Leadership Development
Case Studies

Building a Leadership Pipeline

20 Feb, 2020

Context

Our client in the Telecommunications industry was undergoing rapid global expansion and accelerated growth and had a high need for scale and infrastructure. As the Telecommunications technology got more advanced, our client faced many business challenges and governmental issues. In addition, employee skillsets needed to be different to keep up with these advancements. Since the company was growing exponentially worldwide, it needed leadership positions across the world not just for the current executive team but also to build a strong bench of future leaders.

The CEO was visionary and dynamic, and he was clear that he wanted his direct reports based in different geographies to make sure different locations got sufficient executive presence and support. He also wanted to make sure we identified future leaders early and so that that they could be rotated through different roles and geographies to groom them as future successors.

Actions

We spent time with the executive team to define a success profile for a leader at the organization. We identified characteristics that addressed not only the business acumen and technical leadership needs but also people and entrepreneurial needs.

Once we identified the success profile, we conducted a rigorous talent review process over a two-day retreat with the CEO and his direct reports where we facilitated an in-depth dialogue on each person for the top 3 levels in the company and identified the Top 50 High Potentials. We drew up detailed action plans on each person, which involved a mix of training, coaching, job rotation and geographical shifts. These HiPos were then informed about the program and the fact that they had been chosen as HiPos, and we discussed their individual plans with them.

We then conducted a three-day leadership program that included classroom training and group coaching. This was followed up with individual coaching and action learning projects and 6 monthly check up modules.

Outcomes

The program has been running successfully for over 5 years now, and each year a new set of leaders is identified and sets off on a leadership journey. The first set of program graduates currently holds all executive level business roles. Not one person the program identified has left the organization, and the program has won numerous awards in the local country of the Head Office as a stellar Leadership Programs.

The company’s business growth has been exceptional, and it continues to have great market share in multiple countries in which it operates.