In Part 1 of this Engagement Assessment series, you picked your person, you answered all 20 questions, and now you’ve got a column of numbers staring back at you. In Part 2, I’m going to show you where someone lands on the journey from Neutral to Level 5.
Scoring Your Assessment
Now it’s time to fill in the “Assessment Score” column. For most of the questions, this is simple: your rating is your score. If you rated someone a 4, their Assessment Score is a 4. Write it in the third column and move on.
But four of the questions are different. You might have noticed that questions 9, 10, 14, and 15 were worded differently from the rest. Most of the questions ask about positive behaviors, things like taking initiative, helping colleagues, or showing up prepared. But those four ask about negative behaviors: missing deadlines, putting personal recognition first, avoiding colleagues, and resisting feedback. A high rating on those questions actually indicates lower engagement, not higher. So for those four, we need to flip the score.
Step 1: The Flip
For questions 9, 10, 14, and 15 only, use this table to convert your rating into the Assessment Score:
Step 2: Fill In The Rest and Add It Up
For every other question, your Assessment Score is the same as your rating. Once you’ve filled in the entire Assessment Score column, add up all 20 scores and write the total in the box at the bottom of your sheet. Your final sheet should look something like this:
Step 3: Find Their Level
Gallup’s research makes one thing clear: you can’t improve what you haven’t measured. Measurement is the first step organizations must take before they can implement meaningful actions to improve engagement. See where they stand so you can build the best engagement plan.” Skip it, and nothing else you do will move the needle. That number you just calculated isn’t a personality quiz result you screenshot and post to your Instagram story. It’s the starting point of a leadership strategy.”
Take your total and use the chart below to determine which level this person is on the Engagement Pyramid:
What Each Level Looks Like
We covered all six levels of the Engagement Pyramid in detail in several prior posts, so what follows is a quick refresher. If you want the full breakdown of the behaviors, mindsets, and motivations that define each level, click the link above. For now, here’s enough to put your score in context.
Neutral (20-25): “Meh.” Neutrals are disengaged and disconnected, showing little to no interest in contributing to the organization’s success. They are unmotivated and indifferent to doing any more than what is on their job description or what they are told to do.
Level 1 (26-40): “Hmm.” 1s complete their tasks with minimal effort, focusing solely on what’s required without investing emotionally in the team’s success. They’re beginning to observe what’s happening around them but haven’t taken steps to engage meaningfully. Still exploring their role, they have yet to demonstrate consistent skills or results.
Level 2 (41-55): “What’s in it for me?” 2s are passionate about their own growth and personal gain, but they show little interest in contributing to the larger organization. They’ll engage if there’s a direct benefit, such as recognition, social perks, or tangible rewards for themselves. While they’re starting to participate and develop skills, their focus remains primarily on what they can get rather than how they can give.
Level 3 (56-70): “What am I capable of?” 3s are growing in both competence and contribution, becoming slightly more reliable and emotionally invested members of the team, and the team notices. They’re gaining confidence in their abilities and starting to apply them within the organization in small ways. At this stage, they’re beginning to invest in the group by taking on small roles and tasks that benefit others and not just themselves. For the first time, they are thinking beyond themselves and their own job description.
Level 4 (71-85): “What’s next for me?” 4s are leaders-in-training who contribute effectively and reliably in a supporting role. They are supporting the organization’s success in more significant ways. They’re skilled and dependable, often taking on leadership roles and achieving consistent results. While they’re helping others grow and investing in the team, they still need guidance to fully embrace ownership of their role and the organization’s mission.
Level 5 (86-100): “How can I help?” 5s are fully engaged leaders who drive organizational success through their mastery, dedication, and vision. They’ve honed their skills and use them to lead, mentor, and inspire others. Thinking beyond their own roles, they actively seek opportunities to improve the organization and elevate the entire team. For 5s, the company’s success is their success, and vice versa, embodying the highest level of competence and contribution.
Going Even Deeper: Your Competence and Contribution Breakdown
The total score tells you where someone lands on the Engagement Pyramid. But there’s a second layer of insight hiding inside those 20 questions, and it might be even more useful than the level itself.
Of the 20 questions you just answered, 10 measure Competence and 10 measure Contribution. And when you separate those scores, you get a much sharper picture of what’s actually going on.
Imagine two people who both score a 50, placing them squarely at Level 2. Person A scores 35 on Competence and 15 on Contribution. Person B scores 15 on Competence and 35 on Contribution.
Person A is capable. They know how to do their job and they do it reasonably well. But they’re checked out relationally. They’re not connecting with the team, not investing in anyone else’s success, not thinking beyond their own to-do list. This person doesn’t need more training. They need to care about someone or something other themselves and their own task list.
Person B is the opposite. They care about the team. They show up to the optional lunch, they check in on the new hire, they volunteer for the committee nobody else wants to join. But their actual work product is inconsistent, incomplete, or behind schedule. This person doesn’t need another lunch and mingle. They need skill development, clearer expectations, or a better fit for their strengths.
Same score. Same level. Completely different leadership response. The total score tells you where someone is overall. The split tells you what they need to work on.
Let’s break down the scores you got and see where the gap is.
Competence Questions
Questions 1, 3, 5, 7, 9*, 11, 13, 15*, 17, and 19
(*Questions 9 and 15 are reverse-scored. Use your adjusted scores for these.)
Add up your scores for these 10 questions like this:
Contribution Questions
Questions 2, 4, 6, 8, 10*, 12, 14*, 16, 18, and 20
(*Questions 10 and 14 are reverse-scored. Use your adjusted scores for these.)
Add up your scores for these 10 questions like this:
What Your Subscore Tells You
Each sub-score ranges from 10 to 50. Here’s a guide:
Let’s go back to the person we’ve been following throughout this chapter. They scored a 62 on the assessment, which places them at Level 3: “What am I capable of?” That tells us they’re growing, they’re starting to think beyond themselves, and the team is beginning to notice. They’re trending in the right direction. Good news so far.
But a 62 doesn’t tell us what to do next. It’s like knowing someone has a fever without knowing whether it’s the flu or a broken bone. The number tells you something’s going on. The sub-scores tell you what.
When we split their scores, here’s what we find: their Competence score is 21, and their Contribution score is 41. Look at that gap. On the Contribution side, they’re solidly in the “High” range. They care about the team. They’re invested in the mission. They show up for other people. That’s not the problem. The problem is on the Competence side, where they’re sitting at “Developing.” Their execution is inconsistent. The skills aren’t keeping pace with the heart.
They don’t need more motivation or another reason to care. They already care. What they need is help getting better at their job.
And now that we know it’s a Competence issue, we have a specific tool for this. Remember the Management Diamond from the Negative Nellies chapter? The same five diagnostic questions apply here:
- Did they know what to do? Maybe the expectations weren’t as clear as you thought they were. What feels obvious from the leadership seat can look completely different from where they’re sitting.
- Did they know when to do it? Competing priorities and unclear deadlines can make even a motivated person look unreliable.
- Did they know how to do it? This is the pure skills gap. They understood the assignment but didn’t have the knowledge or ability to execute it well.
- Did they know why it was important? Sometimes the connection between their task and the bigger picture isn’t obvious. Without that connection, even someone who cares about the organization can deprioritize the wrong things.
- Why didn’t they do it? If they knew the what, when, how, and why, something else is getting in the way. Fear of failure, lack of resources, or a systemic obstacle you haven’t identified yet.
By walking through these five questions, you move from “this person is a 3 with a Competence gap” to “this person needs clearer expectations on project timelines and a mentor who can help them build their reporting skills.” That’s the difference between a label and a leadership plan.
Now It’s Your Turn
Look at the sub-scores of the person you assessed. Is their gap on the Competence side, the Contribution side, or are both dimensions tracking at roughly the same level?
If the gap is on the Competence side, there’s good news. You just saw how to use the Management Diamond to diagnose exactly where the breakdown is happening. Competence gaps are skill gaps, and skill gaps are trainable. The fix is usually hiding in one of those five questions.
If the gap is on the Contribution side, that’s a different conversation. You’re not dealing with a skill deficit. You’re dealing with how someone relates to the people and the mission around them. Changing that kind of behavior in adults isn’t impossible, but it’s hard. It requires the right motivation or consequence, the right relationships, and often the right moment. It won’t happen because you sent them to a team-building workshop.
But here’s what you have now that you didn’t have before you took this assessment: clarity. You know where your person stands. You know whether the gap is in their skills or in their connection to the team. And you know that those two things require completely different responses from you as a leader.
That’s more than most leaders ever figure out. Most are still guessing. You’re not guessing anymore.
In future posts, we’ll get into specific strategies for engaging each level of the Engagement Pyramid, from waking up your Neutrals to empowering your Level 5 Leaders. But the strategies only work if you know where to aim them. And now you do.
