Executive Insight is RHR International’s publication designed to share psychological insights and practical advice on matters that are of interest to senior level executive leaders. Short, topical and to the point, Executive Insight features suggestions you can put to use immediately to increase your own efficiency as well as that of your team and organization.
While empirical research offers some evidence connecting the CEO’s top team and an organization’s financial performance, the mechanism behind the link has remained more or less a mystery. But findings from RHR International’s soon to be published Team Effectiveness Study™ not only confirm this relationship, but also provide support for a number of key factors – specific to superior senior teams and their leaders – that drive results.
Download “Make Your Senior Team an ASSET– Design & Leadership”
New leaders in the C-suite always create a buzz. This is especially true when they are taking on newly created roles with unfamiliar titles. Often hired or promoted to address a specific strategic or tactical challenge, these individuals must do so without the benefit of a predecessor to debrief or even a body of work to give them a starting point. This issue of Executive Insight provides practical action steps that should be taken to ensure the future of the position, the new executive and the organization.
To answer pressing strategic or tactical challenges, organizations often find it necessary to create a new executive position based on that specific need. In this issue of its thought leadership publication, Executive Insight , RHR International presents an overview of the challenges involved in undertaking a role that has no cultural precedent.
No matter how impressive the resume or list of past accomplishments, if the candidate selected for the Chief Executive position has not occupied the corner office before, he/she is in for a shock on the first day.
There is no denying that the lingering shadow of the predecessor affects every freshly appointed CEO. In some cases, this is a legacy left behind by a beloved founder. In others it is the very real presence of a former leader who has left the office, but not the building. To be successful, the new Chief Executive must make it crystal clear to all stakeholders as to who is leading the organization.
Chief Executive Officers are leaving companies to "pursue other opportunities” at an alarming rate. You can simply label this C-suite game of musical chairs a by-product of the current economy, but look a bit deeper. In many cases the departure could have been avoided by a methodical transition program upon the CEO’s arrival, combined with careful follow-up support afterwards.
Executives who have a diverse experience base, combined with effective feedback, greatly increase their chances of success in more complex senior roles. Because of this, world-class companies have learned it is wise to cultivate the “organizational will” to make experiential development a key component of their talent development strategy.
Harnessing the collective alignment and power of top executives drives CEO success, better strategic decisions, smoother execution and more inspired cultures. But, the reality is, despite the urgent need created by a daunting environment, top teams remain greatly underleveraged.
Download “Senior Team Leadership: The Unbearable Complexity of Simplicity”
Before you can even judge whether you have a strong management team or not, you need to answer the more critical question: “For what?” What does your company need in its management team now to successfully execute the strategy and go forward? To answer this question accurately, you need to measure your team against the right criteria – The Winning Formula®.
Download “Does Your Management Team Measure Up to The Winning Formula®?”
Boards, incumbent Chief Executives and HR professionals stand the best chance of cultivating superior candidates for CEO succession if they construct and faithfully execute a development process that addresses the core dimensions of leadership. This issue of Executive Insight offers suggestions on how to develop the skill sets and abilities required to excel in the CEO role.
For over 65 years, we have helped clients such as these drive success by assessing, aligning and developing senior leaders (click the logos for more info):
Often, a body of work can tell more about an organisation than any one particular instance. Such is the case of the relationship between RHR International and Reckitt Benckiser.
Reckitt Benckiser (RB) is a world leader in household, health and personal care. Three well executed acquisitions have played a major part in its successful expansion. Starting in 1999 with Benckiser's merger with Reckitt & Coleman, management turned to RHR International to define and execute its pre-acquisition management due diligence process. In that year, RHR assessed nearly 300 executives as part of the merger and restructuring that created the company in its modern form.
In 2005, RHR also delivered the management due diligence that brought Boots Healthcare International into the business and added new powerbrands to the portfolio. Again, in 2010 RHR consultants were asked to lead the assessment and integration of the manage- ment resources of SSL International into a further expanded RB.
Over a ten year span RHR International has established itself as a trusted advisor to RB. The company has an outstanding record of growth, increasing profitability and return on investment from 2000 to 2010. Since 2000, net revenues for the company have doubled and its market cap has quadrupled.
Today, RB is one of the fastest growing and most successful consumer goods companies in Europe. It is the global No 1 or No 2 in the majority of its fast-growing product categories. Its strong portfolio includes 19 global powerbrands which include: Finish, Lysol, Vanish, Woolite, Calgon, Airwick, Clearasil, Scholl and French’s.
Senior Vice President, Best Buy
When an $8 billion consumer products company sought to improve its cross-matrix business practices, it discovered that it also needed to develop its leadership talent. The HR organization, tasked with effective succession planning, asked RHR to create a development program for the company’s next generation of leaders. Management’s ability to identify high-potential people and find them crucial stretch assignments had been hampered by a siloed organizational structure. The Client needed a reliable and consistent process for looking across the company to find and develop its high potential talent.
Instituted a rigorous, data-based process for identifying high-potentials that is now applied through the middle management level.
Created a common language and metric for evaluating people that has enabled open discussion between senior leaders and builds consensus about who are the company’s next generation leaders.
Designed a development process that meets the special needs of high-potential employees and relevant, actionable, realistic development plans for each individual.
Program eventually included 200 of the Client’s executives across six continents, 36 countries and nine RHR offices.
David Kirchoff, President & CEO, Weight Watchers International
A global leader in food and facility management services found that the turnover rate for external hires in their executive ranks was over 25%. The expense created by a constant cycle of recruiting, training and replacing was proving costly, not to mention the loss in productivity while a stream of managers worked their way through the system. The company turned to RHR International to create a process which would facilitate the integration of executives into the corporate culture and improve the retention rate.
Over 25 executives have participated in the program to date with a 100% retention rate. The program continues to be supported by the CEO and is gaining increasing recognition throughout the company.
The program is considered to be a significant organizational change initiative since many managers and HR personnel now have a better understanding of the key success factors and derailers for new hires. Communication and dialogue around integration has increased and warning signs of retention risks are being highlighted and managed more quickly than they were in the past.
Douglas Reeves, Founder, The Leadership and Learning Center
A major Canadian Private Equity firm was considering the purchase of a large residential and commercial heating oil distributor. The plan was to enlarge operations through a number of acquisitions. The PE firm knew the management team was doing a good job of running the company at its current size, but didn’t know if it could handle the expansion. The PE firm asked RHR International to evaluate the capabilities of the target management leadership, make recommendations on how they could improve as individuals and a team, and identify organizational issues which might affect future profitability.
The RHR consultants’ report confirmed the team was strong and held untapped potential that would allow it to successfully handle the additional responsibility of the acquisitions.
The consultants advised the team how they would have to change their working style to deal with the growth and geographic distances of the expanded company.
RHR advised each individual on the team about their own professional development.
Based on the recommendations of the RHR consultant team, the PE firm went through with their investment. To date, the portfolio company has successfully worked through its first major acquisition and is currently working on a second that will see its business double again in size and extend its range into Alberta and B.C.
John Rowe, Chairman & CEO, Exelon Corporation
Michael Meriton, President & CEO, The Golden Source
Ajay Banga, President & CEO of Mastercard Worldwide
H. Gary Pannell, Attorney and Advisor to Boards
JONES, WALKER, WAECHTER, POITEVENT, CARRÈRE & DENÈGRE LLP
© 2012 RHR International LLP. All Rights Reserved. Contact | Site Map | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy
All logos and client trademarks are the property of their respective trademark owners.
