Management assessment: managerial skills in Belgium

An Archetype management assessment measures what past results do not show: a manager’s ability to make other people perform, to give difficult feedback and to lead a change the team did not ask for. We assess Sales Managers, Sales Directors, Country Managers and Managing Directors before a promotion, a senior hire, a succession or a transformation. The managerial skills assessment combines an in-depth interview, management simulations, a competency analysis and the KOAN test. It ends with a spoken debrief and a clear recommendation.

Manager leading a feedback conversation while an assessor observes

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Assessing a manager is different from assessing a salesperson

A salesperson is judged mainly on individual performance: their sales cycle, their client relationships, their figures. A manager is judged on the performance of others. They have to coach, motivate, correct, arbitrate when resources run short and defend an unpopular decision in front of the team.

These skills do not show in a standard interview, where the candidate describes what they would do. They appear when you put the person in the situation: holding a corrective conversation, running a team meeting that goes wrong, delivering negative feedback to a strong performer.

Four moments when a management assessment pays off

Before a transformation

A commercial transformation is won or lost at middle management level. Top management sets the strategy, the sales team executes it, and managers translate one into the other. Before you start, you need to know which managers will carry the change and which will need support.

Before an internal promotion

Promoting your best salesperson to Sales Manager is a classic mistake in sales management: you risk losing an excellent seller and gaining a struggling manager. Our page on assessment before an internal promotion covers this case in detail.

Before hiring a senior executive

When recruiting a Sales Director, a Country Manager or a Managing Director, the assessment complements the interview: it shows how the person operates under pressure, beyond what they say.

To prepare a succession

Assessing several internal candidates for a sales or general management role lets you build a succession plan on facts, and prepare the successor before the incumbent leaves.

An assessment that ends with a PDF report has no value. Ours rests on three moments: the deep-dive interview, competency analysis on real cases and role-plays, and the KOAN personality test. And above all, the debrief: spoken, structured, actionable. What you walk away with is a clear read on competencies, drivers, and gaps versus the target profile. Not a score. A decision.
The Archetype method, since 1993

The managerial skills we assess

The competency framework is defined with you for each role. These are the skills that come up most often, with examples of simulations:

Competency	How we observe it
Giving feedback, including negative feedback	Role-play: delivering a disappointing appraisal to a team member
Motivating and coaching individuals	Interview on real cases, coaching simulation
Leading change	Case study: announcing and enforcing a new organisation
Handling a crisis within the team	Simulation: a tense team meeting
Arbitrating with limited resources	Case study: priorities, budget, headcount
Standing behind an unpopular decision	Role-play with a team member who pushes back

The KOAN test completes these observations. Applied to a manager, it shows what motivates them day to day, how they react when their team resists and where their weak point lies under pressure.

What you receive

The debrief is spoken and given to the person who decides. You leave with:

a reading of the strengths and gaps of the manager assessed;
a comparison with the target profile defined at the briefing;
a recommendation: promote, reposition, train, support with coaching, or go no further;
if you invest in this manager, the outline of a development plan.

Recommendation grid after the assessment

Skills in place, drivers aligned
Promote or confirm in the role.

Drivers aligned, skills to build
Train and support with field coaching.

Skills present, drivers elsewhere
Reposition in a role that suits them better.

Large gaps on both counts
Go no further, and say so plainly.

From diagnosis to training

When the assessment reveals potential to develop, we build a management training programme targeted at the gaps: leading change, coaching and motivating, giving feedback, running the performance review. Our programmes always combine classroom training with individual coaching in the field, because a management style is built in real situations.

Formats and prices

The management assessment uses our three formats: Small (1 hour), Medium (2 hours) or Large (3 hours). For a senior role we usually recommend the Large format. The price is between €1,500 and €3,000 per person assessed, depending on the format and the depth of analysis. For a whole team of managers, our Gap Assessment adds a collective report on top of the individual ones.

Who is it for?

CEOs who want an objective view of the potential of their Sales Director or Country Manager.
HR Directors building a succession or internal mobility plan.
Sales Directors who have to decide on a promotion or a repositioning.
Boards preparing a change of leadership.

All our formats are set out on our assessment centre page.

About Archetype

Archetype is a Belgian family business founded in 1993 by Marc Diamant and now co-managed with Davy Diamant and Steve Diamant. A member of Federgon, it won Talent Business Innovation of the Year 2025 for its ethical and structured use of AI.

Frequently asked questions

What is a management assessment?

It is an evaluation of a manager’s or senior executive’s skills through an in-depth interview, management simulations, a competency analysis and a personality test. It measures the ability to make a team perform, beyond individual performance.

Which managerial skills do you assess?

Giving feedback, motivating and coaching, leading change, managing a team under strain, arbitrating with limited resources and standing behind an unpopular decision, according to the framework defined with you for the role.