Business case
Human Capital Advisory - Career Development
Technology
SCENARIO
A leading Italian large cap, operating in the technology space, backed by global Private Equity Funds.
A couple of years ago, they launched a new growth cycle stringently connected with a parallel deep, strategic transformation of the entire organization. A dedicated CEO Office was therefore established to support this transformation, with senior hires from top-tier strategy firms. At that time, we hunted a group of high-potential talents to drive the execution of the transformation blueprint.
As the transformation progressed, the company made a strategic choice to retain and further develop this talent pool, enabling them progressively to transition into business-facing leadership roles.
To reinforce these career paths and protect the investment in critical talent, the CHRO offered individual Leadership Development programs aimed at strengthening leadership capabilities, accelerating readiness for future roles and supporting long-term retention.
CHALLENGE
The transition from a staff role to a line role, with the medium-term ambition of progressing towards C-level positions, requires a significant shift in mindset, capabilities and personal maturity.
Participants needed to evolve from an “ability to face emergence” to a more complex capability: the ability to manage business performance and people simultaneously, and with sustained effectiveness.
The key challenge of these development paths was to make Leadership the central theme of the journey – and, most importantly, to make it their own priority.
Which turns to be even more challenging, given the need to introduce a new strategic understanding of Leadership, not as a matter of organizational status, but as the concrete ability to build, maintain and motivate high-performing teams, while also effectively managing less-performing individuals.
APPROACH
Our approach to Leadership Development is rooted on the solid foundations provided by Hogan personality tests, and aims at recognising each Participant’s reputation: this is what really matters, given reputation determines how each the person leads. Hogan Assessment Reports describe respectively:
- HPI – the day by day leadership strengths
- HDS – the derailers that appear when under stress, and the connected risks
- MVPI – the core values, drivers and preferences that sustain each individual strengths, and predict the cultural fit
Following the Assessment feedback each participant embarked on a tailored development journey, built on objective evidence and behavioral insights.
RESULTS
All Participants ended up recognizing the value of their own Development path: a 1:1 tailor made set of meetings, actions, initiatives and open discussions, that turns them from being bold, to being bold and aware of the journey they have to make to become the Leaders they want and need to be.
They co-created their Development plan, they discussed the findings and criticalities, they asked for advice to go back and rethink their concrete targets, how to leverage strengths or differences, and make the change an opportunity to bond further.
The increased self-awareness that comes with behavioural discussions across skills and competency domains to develop, that take place often enough to keep the change in mind as a hot topic. They refocused on established targets, keeping three to four key words on top of their mind to start their day consistently with the expected behaviors; they developed a new set of target skills as enablers of expected goals, as well as of the new ambitions.
Finally, a clear and measurable action plan consolidated the journey, translating insight into sustained behavior change and a redefined, more mature leadership identity.
