Individual Development Centers

Business sector: audit and consultancy services

Challenge
Our client is one of the biggest providers of audit and advisory services for international and local companies as well as for the public sector. The goal was to develop the senior managers in the organization, just below the partner level, the future of the firm. Both the high level of professional demands from clients, and the internal management demands they faced in running projects and programs for client organizations challenged these senior managers. Our client organization wanted to use the benchmark of current partners to challenge the next generation of top leadership, and help them better understand how to expand their own professional competencies on a personal and individual level so that they could prepare themselves for increasing leadership responsibilities associated with an orderly and apolitical succession into the ranks of partnership.

Solution
papilio developed a one-day individual development center for the appraisal of senior managers focusing on seven core competencies. The senior managers were assessed with concrete, behavioral methods, and received specific developmental recommendations that reflected the strengths and weaknesses that they demonstrated. The feedback provided the participants the opportunity to systematically develop their core competencies, which would ultimately lead to success with clients and with firm employees. Heightened awareness and active involvement of the line manager of the individuals being assessed was facilitated through a feedback session, which included both the individual who was assessed, and his/her line manager. This alignment contributed to the personal developmental process, underlining the next steps, and insuring both accountability and organizational support for the individual who was assessed. This process added considerably to increasing the opportunities for professional growth of proven performers, and at the same time the executive board received an overview of the talent pool available to fill the future ranks of top management. Heightened awareness of and clarity concerning the “upward path” facilitated retention of key employees.

Benefit
Through the successful, annual initiation of these individual development centers it was possible to smooth the step from senior manager to partner, make it more objective, predictable and standardized. The findings relating to individual development of key employees provided guidance for internal courses and training so that strengths could be leveraged and shortcomings addressed in a constructive manner.