 
You will know and we know that talented people can be found in all parts of an organisation. However, it is also clear that in many organisations there are some people who can be at a distinct disadvantage.
Has anyone played on a school field like this? In one of our recent studies following on from our research into "whether excellent technical specialists can make excellent leaders", we came upon an interesting observation. Although organisations were very keen to find potential amongst their specialists, many of their Development Centre activities, were using role-plays and case studies that were solely business-based. This meant that potential leaders from generalist/operational roles for example, who already had business degrees, were not particularly challenged. However, some high potential candidates from a more technical specialization, did not perform so well. We believe that it is important to run these exercises on a level playing field, otherwise true high potential candidates may be accidentally overlooked. The exercise is not to test a candidate's business knowledge or how many "models" they can apply, but to see how they will naturally think and act in a range of situations. To ensure that this happens, exercises must be designed to explore people's core transferable "thinking" and "doing" skills. Case Study exercises need to involve problem analysis, creative thinking and decision-making. Role-play exercises should explore temperament, including Drive; Resilience/Adaptability and Emotional Intelligence. We have found that the ideal starting point is role profiling using our fast and effective Rolescope® process. From this we learn enough about the leadership context to create role-play and case study exercises that are appropriate for everyone. To register your interest in receiving more information about our unique work in this field, please email Sue Bell on: sue@wadenhoeconsultancy.com |
