Allianz
Benchmarking and identifying High Potentials for senior posts
Summary
We worked with the HR Director and General Managers (GMs) to put together an assessment centre to both identify high potentials and benchmark the middle management group.
Client Need
Over the previous two years the organisation had not recruited internally for senior positions and this was causing some degree of concern within the GMs. Many of the managers had been in the business for a number of years and there was a question mark over how well they compared to external managers. Our brief was twofold - firstly, to identify any middle managers that could be fast tracked into senior positions; and secondly to benchmark these middle managers against external standards and provide feedback to both the individuals and the organisation.
Since the programme finished, six of the twelve managers have been promoted into senior roles
Our Approach
We designed a bespoke business simulation based around a national travel organisation that was going through a good deal of change and that was facing a number of pressing commercial challenges. The issues being faced replicated many of those in the client's own business.
Given the client wish to benchmark against external management standards, we used our own assessors to conduct the assessments. The assessment comprised:
- An interview with a psychologist
- A presentation to the boss on moving the business forward
- A meeting with a key direct report to deal with a number of commercial and personal issues
- Psychometric testing
Results
We wrote individual reports on each manager that their line manager fed back to them. This was then followed up by the management development manager who provided help and support to the managers in moving their development forward.
A group of 12 high potential managers were identified and put through an 18-month development programme. Since the programme finished, six of the twelve managers have been promoted into senior roles.
We produced a group feedback report that outlined the strengths and development needs of the middle manager population and made recommendations about development activities. This was used by the client to guide the learning and development strategy for this group.