Welcome to The LPI and The Leadership Challenge

Please watch this short video prior to creating your LPI Online account and completing the pre-work.

Below are answers to several frequently asked questions that we receive about the LPI and the administrative process. Additional Questions? Please contact your LPI administrator or the FlashPoint office: 317-229-3035.

about the LPI

  1. What does “LPI” stand for?  - Leadership Practices Inventory.
  2. Who created the LPI?  - Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner—researchers, authors, and leadership experts who have been doing research on leadership together for over 35 years.
  3. What does the LPI measure? - The LPI is based on Kouzes and Posner’s Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® model. It measures how frequently a leader demonstrates 30 leadership behaviors that support the Five Practices: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart.
  4. Who is the LPI for? - Anyone interested in becoming a more effective leader and learning to apply Kouzes and Posner's acclaimed Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® model to real-life challenges and opportunities.
  5. Is there empirical support for the LPI? - Yes, there is considerable empirical support for the framework and assessment. Click here to download the report on the development and validation of the LPI.
  6. What is the difference between the Self and 360 versions of the assessment? - The self only asks how frequently you think you demonstrate the leadership behaviors, whereas the 360 allows you to gather feedback from your manager, direct reports, coworkers and others.

Taking the LPI

  1. How long will it take to complete the LPI? - Approximately 15 minutes.
  2. How many questions are on the LPI? - There are 30 required behavioral statement items on the LPI, plus typically 3 to 5 open-ended questions. You may also receive a few additional questions, which are for research purposes only (e.g., ongoing refinement and validation of the assessment). Your responses to the additional questions are not included in the final report or shared with the leader, the organization, or the administrator.
  3. Do I have to answer the demographic questions? -  No, demographic questions are optional and only used for research purposes and you can skip them. Your responses cannot be viewed by the administrator or by anyone in your organization.
  4. Will the system time me out?  - Yes, if you leave the session idle for 45 minutes. The system will not save responses to the open-ended questions (if applicable). If the system times you out, simply log back in to complete the assessment.
  5. I submitted the LPI but I want to change some answers. What can I do? - If you complete the 30 required items and hit “submit”, you cannot re-enter the assessment or change your answers. The only way you can change answers is if you ask your administrator to clear your entire assessment and you start over.
  6.  I logged in, but I don’t see any or all the assessments I’m supposed to take. Where are they? - This is most likely due to having multiple email aliases (e.g, jane.doe@company.com and jdoe@company.com, or if your name has changed). To remedy the issue, log in to your LPI account, go to “Account Info” in the upper right-hand corner and add other emails you may have in the “Email Alias” lines. Once you do this, the assessments will show up in your account (and you will not need to manage multiple accounts under different email addresses).
  7. If I’ve completed an LPI for someone in the past, do I have to create another account? - No, you should be able to use the same login information you used before. If your email has changed since the first LPI you completed, log in to your existing LPI account, go to “Account Info” in the upper right-hand corner and add other emails you have in the “Email Alias” lines.

FAQ for the Leader

  1. How many observers (aka “raters”) should I invite to complete the LPI 360? - Identify a minimum of 10 people from whom you’d like to receive feedback about your leadership. The authors of the LPI consider 7 observer responses to be a complete report. Most leaders set up 10-15, and we generally recommend 25 at a maximum (but you can set up more if needed).
  2. Who should I include as my observers? - Include your direct manager(s), all direct reports, and coworkers who also directly report to your manager. You may choose whomever you like as the remainder of your observers (for the “other” category). Since the LPI is a measure of frequency, we recommend that you choose people who have had the opportunity to see you demonstrating leadership behaviors. Don’t only select people that view you positively–you will receive better feedback if you select a range of perspectives.
  3. Do I need to use all four observer categories? - No, but we recommend you use all categories that apply.
  4. How many observers do I need in each category? - You only need one “manager”, but you should add at least two people (we recommend 3-4) in each of the other categories (direct report, coworker, other) if possible. To protect anonymity, the report will not show data for a category if only one person in the category completes the LPI. His or her feedback would automatically be rolled into the “other” category.
  5. How do I add observers? - Once you log in to the system, you should see your LPI under “my assessments” on the home page. Click “manage observers”. You will then need to enter each observer’s first name, last name, email address, and observer category. Once you have entered your observers, make sure to click “save” at the bottom of the page.
  6. What if I set up an observer with the wrong email address? - You will need to re-add the observer using the correct email address and contact your assessment administrator to remove the incorrect listing.
  7. Can you tell me who has/has not completed my LPI? -  No. The assessment protects the anonymity of observers and even the administrator cannot see which individuals have completed the LPI. The only exception is if only one manager is set up as an observer in the “manager” category, then his or her responses can be identified when the report is generated (note: a report can only be generated once the self-assessment is complete).
  8. Can I see how many people have completed my LPI? - Yes, you can see at any time how many observers have completed your LPI in the “my assessments” section in the LPI system.
  9. Do I need to send reminders to my observers? -Not necessarily. Your assessment administrator will monitor progress and send regular reminders via the system. However, your administrator or a program manager may reach out and encourage you to send a personal reminder to your observers, especially if participation is low.
  10. How can I improve my observer response rate? - You can send a personal reminder to your observer group, explaining why their participation will be valuable to you and your development.
  11. How can I view my LPI report? - Your report will either be given to you as part of a session or emailed to you. You cannot access it directly via the system.
  12. For a reassessment: Do I need to use the same list of observers I used last time? - No, it is not mandatory to use the same observers. You should always select people who have the opportunity to observe your behavior. Unless your job or team has changed significantly, we would expect this group to be roughly the same, but you may want to invite additional observers.
  13. For a reassessment: Can I see the list of observers I used last time? - No, the system does not allow this once the new assessment is started.

FAQ For Observers/Raters

  1. Can the person who asked me to complete the LPI pick out my responses? -Not unless you are the person’s only direct manager. All responses, other than a manager’s, are presented in aggregate and are completely anonymous. Even the administrator cannot see specific responses or who has or has not completed the assessment. Open-ended comments (if applicable) appear verbatim (as written), in random order and are not even grouped by category (e.g., direct report, coworker).
  2. Why is there not a “not applicable” option? - Based on over 35 years of research, the LPI data confirms that all 30 questions contained in the LPI assessment apply to any leader under nearly all conditions. Each question assigns a measurement of how often an individual engages in a particular behavior. And since the scale used with these assessment tools is a measure of frequency—not a rating of satisfaction or quality—the authors have, instead, provided a range of responses, from 'rarely' or 'almost never' to 'almost always'.
  3. What if I don’t know the person who asked me to complete the assessment well enough to say how frequently they demonstrate these behaviors? - We encourage leaders to only invite those who have the opportunity to observe their behaviors. If you feel you have observed some, but not all 30 behaviors, that is okay. As the LPI is a measure of frequency, you can simply mark as lower frequency those behaviors that you haven’t had a chance to observe. This is perfectly fair and fits within the way the assessment developers designed the LPI. However, if you feel that you are not in a position to accurately or comfortably complete the assessment, we encourage you to discuss this with the leader who invited you.