Establishing and sustaining competitive advantage is the driving force and challenge within all successful corporations. Increasingly, companies have placed a significant emphasis on gaining that advantage by acquiring, integrating and developing top caliber talent, and by fostering a culture built on high performance expectations and leadership skills. This challenge is ongoing for even the most successfully run companies. For many other companies, transition - due to the appointment of a new CEO or other Senior Leader, a significant change in business strategy or a merger, acquisition or divestiture - requires a re-evaluation of the existing leadership team in light of new realities.

Through our Management Assessment offering, we work with our clients to evaluate the intellectual capital of their Leadership Teams. Our process begins with an in-depth interview with our client to understand fully the business strategy, competitive context and culture, framing Strategic Imperatives for the Company's success. From this due diligence, we define or validate the Leadership Competencies required for individual executives to achieve the Strategic Imperatives. The by-product of these initial phases is the Interview and Assessment Guide, providing structure for consistent and specific appraisal of individual executives. The overall outcome is a Congruence Evaluation, a gap analysis based on an assessment of the individuals and team on two levels: ability and alignment (willingness to embrace the Strategic Imperatives, consistency of beliefs and self-awareness vis a vis the required Leadership Competencies).

Given the importance of the CEO’s commitment to this process, we ask that he/she help personally set the stage for the assessment activities by delivering a group-wide "kick-off," conveying passion and purpose behind Strategic Imperatives and Leadership Competencies. We work with our client to create and deliver a message that positions our activities in a way that diminishes potential sensitivities. Typically, our process involves two HP consultants interviewing each client executive.

Our summary report includes individual and team assessments, outlining strengths, talent gaps, development opportunities and specific recommendations for individuals and teams. The end result for our clients is an action plan for critical decisions on the composition and development of the Leadership Team, the outcome being optimal congruence with the Company’s strategic imperatives.