“Would you like to have your talent pool, partner group or senior management assessed by an external expert in order to gain a more objective yet critical understanding of the potential you have in place at this moment?”

“Would you like to have an experienced but neutral sparring partner with whom you can explore different scenarios in organisational development without bias or judgement from your colleagues on the board?”

“Would you like to create a strategy for filling talent gaps in the short and longer term, including recruitment strategies, talent development programmes and processes for ranking potential and performance, in order to be sure that you have the right leaders and tools to deliver your business strategy?”



Case Study on Consultancy

Bruno: CEO of an internationally oriented professional services firm

The Challenge

A large internationally oriented American organisation was acquiring a much smaller Dutch firm, which saw this as a hostile takeover. Resistance ruled! The newly appointed CEO was tasked to lead a smooth, quick and efficient integration process, in order to reduce costs and increase efficiency. His first job was to appoint a new leadership team and to get them aligned to follow the new – and only – direction. His motto: “This organisation has a vision of where it wants to go and needs motivated and capable leaders to realise this.” He asked for my help.

The Approach

Together with the CEO and the USA parent company, we co-created a profile for the future leader (for now and the coming two to three years). I focused on skills such as leading change, increasing efficiency, co-creation and great people management skills to handle the intractable culture of resistance. I set up a quick, thorough and very tightly organised assessment process with clear timetables, deliverables and transparent communication with all candidates. With the help of a professional assessment company I assessed 100 leaders (from both companies) in 6 weeks and created a clear outcome in terms of who would be assigned to the various senior roles, why and with what mission. At the same time, however, we were very transparent about who would be leaving the company and we handled that process with great care as well.

The Impact

Within 2 months after the start date, there was a qualified and committed leadership team in place including the key positions of the company; and the ones who had not been appointed were no longer in the company. Thanks to the in-depth assessment process, there was a clear talent development agenda for the coming years. There was also a leadership journey in place so the members of the new leadership team were able to co-create their roadmap, work towards a common purpose and get to know and interact with each other. As a result, the new strategy was rolled out more smoothly and with less resistance than initially expected.