Succession plan: How to replace the COO of a large luxury house?

Xavier Benoite
Project Manager Sales Marketing

After our Sanofi case study, today we are talking about another of our projects that we have carried out for a company in the Luxury sector

Entreprise Cliente

A renowned house at the heart of the luxury world, where excellence and creativity shape the future. Their quest for perfection guides each of their actions, enriching their heritage and celebrating the art of living with elegance. Their team, present in France and internationally, is dedicated to the preservation of exceptional know-how and to innovation, in harmony with their tradition of excellent manufacturing.

Our client offers unparalleled products and experiences, marking the minds and hearts of a global clientele, while making it a point of honor to develop their social and environmental responsibility every day. They are weaving the future of luxury while valuing their rich past, perfectly illustrating the balance between tradition and modernity.

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Introduction

In this case study, we are interested in a component that is still sometimes underestimated when it comes to strategic profiles. The chemistry between the values of the candidate and the values of the group, and the potential complementarity of the candidate with his peers and managers. This harmony that can be created between two profiles, sometimes distinct and complementary, perhaps close but ultimately incompatible, is a fact that can profoundly change the performance of a pair or a management team.

As part of the assessment mission presented here, it is this adequacy that we had to seek and deepen, in addition to the evaluation.

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Need/Context: Create a pair of operations managers

In the context of the expectation of the retirement the following year of the director of operations of this international group, and due to the increasing importance and complexity of the missions, the management decided to create a pair at the head of Operations, in order to make the function evolve in light of the challenges.

Our client came to seek advice from Authentic Talent on the vision that we could give them about the challenges of creating this pair, the pitfalls that we could identify, and our proposals for achieving this objective.

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Solution

First of all, clearly frame the ambition.

Before even thinking about the selection, the group's values and an appropriate skills framework have been defined, which will serve as the basis for all the analytical work to share relevant and committed opinions on candidates able to take the group on its own growth trajectory.

Identifying the personality traits that are most predictive of success in the given position is always our starting point, accompanied by the vision of the manager (s) and sponsors on the expectations of the position, the success factors etc...

To do this, ATC favored the use of Hogan Assessments inventories, a psychometric tool recognized for its ability to shed light on the most decisive aspects of personality profiles in connection with professional success. The specificity of our approach lay in the creation of management teams, not only compatible in terms of skills but also complementary in their ways of working, thinking, and solving complex problems.

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Step 1: Brief session with the (N+1) identification of candidates

We first identified internal profiles with leadership potential corresponding to the strategic expectations of the company.

Step 2: A half-day Assessment Center with an Authentic Talent Assessor

Afterwards, and after having properly framed and defined the approach with our client, all the candidates meet during a half-day Assessment Center where several evaluators will offer them various exercises, in order to be able to produce an enlightening and objective summary on the strengths, the points of effort and the suitability of the candidate.

This allows for a deeper and detailed approach to each of them in different situations, but also allows the evaluator to identify strengths and points of effort and their skills more generally.

Step 3: Debriefing and recommendations to customers

We provided detailed feedback to the client on the individual profiles, accompanied by a Favorable or Unfavorable opinion, and answers to any questions that the various stakeholders might ask about the potential of each candidate for the position.

In a second step, we also discussed the candidate's potential complementarity with several other pairs.

This stage allowed for an in-depth exploration of the issue of shared values, which is essential for ensuring effective collaboration and reducing friction within the management team. In addition, the assessment of the ability to work in a transversal manner was emphasized, recognizing its importance in the current and future context of the organization.

Step 4: Feedback to all candidates

Following the client's decision, each candidate (selected or not) meets again with his main advisor and receives individual feedback. This is feedback from the half-day assessment center and all the lessons that could be drawn from it.

This individual and in-depth feedback makes it possible to create a real awareness by the candidate of his strengths, his points of effort, and thus to outline a development plan unique to each candidate, either with a view to taking on a specific function, or more generally to develop his or her potential.

Whatever the outcome of the assessment, the feedback session allows for a candidate learning experience.

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Results

This multi-criteria evaluation was very much appreciated by our client and by the beneficiaries, the transparency and the benevolence in the feedback to the participants allowing them to provide them with value on their profile and evaluation perspectives, regardless of the pair finally chosen.

In the specific case, our favorable or unfavorable opinion depended on which “binomial” would be constituted: a candidate could have a majority of favorable opinions with most of the potential pairs, and unfavorable for some others.

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What we learned at Authentic Talent:

This project highlights topics that are at the heart of Authentic Talent's value proposition. We have significantly contributed to the selection processes by valuing the understanding of the strengths and areas of development of each individual, and by objectifying decision-making.

Hogan Assessments allows us to highlight the factors that predict success in a position from the perspective of personality, and the ability to embody corporate values and important leadership traits. Authentic Talent Consulting distinguishes itself in the field of talent assessments by its rigorous and objective approach.

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