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Author: Dr Paul Turner is a Principal Consultant with Collingwood, a well-established Executive Search and Strategic Leadership Consultancy. With an outstanding track record of business success as an Executive responsible for multi-channel sales, customer service and HR, he moved into consultancy in 2006, since when he has worked with leading companies in the UK and internationally. Paul gained his PhD in organisational development and leadership behaviour in 2011 and publishes papers and books on leadership and related business topics, maintaining academic links with several universities and business schools.

WHITE PAPER: EXECUTIVE SEARCH AND SELECTION

Purpose: to identify proven methodologies, approaches and latest thinking on

Executive Search and the recruitment of senior roles with the aim of refining existing

approaches and techniques and thus drive improvement in the quality of Executive

Search and Selection, with the end aim of helping our clients select senior candidates

who are the best fit for their organisation and the specific role.

Approach: to undertake a literature review of evidence-based research relating to

Executive Search and Selection and compare with our practical experience, so as to

identify proven and practical selection approaches which improve effectiveness and

increases return on investment.

Key Findings: Executive Search and Selection continues to grow, yet is a relatively emergent topic for academic research. This paper sets out 7 key elements of an effective search and selection process including the need for rigour when matching candidates to the organisation and role both in terms of ‘track record’ and personality characteristics. The use of effective onboarding or career transition practices, whilst still in the minority, was seen to be an emerging trend due to the costs and negative impacts associated with early attrition or candidate failure.

1. BACKGROUND The value of the Executive Search industry in the UK rose by 6.1% during 2015/16 (Business Grapevine, 2016) and the past year has continued to see a shift in the balance of power from employer to candidate. Yet a clear divide can be seen between hiring at Board and C-suite level which rose by 9.7%, and those roles below this level, which saw a decline of 2.6%. For the most senior levels, growth could be seen across industry sectors with the largest increases in Technology and Telecoms (30%), Retail Financial Services and Insurance (16%) and Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences (12%). Nevertheless, despite these year on year increases the C Suite search market remains dominated by Global Banking, Markets and Asset Management (26%) and Consumer (17%), Media (17%) and Healthcare (17%). It’s clear that the Executive Search market remains buoyant, driven by the need for businesses to be competitive when economies are strong and especially competitive when the economic environment is challenging. The quality of Executive Search and Selection is therefore a critical factor in helping organisations to do this. Yet while the search for top Executives/Senior Managers continues apace, the process and criteria relating to how these are selected remains

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largely uncharted waters. The English philosopher Gilbert Ryle famously distinguished between two forms of knowing. The first involves knowing what something is and concerns factual knowledge; the second involves knowing how to do something and concerns procedural knowledge. This applies to Executive Search and Selection. There is a right way and a wrong way to select a person for a specific job. Whether it’s the recruitment of a call centre operator or an Executive there is no difference, in principle, between the respective methods; however the consequences of poor selection methods are more severe for the latter position! Yet tested knowledge and proven methods are more often applied when it’s a relatively less senior position than when it’s a C-suite candidate. CEOs (and Executives) are usually chosen based on their technical abilities; usually a specialism for a specific area of business or a single issue such as a take-over or merger. They are rarely chosen on the basis of their demonstrated talent for leadership (Hogan and Kaiser, 2008). Little rigour is used when appointing top Executive leaders. This approach is not restricted to corporate selection. Just consider the failure of so many multi-million pound salaried footballers, all undoubtedly technically gifted yet lacking personal resilience and leadership when under pressure. In sport just think back to last year to arguably the worst and most humiliating footballing defeat in England’s history, the 2-1 defeat to Iceland. England’s team was undoubtedly technically superior but when the pressure mounted they wilted and no leaders emerged to help them get through. A great team (and the individuals within it) is just as much a product of personality and character as it is technical ability. In sport and in business the cost of getting selection wrong can be significant. At

Collingwood, like you, we’ve read the stories of failing CEOs and top-management successions that are regular features in the business press. The failure rate of new Executives is approximately

50%, largely due to an inability to lead others (Hogan and Kaiser, 2005). Two-thirds of Executive placements in the healthcare sector fail. On average, nearly 30% of Standard and Poor 500 CEOs are dismissed annually and the tenure average is approximately 5 years (The Conference Board, 2015). Closer to home in the UK the churn of top leaders appears similar to that of the United States with the average tenure in the FTSE-100 being reported as approximately 5 years (Thorburn McAllister and University of Southampton, 2012). Whilst these attrition rates may not seem too alarming, when you contextualise this research and note that there are a high number of CEOs and Executives who have exceedingly long tenure rates, then the research implications are more revealing and alarming. The indications are that a majority, or at least a sizeable minority, of organisations are getting it badly wrong with their Executive Search and Selection,

EXECUTIVES ARE USUALLY CHOSEN BASED ON THEIR

TECHNICAL ABILITIES (NOT) …ON THE BASIS OF THEIR

DEMONSTRATED TALENT FOR LEADERSHIP.

A GREAT TEAM (AND THE INDIVIDUALS WITHIN IT) IS

JUST AS MUCH A PRODUCT OF PERSONALITY AND

CHARACTER AS IT IS TECHNICAL ABILITY.

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resulting in short tenure stays for many newly appointed Executives and an expensive and potentially fatal impact on bottom-line profits. This study sets out to research and review Executive Search and Selection practice with the aim of using the resulting insights and learning to drive improvements and therefore a tangible return on investment.

2. EXECUTIVE SEARCH AND SELECTION. THE 7 KEY ELEMENTS. Our research identified the essential drivers of successful Executive Search and Selection and from our findings a definition of (high quality best practice) Executive Search and Selection was developed and described as ‘a process consisting of an organisational evaluation including role and person requirements used to assist in identifying and reviewing a candidate pool from which a selection is made via a matching method; followed by onboarding or career transitioning and evidenced by a sought return on investment driven by organisational performance’. The following section distils this definition into 7 key phases of Executive Search and Selection namely; organisational evaluation, role requirements, person requirements, search pool, matching method, onboarding and return on investment (ROI) performance outcomes. If any of the aforementioned elements are missing or ineffective then the risk of poor selection increases. The research evidence outlined in the sections below is supported and enriched by the practical day-to-day experience and insights of Doug Mackay, Collingwood’s Managing Director.

2.1. ORGANISATIONAL EVALUATION The organisational evaluation process phase, if done well, greatly reduces the risk of failure. In Doug Mackay’s words, ‘Most clients think about the here and now requirement and do not recruit against future strategy or market forecasts. For example, where does the company want to be in 5 years' time and what are the gaps in its team, culture, product portfolio, technology, processes etc., that need to be need to be filled for the strategy to be achieved? What kind of a leader is needed to fill these gaps and deliver the longer term strategy?’ The value of evaluating the organisational context internally and externally is well evidenced in terms of aligning the leadership team’s development to business strategy thus accelerating business performance (Turner, 2016 a/b). Our research shows that organisational evaluation has a beneficial impact on the quality of Executive Search and Selection. By firstly defining and assessing the organisational environment and culture, a platform of values, beliefs and goals can be created on which to develop the role and person requirements to ensure the Executive’s knowledge, skills, abilities and personal characteristics are matched to the organisational context (Nelson, 1997). The vast majority (94%) of organisational needs considered within Executive recruitment evaluation processes are internally related with very few linking to the external environment (Sessa et al, 1998). If the external environment is not considered then this may create a future based risk, as a changing external environment is often a key predictor of the future internal organisational environment.

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The importance of, and need for, trust and transparency in the recruitment partnership relationship is summed up by Doug Mackay ‘Many companies are far too reserved on how they describe the actual situation upfront to their recruitment partners. They don’t want the outside world to know some difficult truths and save them for when a new leader starts. This approach rarely ends well as, in a candidate driven market, overselling to candidates is likely to result in their quick exit’. Learning #1 - organisational evaluation should be undertaken from both internal and external perspectives so that the Executive selection process takes into account internal cultural drivers and external future based market forces in a transparent and realist manner.

2.2. ROLE REQUIREMENTS The role requirements analysis is a critical element of the Executive Search and Selection process described by Sessa et al (1998) ‘as fundamental a tool…as a blueprint is to an architect’. The role analysis will, if developed correctly, describe what the critical success factors are and how the defined measures of success can be predicted. Yet very often the role requirements analysis process is often ignored or rushed. Doug Mackay comments, ‘When working with a new client, it is very common for them to brief me on a role because someone has left or is leaving. Most think what they want in the role description is fine, it is just the last person that failed and there was nothing wrong with their role definition or recruitment process’. Qualifications maybe an important element of role requirement needs and research indicates that appropriate qualifications may drive high performance, with Executives (in this case CEOs) with a PhD achieving the biggest share price increase of 26.9%, closely followed by a science or engineering degree (25.1%) and an MBA (22.2%); all calculated over a five year period. Interestingly, an accounting qualification only accounted for a 3% increase in share price movement and a law degree resulted in a negative movement of 1.7% (Thorburn McAlister/ University of Southampton, 2012). Research indicates that the prime role requirements identified within an Executive Search and Selection process relate to strategy and vision (29%), leadership and management (28%), specific expertise and knowledge (18%), business productivity (13%) and lastly charting of new directions involving organisational change (12%). Whilst these appear to be top-line visible drivers of recruitment, very often it was found that underlying invisible factors, such as the need to be a good fit to the organisation’s culture and ‘values’, the ability to fix ‘people’ problems or address successfully a political situation, were often ignored. Learning #2 - the role requirements phase should include a rigorous evaluation process to identify role requirements including both visible and invisible elements.

THE ROLE REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS IS …’AS

FUNDAMENTAL A TOOL…AS A BLUEPRINT IS TO AN

ARCHITECT’.

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2.3. PERSON REQUIREMENTS

The person requirements analysis is as important as the role requirements analysis,

yet in Doug Mackay’s experience it is normal for very little thought to be given to this

element. For example, understanding the real reason why the person is leaving not

just the one offered by the departing employee. Doug believes there is often little

focus on the required fit ‘relative to the health and personality of the leadership team

and what kind of a new leader is needed to fit in well and thus accelerate their

performance. Instead many seek to recruit someone who will fit in nicely rather than

someone who could be a real challenge to the incumbent leadership approach and

company culture. Too many also recruit what they believe they can afford rather than

measure investment against potential return. Companies invest a lot of time and effort

when buying a capital asset but don’t consider recruiting a senior leader in anywhere

near the same way. Capital assets are seen as an investment whilst recruitment is

nearly always still viewed as a cost! A change of mind set is needed. The other issue

is the lack of succession planning. So many roles we recruit have clients saying there

is no one in the organisation capable of doing the role and so have to keep recruiting

externally’.

The person requirements analysis is designed to establish the critical knowledge,

skills, abilities and personal characteristics required by the Executive to achieve

success in the role. External Executive candidates are often favoured for their specific

technical expertise yet very often such a strength is accompanied by a weakness in

developing relationships with (new) subordinates. Research indicates that the prime

person requirements for Executive roles are firstly specific functional and technical

background/knowledge followed by interpersonal and communication skills with

leadership and management skills third. Whilst the requirements around function and

knowledge can be described as ‘hard’ elements the requirements for

interpersonal/communication and leadership/management could be described as ‘soft’

skills.

Irrespective of the benefits of a comprehensive evidence-based Executive Selection framework, there is a major selection ingredient which needs to be considered to achieve a consistent ‘best fit’ selection approach - personality. This ingredient is often missing within Executive Selection frameworks, yet unless personality assessment runs like a thread throughout the recruitment process there is a significant risk. Managers typically fail due to personality-based reasons relating primarily to their inability to build relationships (Sessa et al, 2008) and create a high performing team (Hogan and Kaiser, 2008). By knowing this risk in advance organisations can avoid a

selection mistake or proceed in the knowledge that developmental actions will be required. The relative low cost of an evidence based rigorous selection approach will be greatly exceeded by an

MANAGERS TYPICALLY FAIL DUE TO PERSONALITY-

BASED REASONS RELATING PRIMARILY TO THEIR

INABILITY TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS… AND CREATE A

HIGH PERFORMING TEAM.

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upside return on investment created by high performance from getting the right Executive fit to avoid a downside of poor performance and/or likely attrition through a poor match of person to role. Research overwhelmingly indicates that Executive team performance is largely reliant on the personality of individual Executives, yet most organisations fail to factor personality and behavioural analytics into their Executive team selection and development processes (Laker and Powell, 2011), whether these be personality assessments or evaluative tools (Reinhold, Patterson and Hegel, 2015). Despite the evidence on the importance of personality driven behaviour there is little focus on this area in reality. According to Doug Mackay ‘…it is more common for companies to provide a role profile based on sought experience and skills. Behaviour matrices are very rare, as is any robust evidence of what personality profiles companies already have in their leadership teams. I recently met with a $2.6 billion US company who were using a well-known proprietary evaluation profiling product to identify high potential candidates they wanted to recruit. Yet they did not use the same profiling product in terms of existing employees and therefore they had no idea of the high potential talent who were already in their business. Raising the bar in this way with external candidates could end in a car crash as they may clash with the existing leadership team who don’t behaviourally align in any way!’ At Collingwood we understand and recognise the power of personality and the impact it has on the success or otherwise of Executives, senior teams and organisations. We use psychometric assessments including the Hogan Leadership Forecast assessment series, a world-renowned, premiere Executive assessment which distinguishes between the personality and behavioural factors of highly successful and less successful leaders. By using Hogan assessments we help our clients select and develop leadership talent so as to fully understand the impact of personality preferences on their organisation’s performance capabilities, challenges and drivers (Turner, 2016b). Learning #3 - when recruiting externally, attention should be focused on both ‘hard’ factors such as knowledge and experience and ‘soft’ factors such as relationship building and leadership skills, both of which are personality driven behaviours.

2.4. SEARCH POOL Search pools may consist solely of external candidates but can involve one or more internal candidates together with several external candidates. Executive Search research involves completing a comprehensive analysis of the market place and specific client driven factors, outlining key companies and considering all options in order to gain access to the best Executive talent for the role. The output of this talent mapping work will be a target list of organisations likely to provide appropriate and qualified candidates as well as a list of individuals known to the search company and, in turn, this enables the identification of names with the skill set and experience to match the role. This stage is then followed by contact with potentially suitable Executives and, if an interest is noted, detailed qualifying interviews follow which enable discussion of the

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specifics of the executive job, and explore the candidates’ background, competencies and interest in the role. This stage then enables a provisional short list of candidates to be developed and first stage referencing applied to create a short list of candidates for the client. A good recruitment process will cast the net far and wide and should not consider any preconceived ideas that the consultant or client have about potential target organisations. Doug Mackay says ‘Clients sometimes believe that their competitor’s culture is wrong and therefore any potential employees from such a company will be aligned to this. The truth can be very different with us finding exceptional candidates working in the wrong place and who would excel in our client’s environment. Integrating market intelligence throughout the process is critical and often dispels any negative thoughts that clients may have had about another organisation and/or the people who work there. Very often these ‘competitor’ candidates maybe described as passive in terms of career search. A successful Search Pool should always identify both active and passive candidates. Passive candidates are those who are happy where they are and not really looking for a career move or may think the role is not for them for many reasons, but would be interested if they found that such an opportunity aligns to their ambitions’. Learning #4 - whilst the success of the search process is reliant on the quality and experience of the Executive search consultants, their knowledge, expertise and networking ‘leg-work’ will be greatly optimised by the preparatory work involved in creating bespoke organisational, role and person requirements, integrating market intelligence throughout the process and identifying both active and passive candidates, the latter often changing their minds about an opportunity once they realise it is aligned to their career ambitions.

2.5. MATCHING METHOD

The matching method assesses and compares candidates in the selection pool to the organisational evaluation, role and person requirements analysis and consists of who will make the selection decision and how the decision will be made. The matching method is at the core of the Executive search and selection process, yet its effectiveness is reliant on the quality of the stages that precede it as well as the rigour of the matching method itself. The key selection recruiting decision makers are generally Board Directors, CEOs and Executives and without a rigorous matching method process, they often struggle to articulate exactly what is required and blandly are often heard to say ‘I’ll know it when I see it’ (Sessa et al, 1998). Interestingly there is evidence to suggest that there is a reduction in selection effectiveness if only one decision maker is involved or a Non-Executive Director(s), such as a Chair of the Board, has the final decision.

RECRUITING DECISION MAKERS OFTEN STRUGGLE TO

ARTICULATE EXACTLY WHAT IS REQUIRED…. AND... ARE

OFTEN HEARD TO SAY ‘I’LL KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT’.

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The major criteria reasons given for Executive Selection were identified as best fit for job, business experience/knowledge, a successful ‘track record’ and lastly interpersonal characteristics/style. When reviewing the success or otherwise of an Executive appointment those Executives who were seen to be successful seem to be associated with good leadership, high interpersonal/communication skills, cultural fit and an ability to fix ‘people’ problems. Whereas those Executives who were seen to be unsuccessful were seen to be associated with productivity issues, poor business performance outcomes and a lack of sophisticated management skills. Performance outcomes, which create an individual’s ‘track record’, are often known as the criterion measure of Executive Selection. Due to the complexity of Executive roles, defining past success can be challenging, and measures may include financial ratios and stock price (79%) and quality of relationships (68%). Customer satisfaction and employee engagement ratings are also often viewed as key performance measures (Sessa et al, 1998). Yet such performance measures or ‘track records’ are driven by market or organisational context and are often not rigorously tested or examined by recruitment decision-makers and, at times, simply accepted. It is therefore important that the performance ‘track record’ of Executive applicants is tested and verified to confirm and validate performance achievements. Selection decisions are likely to be more successful when data relating to an applicant’s personal characteristics, style, cultural fit to organisation and their performance ‘track record’ is gathered and considered holistically. Doug Mackay summarises his thoughts on the Matching Method process as follows ‘Recruitment processes are often one way with companies doing all the evaluation and not providing candidates with the necessary information they need to make the correct decision too. Too few companies consider the matching assessment methods, appropriateness of interviewer list, training of advanced interview techniques and/or the use of robust psychometric data with trained interpreters to translate the data and dig deep so as to ‘get under the skin’ of candidates. The use of ‘gut feel’, often drives poor selection decision making. The other major risk is in the referencing process with very few companies using background checking services which can confirm the validity of education qualifications, previous roles and employers, anti-terror and conviction checks and social media track record. These checks have been standard in the USA for many years now but are very new to the UK, where a requested reference generally reveals no meaningful data other than employment dates’. Learning #5 - decisions to appoint Executives should be supported by a rigorous data driven evaluative and checking framework of both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ factors and involve a group consultative process rather than just one decision-maker.

2.6. ONBOARDING OR CAREER TRANSITIONING The term onboarding derives from ‘to bring someone on board’ and this process used to be known as ‘organisational socialisation’ (Becker, and Anselm, 1956), a largely academic topic when jobs routinely were for life. So no surprise, in today’s world of rapid change, where an Executive is likely to stay with an organisation for between 2 to 5 years, that onboarding is becoming a big differentiator in driving up the value and quality of Executive Search and Selection. As employees change jobs much more frequently than in the past the cost of filling Executive level roles also increases and

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therefore understanding and managing the process of socialisation will provide a competitive advantage to organisations (Bauer and Erdogan, 2011; Saks and Gruman, 2014). According to Bradt and Vonnegut (2009) onboarding is ‘the process of acquiring, accommodating, assimilating and accelerating new team members…(and) the prerequisite to successful onboarding is getting your organisation aligned around the need and the role’. Research indicates that it can take a newly appointed Executive up to two and a half years to fully master a position (Gabarro, 1987) and that onboarding support provided during the initial appointment period can significantly reduce this period and facilitate improved performance (Nicholson and West, 1989). Yet research indicates only 31% of external Executive appointments are followed by an onboarding programme. Nearly 40% of these onboarding programmes are perceived negatively by the Executive, due to poor planning, content and approach (Sessa et al, 1998) and less than 20% of external Executive appointments benefit from an effective onboarding programme. Approximately 40% of Executives failing in new roles do so due to (i) a failure to build relationships/ partnerships (33%), (ii) a lack of alignment to organisational culture (31%), (iii) ineffective people management (22%), (iv) political mishaps (7%) and (v) a lack of feedback (7%). There is a clear and compelling need to introduce and/or improve onboarding approaches to improve this failure rate. In his book, The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels, Michael Watkins (2013) sets out the challenge of successful career transitioning and identifies research that the transition period is a strong predictor of long-term success or failure in the leadership role. The benefits of effective onboarding are numerous including clarification of role expectations, identification of success criteria/parameters and early organisational wins, enhancing self-awareness and leadership style, building cultural alignment, flagging up potential political pitfalls and the development of coalitions and partnerships (Watkins, 2009). Yet Doug Mackay finds that ‘the vast majority of companies see onboarding as an induction plan led by the HR department for introducing the new recruit to the organisation and its policies and procedures. It rarely considers the key objectives being given to the new leader and the setting up a career transition programme to help maximise performance and achieve the set objectives’. At Collingwood we are a firm and passionate believer in Executive onboarding and offer a career transition onboarding service to our organisational clients as a way to help new Executives move from being ‘outsiders’ to ‘insiders’ by fast tracking the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to succeed in their new organisation.

… LESS THAN 20% OF EXTERNAL EXECUTIVE

APPOINTMENTS BENEFIT FROM AN EFFECTIVE

ONBOARDING PROGRAMME… AND… 40% OF (THESE)

ONBOARDING PROGRAMMESS ARE PERCEIVED

NEGATIVELY.

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Learning #6 - Executive appointments are proven to be more successful if followed by a structured and supportive onboarding programme designed to suit the needs of both the recruiting organisation and the new Executive.

2.7. ROI PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES There is very little research around the use of key performance indicators to validate the return on investment derived from external Executive Search and Selection activities. Yet, an analysis of current practice backed by focused evidence-based actions is proven to deliver continuous improvement. At Collingwood we monitor the effectiveness of our Executive Search and Selection process including the resulting longitudinal outcomes so that we can benchmark to the market place and deliver a quality service to our clients. Our key performance indicators will be driven by the individual client but include measures such as client and Executive satisfaction, process time, onboarding evaluation, business performance outcomes, tenure in role and career progress. Learning #7 - the use of focused key performance indicators enables continuous improvement in the Executive search and selection process.

3. EXECUTIVE SEARCH AND SELECTION - A CASE STUDY The previous section shows how an Executive selection framework based on the afore-mentioned 7 key elements will greatly improve the success rate of Executive Search and Selection and reduce the risks inherent in this process. The importance of a rigorous person and role assessment with an understanding of both performance track-record and personality drivers cannot be understated. The following case study illustrates how an integrated Hogan assessment process can help deliver a quality Executive search and selection framework which incorporates succession and development strategies.

Hogan Case Study (Hogan Assessment Systems, 2016) Challenge: A large healthcare company wanted to identify the characteristics and values important for Executive Director success. This would enable the company to more speedily recruit an Executive Director externally if and when required and/or ensure talent leadership development was aligned to ‘top team’ succession. This would help ensure the company could appoint, whether internally and/or externally, a leader who was able to ‘hit the ground running’ and within a short period of time add significant value and contribution both strategically and tactically.

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Solution: Based on client input it was clear that Executive Directors’ needed to be results-driven and skilled in building relationships within the company and across the industry. To build on this and identify characteristics for high Executive performance a role analysis was conducted, using Hogan’s Job Evaluation Tool (JET), with internal subject matter leaders and experts highly familiar with the Executive Director roles. JET aligns the three Hogan tools; the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), Hogan Development Survey (HDS) and the Motives, Values and Preferences Inventory (MVPI) and creates an overarching holistic success factor profile*. Result: A bespoke role profile was created that best described high performing Executive Directors within the bespoke organisational context. Following analysis of the role profile, a Hogan personality profile was constructed which was then available for comparison to an individual candidate’s Hogan Leader Basis assessment (Hogan Assessment Systems, 2015), available for use when profiling, assessing and selecting external Executive Director level candidates and developing aspiring senior leadership talent within the organisation’s talent pool. * Research shows that Executives or Executive level candidates generally show more strategic drive (than managers) with higher Hogan ratings for ambition, sociability and learning potential as well as displaying a higher level of vision, creativity and desire for action. Managers often also have a greater aversion to risk taking. In value terms Executives often have higher value ratings, suggesting stronger value driven impulses in the work environment. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. CONCLUSION Our research indicates that a focus on key aspects of the Executive Search and Selection processes will improve its quality and support the achievement of related performance outcomes. These aspects include the adoption of an external focus when evaluating organisational context, the identification of both visible (functional specialisms) and invisible (cultural fit) role requirements, being aware of the ‘hard’ (knowledge) and ‘soft’ (relational) personal requirements, the use of a consultative process involving an analytical matching method review by more than one decision maker, an appropriate, a well-planned onboarding programme and the use of targeted key performance indicators. Organisations appear to be reasonably focused on, and articulate when describing, the role and person requirements yet need to challenge their own perceptions during this process, increase their emphasis on the use of this data via an effective matching method to aid decision making as well understanding the importance of personality characteristics on Executive success. Additionally, the consideration of organisational and cultural fit is rarely considered on anything more than a cosmetic basis, leadership capability is often not addressed in a rigorous way and the use of onboarding is rare, certainly in any meaningful and effective way, for example, involving independent expert coaching support. Finally, in the specialised area of Executive Search and Selection consultancy field specific performance measures are often not used as a means of driving continuous improvement.

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At Collingwood we will continue to be evidence led in our provision and delivery of Executive Search and Selection services so as to drive client satisfaction and provide them with a competitive Executive edge. End---------------------------------------------------------------- References

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