How can you measure customer-centric leadership?
Most scientific leadership surveys fall short on two counts. First, the majority lack a behavioral focus because they measure attitudes or personality characteristics rather than what leaders actually do. Second, not a single validated survey exists that captures customer-centric leadership. Organizational psychologists have yet to connect strategy, leadership, and customer value in a behavioral measure.
The CF15™ fills that gap. It is a science-grade, behavioral survey that measures customer-centric leadership across five clusters. Science-grade means three things: each behavior cluster is measured by multiple items rather than a single question to increase validity; results are consistent across repeated use; and scores are comparable across teams and organizations, allowing for benchmark insights over time.
CF15™
The Customer-First Leadership Survey
Introduction
Customer value is created by the entire organization, not only by those who interact with customers directly. In this survey, a customer is any person or organization that buys your company's products or services. Customer experience is shaped by thousands of internal decisions, processes, and interactions that happen far from the front line.
Leaders in enabling functions — such as legal, HR, finance, or operations — may rarely interact directly with customers. Their contribution to customer value occurs through the people they enable: when legal flags unacceptable risk, sales can focus its energy on the customers worth winning; when HR designs effective onboarding, new hires begin serving customers sooner; when finance builds the investment architecture that supports the right priorities, product and commercial teams can deliver more customer value.
Please rate this leader based on how they lead within their role and mandate. For leaders in customer-facing roles, this includes their direct interactions with customers. For leaders in enabling roles, that means how effectively they help others create customer value. This includes the decisions they influence, the advice they give, and the degree to which they keep the end customer visible in their actions.
Base your ratings on behaviors you have directly observed.
Response Scale
For each statement, indicate how frequently you observe this behavior:
1 = Almost never
2 = Rarely
3 = Sometimes
4 = Often
5 = Almost always
Cluster 1 — Intelligence
CF1. This leader seeks feedback on how their work, directly or indirectly, affects customer value.
CF2. This leader actively ensures customer insights are shared throughout the organization (e.g., through meetings, reports, or informal updates).
CF3. This leader sets aside time for others to learn from customer insights.
Cluster 2 — Direction
CF4. This leader explains how specific tasks or projects contribute—directly or indirectly—to delivering customer value.
CF5. This leader communicates a clear and motivating picture of how the organization can improve customer value.
CF6. This leader links team or project goals to customer outcomes when setting or reviewing objectives.
Cluster 3 — Voice
CF7. This leader invites others to raise customer concerns or perspectives, even when these may be uncomfortable or create tension.
CF8. This leader brings together relevant stakeholders to discuss and resolve tensions related to customer value.
CF9. This leader explicitly considers customer impact when making decisions.
Cluster 4 — Change
CF10. This leader identifies and addresses specific friction in processes, rules, or practices that hinder customer value.
CF11. This leader drives change by clearly linking it to improved customer value, directly or indirectly.
CF12. This leader asks others to propose ideas that might improve customer value.
Cluster 5 — Development
CF13. This leader gives specific feedback to others on how their actions affect customer value and how they can improve.
CF14. This leader praises behaviors and results that support customer value and challenges those that do not.
CF15. This leader supports others in adapting their work as customer needs change (e.g., by reprioritizing, solving problems, or providing resources).
Overall Recommendation
Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statement:
1 = Strongly disagree
2 = Disagree
3 = Neither agree nor disagree
4 = Agree
5 = Strongly agree
I would recommend this leader as a role model for customer-first leadership.
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