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English
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Worldwide

Assessing Key Abilities

By Lesley Abery, Consultant
Region: Middle East

Sector focus: Energy

ONE THING I’VE COME TO KNOW ABOUT THIS BUSINESS? PARTNERSHIPS ARE EVERYTHING. IT’S CRITICAL TO BUILD A PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CLIENT AND OTHER KEY STAKEHOLDERS BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE.
I SAW THAT RECENTLY IN OUR WORK FOR A MIDDLE EAST-BASED PETROLEUM ORGANISATION. THIS WAS A LARGE, IMPORTANT ORGANISATION IN THE REGION. THEY WERE LOOKING TO BUILD THE CAPABILITIES OF THEIR LEADERS IN THE COUNTRY OF QATAR. HOWEVER, THE COMPANY’S LEADERSHIP AND DIRECTION MAINLY CAME FROM EXPERTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES. THE ORGANISATION, HOWEVER, WANTED TO BE SELF-SUFFICIENT.
THEY NEEDED TO RESTART THE ORGANISATION WITH INDIGENOUS LEADERS, NOT OVERSEAS EXPERTS, TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY FROM THE TOP-DOWN. IT TOOK A LOT OF WORK (AND A LOT OF SOCIALISING) WITH THE ORGANISATION BEFORE WE COULD EMBARK ON OUR MISSION. WE NEEDED TO FORM A TRUE PARTNERSHIP WITH THIS ORGANISATION AND UNDERSTAND THEIR NEEDS ON A MOLECULAR LEVEL BEFORE WE COULD HELP THEM OUT. DIGGING DEEP INTO THE ORGANISATION ALLOWED US TO WATCH THEM CLOSELY TO UNDERSTAND, CULTURALLY, WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO MEET THEIR CORPORATE NEEDS.
THE CLIENT ASKED US TO ASSESS 650 LEADERS THROUGHOUT THE COMPANY TO UNDERSTAND THEIR EXISTING LEADERSHIP CAPABILITIES. WE USED THEIR “LEADERSHIP CAPABILITY MODEL” IN ORDER TO MEASURE THESE, GIVING US AN INDICATION OF THE GAP BETWEEN REQUIRED CAPABILITIES AND WHAT THEY ACTUALLY HAVE.
IT TOOK A LOT OF WORK AND COORDINATION WITH THE COMPANY AND ANOTHER THIRD-PARTY PARTNER IN ORDER TO PERFORM THIS EXTENSIVE ASSESSMENT AUDIT THROUGHOUT THE ORGANISATION. WE PRESENTED THE FINDINGS OF THE ASSESSMENTS TO THE HR DIRECTOR AND THE CEO. THIS WAS VERY SENSITIVE BECAUSE THE RESULTS WERE SIGNIFICANT. IT REQUIRED A LOT OF INFORMED, CAREFUL CONVERSATION WITH THE SENIORS IN THE ORGANISATION.

The company then used that information to decide what the leadership development for the organisation would look like. Again, they were quite shocked by the results. They decided they needed to change the way they delivered development to people because some of those ways just weren’t working. The learning style required being much more practical to handle the next generation of leadership. This was all delivered with great honesty but with true sensitivity to the culture. This wouldn’t have worked at all if we did not take the time to work with the client on the methodology and back up our results with true, objective data; it was an effective partnership in every sense of the word.

Lesley Abery, Principal Consultant
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