Executive search
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Our talent-to-value approach
The traditional talent management and executive search approach often assumes that a company’s value will mostly be generated by those at the top of the hierarchy. However, research reveals that a company’s true ‘value levers’ – that is, the people in roles that will generate the bulk of productivity and revenue – can be found at every level.
A McKinsey study showed that 60% of company ‘value levers’ are likely to sit two layers or more below the CEO. These critical roles are split in two main categories: value-creating and value-enabling roles. Focusing solely on top talent based on seniority can lead to missed opportunities when identifying the best talent for value creation.
Related-market-mapping approach
In our executive search process we go beyond traditional methods. We will work with you to identify the top skills, experience and competencies needed to drive value in your critical roles – enabling the future incumbent to successfully pull the value lever of their role.
Unlike other executive search firms, our recruitment process is rooted in these competencies rather than simply sourcing talent from competitors. This methodology allows us to tap into hidden talent pools, enhancing the diversity and cultural fit of your leadership team.
75% of businesses undergoing digital transformations are doing so across multiple business units, which significantly increases complexity
74% of corporate leaders expect to use external expertise in planning leadership succession
60% of your company’s ‘value lever’ roles will typically sit two layers below the CEO
Why talent to value?
Traditional top talent approach
In many businesses, talent acquisition strategies link the ‘value’ of an employee to their level of seniority or grade. This outdated model fails to reflect the true areas of value creation or enablement within a business. Our talent-to-value approach identifies value-creating and value-enabling roles at every level, leading to better decision-making, higher productivity and increased profits.
Talent-to-value approach
To maximise value creation, it is critical to identify the core skills, experience and capabilities required to successfully execute and drive forward the value generating role. This approach will guide our market-mapping and executive search strategy, ensuring we target the right talent for your business.
Our four-step approach
Identifying your value lever positions
How we help you identify your value lever positions
If you haven’t done so already, we will build a project team of experts across your business, our leaders and the best external specialists to work with you to identify critical roles across your business for value creation.
Together we will develop a taxonomy to describe what exactly makes these roles value-creating and why they are mission-critical to your corporate strategy.
We will focus on both value-creating as well as value enabling roles across the entire hierarchy of your business. This will give you a clear picture of where value is created and the interdependency of the system.
Defining the core
How we help you define the key requirements for each position
Following on from step one we need to identify the core requirements of each critical role. We will define which skills, experience and competencies will enable an individual to drive value in their particular role.
Together we will challenge each other to focus on the core. We are after the top criteria; three to four key points is our aim so that our search targets the best talent.
We will then identify what type of experience and background enabled an individual develop these points.
We will equally define derailment flags to ensure current strengths don’t turn into weaknesses in the role.
Identifying talent
How we will identify the most relevant talent
Our search approach will be based on the core defined in step two. We will transform this data into our leadership matrix and translate it into an actionable search approach.
We always map the market globally. We never start with screening your competitors for the same talent. Your competitors’ leaders will arrive in our search if they have what we defined as the core.
This approach will enable us to uncover hidden talent pools and while driving the diversity of your leadership team.
We use various market mapping methodologies as well as our extensive global network of senior leaders to gain insights, referral and access to talent.
In-depth assessment
How we assess the candidates to secure quality and diversity
Based on the leadership matrix we will build a semi-structured interview approach. The rating system will be based on the core criteria identified.
We offer complementary psychometric assessments as part of our executive search service to inform your final choices. Which tool we suggest to use will depend on the exact core criteria, but we work with market-leading assessment companies to deliver these reports.
We will also take care of all other basic assessment steps such as direct and soft referencing.
Across our significant network we will know former leaders and direct reports of individuals on our shortlists giving us valuable insight into potential candidates.
