Five Factor Model of personality—also known as the “Big Five” (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness, and Emotional Stability)—the OPM-PAL provides insights tailored specifically for federal leaders.
OPM psychologists have linked the five factors to the competencies within the OPM Executive Core Qualifications, providing participants with targeted feedback on how their personality impacts their effectiveness as a leader. The OPM-PAL can be used on its own or paired with the OPM Leadership 360™ or OPM Leadership Potential Assessment. Together, these assessments deliver a more holistic perspective on leadership strengths and opportunities for growth.
The OPM Leadership 4(X) Surveys take leadership assessment to the next level by linking upward feedback to leaders with work unit climate for accountability, employee engagement, or innovation. Leaders gain clear, actionable insights into how their behaviors impact the workplace. The OPM L4-(Accountability) and OPM L4-(Innovation) versions provide a fresh, timely focus on accountability for performance and innovation to drive efficiency. Detailed reports and hands-on consultation from OPM promote accountability for leadership development that moves the organization toward a common goal.
OPM offers individual feedback and coaching in conjunction with OPM’s suite of leadership assessments.
Individual feedback sessions are single-engagement, one-on-one meetings. In these sessions, an OPM facilitator guides the participant through their feedback report, helping them interpret results and understand key insights. The facilitator also provides an opportunity to discuss specific behaviors or competencies the participant may wish to target for development, ensuring the session is focused, actionable, and tailored to the participant’s growth needs.
Leadership coaching is a multi-session engagement that supports government leaders in recognizing their strengths and opportunities for growth, and in designing goals and actions to reach their full potential. Through a collaborative partnership, coaches serve as thought partners, accountability partners, and resource providers, helping leaders define and work toward their definition of success. Individual leadership coaching is offered in packages of three sessions per participant.
Group coaching brings together leaders—often from different teams or organizations—who participate in a shared learning environment while pursuing their own individual goals, benefiting from peer insights and support. Team coaching engages a group of leaders in working together toward a shared goal.
Talent development assessments
Our talent development assessments provide agencies with data-driven insights to strengthen workforce capabilities and close skill gaps. Through the OPM Competency Growth Inventory, Competency Gap Assessment and Training Needs Analysis, we evaluate current strengths, identify development needs, and uncover opportunities for targeted improvement. These assessments inform strategic workforce planning, guide employee development, and ensure the right skills are in place to achieve organizational goals.
The OPM Competency Growth Inventory is designed to support individual development planning by assessing strengths and identifying development needs across 22 competencies identified as critical for government‑wide occupations under the Federal Workforce Competency Initiative. Participants receive personalized feedback report highlighting their strengths and areas for growth. In addition, we provide agencies with aggregate-level analyses of workforce gaps to support data‑driven workforce planning and strategic talent management.
Competency Gap Analysis is a systematic approach for identifying and measuring employees’ current proficiency in job-related competencies and comparing this to the level of proficiency the organization has established as required or desired. The methodology used for gap analysis varies depending on the purpose. Our flexible approach can be tailored to agency goals, offering options and key considerations that provide a strong foundation for selecting the most effective strategy to identify competencies gaps. The results provide information about competency gaps in the workforce and inform future training and strategic hiring efforts to close gaps and ensure employees have the competency proficiency necessary to perform successfully.
OPM's Training Needs Assessment is a structured process used to identify and prioritize the learning and development requirements within an organization. We help agencies examine perceived training needs, the current state of training programs, and the organizational factors that enable or hinder effective training. Our approach is highly customizable. A typical analysis may include review of agency materials, stakeholder interviews, focus groups, and employee surveys. Skill or competency gap analyses can also be incorporated for more comprehensive insights. Results provide insights into both the what and the why behind training needs so organizations can design learning initiatives that are relevant, impactful, and aligned with their broader goals.