Our client was a 25-year-old IT services firm operating in the specialised services and emerging technologies in the infotech world. Their clients were spread across North America and India. The company had grown well over the years clocking a CAGR of 16-18% in revenue over the last decade. The two founding members of the team wanted to become less active and create space for professionals in the company to take over the running of the company.
Given the close interactions and familiarity of each of the team members with others, the founders felt that if they nominated people for positions, there could be personal biases seeping in unknowingly for taking the decisions on CXO levels. The promoters also felt the need for a deep, unbiased assessment of the talent available in the company and identify the few who can be groomed to CXO positions.
Given the context, we People Metrics, decided to have an informal meeting of all participants in the assessment centre along with the promoters a week before the centre was scheduled. The promoters explained the need for such an approach and we explained the entire process of the assessment centres and fielded all the questions the participants had. This session provided clear communication on the purpose and process of the assessments. It also assuaged any concerns and doubts that were in the minds of the participants.
The assessment centre day went of very smooth with very high ratings from the participants for their experience. They went through a series of assessment techniques and exercises that stretched their minds and brought out their competency levels accurately. Each candidate had multiple opportunities to demonstrate their competencies and were assessed by different set of assessors that gave them further confidence in the process.
The results were initially shared with the promoters with suggested plan of action for each participant. These results were shared as a development input with each candidate by People Metrics through an intensive session with each of them.
The transition to a company managed by professionals took shape within the next 3 months in a smooth manner with unanimous acceptance of all team members.
