How to make sure your choice of key positions successors is right

Talents | October 1, 2019

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Тhe Challenge

The Bulgarian subdivision of a global FMCG company was implementing an internal talent development program whose aim was to prepare replacements for key management positions. There was a need to assess the best performing operations managers’ potential for successful performance in a higher position. That assessment had to be used to select the ones to be prepared as the likeliest successors to pass on to the next level of the program.
It was clear that neither the current performance, nor the assessment of the existing competencies would provide a valid prediction about the employees’ future performance in the new role.

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The Solution

We designed an assessment centre to perform the following measurements:
1. The present level of the competencies for the higher management level (using behavioural assessment).To all intents and purposes, this indicates a person’s readiness to assume the new position.

2. Using OPQ 32 and MQ, we assessed two of the top three potential predictors: personal preferences and motivational profile.

In addition to the individual reports and feedback for each of the participants, we also prepared a summarised report on the company in which candidates were ranked by their readiness and potential. We also prepared information about the trends in the need for development which the company had to address through the training part of its talent development program.

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The Results

The client received objective and valid assessment of each of the candidates, which helped them sift through the people with the highest potential among the managers with the highest current work performance. The assessment process was marked by the participants as objective and valid, which, together with the well-planned project communication, led to the acceptance of the selection results and prevented a drop in the engagement of the candidates who were not selected.