Executive
Self-Assessment
Suite

Assessment & Discovery Tools

A structured six-part assessment covering your foundation, skills,
role, development needs, and how you describe what you do.

About This Suite

Most executives can describe what they do in operational terms. Fewer can answer the foundational questions: why they chose this path, what qualifications actually brought them here, and how they would describe their value to someone who had sixty seconds to hear it. Those gaps are not failures of self-awareness - they are simply questions that rarely get asked in the day-to-day work of running something.

This suite moves through six distinct dimensions of executive identity. The early sections on journey and skills are often the hardest to sit with - not because they are complex, but because they ask for specificity in places where executives tend to stay general. The later sections on role clarity, development needs, and the elevator pitch are where patterns from the earlier work start to connect. Most people find that what they wrote in the first two sections either confirms or complicates what they write in the last two.

The sections build on each other, but they do not have to be completed in one sitting. Each section produces something usable on its own.

How to Use This Assessment Suite

  1. Start with the Journey section. Answer the three opening questions before moving forward. These ground the rest of the tool - without them, the skills and role sections tend to stay surface-level.
  2. In the Skills Inventory, aim for specificity. The examples grid is a prompt, not a ceiling - fill the cells with language that is precise to your experience.
  3. Rate honestly in the Skills section. The value is in the gap between Excellent and where you actually land, not in having everything clustered at the strong end.
  4. In the Role section, use the Comments column. Your answers are what a new stakeholder would need to understand your context quickly.
  5. Treat the Development table as a commitment. Identifying a development need without an action is just an observation. Fill in all three columns.
  6. Write the Elevator Pitch last. By the time you reach it, you will have articulated your qualifications, skills, role, and development direction. The pitch is the synthesis.
1

Section 1 - Executive Journey

Considering why you became an executive gives you the foundation to build from. Answer these questions before moving to the remaining sections.

Why did I become an executive?
What are my executive qualifications and experience?
What are my executive skills and qualities?
2

Section 2 - Skills Inventory

List your executive skills below - as specifically as you can. Use the examples at the bottom as a starting point, then add your own in the grid cells above.

My Skills

Examples to Draw From

These are starting points. Replace generic terms with language specific to your experience and context.

     
Strategic Self-motivated Understanding
Forward thinking Positive Objective
Enthusiastic Flexible Resilient
Loyal Generous Focused
3

Section 3 - Executive Skills Rating

Rate each area by marking a point on the scale. The value is in identifying where the gaps are largest - those are the areas where a development plan can have the most impact.

Communication Skills
Excellent
Limited
Business Development Skills
Excellent
Limited
Business Acumen
Excellent
Limited
Financial Skills
Excellent
Limited
Leadership Skills
Excellent
Limited

Section 4 - Executive Role

Understanding your role and responsibilities clarifies your key objectives. The examples column is illustrative - write your specific answers in the Comments column.

Question Examples Your Comments
What are your objectives as an executive? To provide direction and leadership in the growth of our business  
Do you cover any specialist areas? Marketing executive; Operations lead; Finance director  
What are your responsibilities? To build strategic direction... To lead stakeholders... To track progress against growth milestones  
4

Section 5 - Executive Development

Ongoing development is essential for executives to continue growing as business leaders. For each responsibility, identify where development is needed and what specific action you will take. Fill in all three columns - a development need without an action is just an observation.

Responsibility Development Need Action
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5

Section 6 - Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a concise description of who you are and what you deliver - clear enough to share in sixty seconds. Complete each sentence stem, then use them to draft a final pitch. By this point in the suite, you have articulated your qualifications, skills, role, and development direction. The pitch is the synthesis of all of it.

I am executive of a company called...  
...which produces...  
...for...  
...to help them to...  
...through...  
Your Strapline - a single memorable phrase that captures what you do and why it matters

Before Your Next Session

Where is the largest gap between the skills you rated highest and the responsibilities you listed in Section 4? What does that gap cost you in practice?

Looking at your Elevator Pitch alongside your original answer to "Why did I become an executive?" - are you still building toward what you named at the beginning? What has shifted?

6

Tandem Coaching Partners

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partnering with executives and organizations
to unlock sustainable growth.

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contact-us

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