Executive assessment

Executive assessment to gauge performance

We work with numerous organisations looking to assess the performance of their executive leadership teams.

This could be for a variety of reasons, and requested by a number of different parties. Whilst our partnerships with private equity houses generate most of this work, we have also worked with several businesses looking to assess the capability of their leadership populations.

Executive assessment in a corporate setting

This typically happens when businesses are considering making a change but aren’t certain on the resulting dynamics or how to best go about rebuilding the team. Perhaps the Executive team is working well, but their reporting lines are not performing to the same level and they want to explore why.

In these sorts of situations, we usually utilise a combination of psychometric profiling and interviews to get a complete picture of the team dynamics, using 360 processes to ensure our assertions take every angle into consideration. We often support with interviewing potential talent at this stage, helping leaders to be mindful of who they are introducing into teams and the results of those people combinations.

Executive assessment in a private equity setting

Executive assessment, also sometimes referred to as management due diligence, can take place either pre-investment, pre-divestment, or mid-term. What we often find, especially post-investment, is that whilst our client is the Firm, we often identify (then progress) with development areas that can help the portfolio company too. This allows us to work ‘both sides of the fence’ and offer more value to both our primary and secondary client base.

At pre-investment, what firms are often looking to identify are development gaps that might risk their investment in the future:

• For example, what if one of the founding partners, looking to take a step back from leadership post-investment, is actually the one responsible for the positive culture in the business? Or the one generating the majority of the profitable sales leads? How might this change the business and the bottom line? What are the succession plans to mitigate these risks?
• Are there significant development gaps, or areas of ineffectiveness, in the leadership team which will compromise growth targets?
• Are their personality dynamics at play which could make scaling post-investment more difficult?

In this situation, we have a tried-and-tested process for exploring the strengths and development areas, using a range of psychometric tools but also conducting individual interviews and desk-based assessments. Developed through our collective experience working both embedded within, and alongside, senior leadership teams we also utilise our proprietary profiles which help us to pinpoint high-performing executives.

At this stage, our clients use us to support their kill/fill strategy, whilst using us as a thinking partner to close off low-risk gaps that don’t preclude their investment.

Post-investment (mid-term) assessments happen when the money is in, and for some unconfirmed reason things aren’t performing as expected. Firms often have some idea of what they think is going on, but require specificity and assistance in how to remedy the situation. At this stage, the Firm is still committed for the long-term and are looking for help to ‘make the boat go faster’.

The approach here is slightly different; often, more time is needed to gain a complete picture of the Executive team (and indeed, the team that reports to them), so we go deeper into the investigation and assessment. We have also been asked to support with assessment of provisionally selecting incoming talent, to identify what impact these personalities might have on the success and sustainability of the business.

Pre-divestment assessment occurs when the Firm is readying for an event, and want to ensure they have the best people in place to appeal to new ownership. Here the purpose is more about maximising their multiple by demonstrating the long-term effectiveness of the business, which might require a different combination of leaders.

In this case, the decision to make the chance has usually already been made; we support in helping to find the right blend of individuals who have the best chance of gelling well with the remaining team, and striking the right tone to appeal to future buyers.

Whereas there are other consultancies that offer these sorts of services, what often is generated as a result is a 40-page report with a wealth of psychometric data, but little in the way of immediately actionable guidance. Our approach is to streamline the reporting and focus more on reflection and discussion, enabling stakeholders to make well-informed, rapid decisions whilst also being ready to support the portfolio company with closing development gaps.