Employees across a global construction and engineering group, many leading safety-critical work
Promotions decided on reputation
Managers promoted on reputation and gut feel, with no shared evidence.
Skanska is a global construction and engineering group of more than 26,000 people, and many of its leaders run safety-critical work. Promotion and succession decisions rested on subjective judgment, against criteria that changed from one business unit to the next. The result was inconsistent promotion decisions across projects, and no structured, role-linked evidence of who was ready or what risk they carried.
HR and leadership panels found those decisions hard to justify. Nobody had a clear view of derailer behaviors before a person stepped into a safety-critical role. In construction, that is a compliance risk and a license-to-operate risk.
We estimate two in three people chosen for a high potential program by nomination are not high potential.
Source: Saville ROI model estimate.
One evidence standard for promotion and succession decisions
A behavioral read and a leadership risk read, before anyone was promoted.
We replaced gut feel with a structured, validated process every business unit could run the same way. Each candidate for promotion completed our most comprehensive [behavioral assessment], which gave HR and business leaders a predictive read on how the person works and how ready they are for the next role.
Alongside it, a leadership risk report from our [leadership assessment](/leadership-assessment) range showed each person's risk tolerance and potential derailers before a decision was made. For a business where leaders run safety-critical work, this was the missing piece: the behaviors a strong track record can hide until someone is under pressure.
Because the evidence was shared, HR, learning and development, and Health and Safety worked from the same picture of each candidate. The science behind it is rated 27 out of 30 by the British Psychological Society across six technical areas. The results informed every decision; people still made them.
Read every candidate properly
Each candidate for promotion completes the same comprehensive behavioral assessment, so readiness is judged on evidence rather than reputation
Surface the risk early
A leadership risk report shows risk tolerance and potential derailers before the decision, which matters most in safety-critical roles.
Decide from one picture
HR, learning and development, and Health and Safety review the same evidence, so promotion and succession calls hold up across business units.
evidence-based promotion and succession across the business
What changed once promotion ran on shared evidence
Evidence-based promotion and succession became the norm, and the people ready to step up were seen sooner.
Decisions that used to rest on how a manager rated someone now rest on a validated read of each person, applied the same way across business units. Subjective bias in promotion came down, and panels could explain their calls with evidence instead of reputation.
The bigger shift was how early the business could see its talent. High performers were identified sooner, which gave Skanska more time to prepare them for the next role. And because the standard is shared across three functions, the same evidence now supports promotion, succession and leadership selection.
“Saville helps us find people sooner and accelerate them.”
Alistair Ford
Head of Assessment, Skanska
Promotion before and after
How promotion and succession decisions changed once every candidate was assessed the same way.
Still promoting on reputation?
We can show you what a validated read on your own promotion candidates looks like, set against your roles and the risks that matter in your business.
