CASE STUDY

Assessing future leaders

Situation

The Board of a global consumer goods company was keen to consider the quality of succession to the Executive Committee and asked us to provide an independent, externally benchmarked assessment of 30 leading candidates for future promotion to the top team.

Approach

Having agreed the approach with the Chairman, CEO and CHRO, we used a model based on two-hour, in-depth interviews, supplemented by selective internal references. We then interviewed each candidate, with two of our Partners involved in each session, and explored their career histories, track record and leadership style, through competency-based questioning. We also took internal references to add colour and perspective to our judgement. We used these insights, allied to our extensive knowledge of the external market to prepare 2-3 page reports on each candidate, laying out in clear language our judgement on their distinctive strengths and areas for development.

Impact

The reports were shared with the Board, CEO and CHRO before being discussed with each candidate, as part of their future development plans. Additionally, we developed a synthesised set of analyses of the overall quality of succession as well as common themes in terms of strengths and development areas. We then facilitated a discussion at both the Board and Executive. Having implemented many of our suggestions, the business has outperformed its peers.