70 leaders
Assessed for potential and performance against the same criteria
9 impact areas
Mapped through the Leadership Impact Framework
Talent surfaced
That was “not previously on the radar,” reducing bias in the process
a traditional technology organization needed to innovate to survive, with its entire board due to retire within 5 to 10 years and no objective way to see who could replace them
Replacing an entire board, with no objective view of who was ready
This global technology firm needed to identify successors for its entire board within a 5 to 10 year horizon, in an organization that needed to innovate to survive.
Without a consistent, evidence-based way to compare leaders, succession decisions risked resting on visibility and familiarity rather than genuine potential and performance, and strong candidates could be overlooked.
The organization also needed to know which capabilities it could build from within and where it would need to look outside the business.
A leadership audit built on potential and performance, not visibility
Seventy leaders assessed against the same criteria, mapped to the impact areas a future board would need to deliver against.
Assess potential
Seventy leaders completed the Wave® behavioral questionnaire to establish each leader’s potential against key leadership criteria.
Map against impact
The Leadership Impact Framework set out the nine key impact areas future board members would need to deliver results against, giving incumbent board members and stakeholders a shared, objective standard.
Build the pipeline
Line manager ratings established each leader’s performance against the same criteria, so potential and performance could be cross-referenced to identify who was high performing and high potential, including talent not previously on the radar, and placed on an intensive development program.
objective criteria for understanding the talent pipeline and planning realistically for board succession
A succession pipeline built on evidence, not who’s most visible
Assessing potential and performance side by side gave this technology firm an objective, board-ready view of its own leadership pipeline.
Cross-referencing Wave-assessed potential against line manager performance ratings surfaced leaders who were both high performing and high potential, including some not previously on the radar, directly reducing bias in a process that had relied on visibility.
The same exercise gave the organization a realistic, evidence-based view of where it could build board-ready capability internally, and where it would still need to recruit externally, informing both succession planning and its wider diversity, equity and inclusion goals.
The succession audit, by the numbers
With the whole board due to retire within 5 to 10 years, the succession audit assessed 70 leaders against the same potential and performance criteria and mapped 9 impact areas through the Leadership Impact Framework. This consistent approach identified leaders who were “not previously on the radar” and led to their placement on an intensive development program. The audit turned assessment insight into targeted action to prepare talent for the organisation’s future leadership needs.
Planning succession for your senior leadership?
We can help you build an evidence-led view of who’s ready, and who could be, before the gap opens up.