Challenge:
In the beginning of 2009, Grundfos were looking for a professional partner, who, in close co-operation with their internal project team, could develop an assessment and development concept.
Grundfos engaged with A&DC to design and implement a robust talent assessment process to determine whether nominated employees had local or global potential and whether their strengths identified them as being more of an innovator, specialist, or leader. Differentiating employees based on potential, rather than purely on past performance and experience, represented a major cultural shift for Grundfos.
During the development of the ‘Talent’ identification strategy and the generation of the ‘Talent Centre’ concept, a critical and guiding factor for Grundfos was the importance of creating a fair and defensible process that had the acceptance and buy-in from all participants. This needed to be based on far more than the individual’s previous experience and line manager rating, but focused on high potential behaviours and the ability to demonstrate these behaviours under stretching and realistic situations that might be experienced at senior levels. This required the design of situations set in a highly chaotic and uncertain scenario that enabled the participants to display many of the characteristics associated with learning agility.
Grundfos were clear they wanted a Talent Centre that was an energising and stretching event from which all participants would emerge with positive experiences and learning for the future.
Solution:
In order to design and deliver an objective, fair and consistent Talent Centre for Grundfos, A&DC needed to establish the criteria for what identified an individual as a global ‘Talent’. Through consultation with key stakeholders across the globe, including the Grundfos Group President and Regional Managers, 10 Talent criteria were identified.
Following the diagnostic phase. A&DC then designed a Talent Centre, based on ‘Day in the Life’ principles that provided comprehensive and reliable information on each individual and could be used for assessment and development purposes. The Centre measured ability, personality and motivation, to provide a holistic view of each Talent.
The Talent Centre process involved some pre-work and a two and a half day Centre. This included a number of scenarios utilising an analysis exercise, group discussion, presentation and concluded with a crisis management exercise. This stretched all the participants, using a number of linked scenarios which required interaction with technical experts, media panel interviews, presentations to the board and a number of group discussions throughout the process.
The elements within the crisis exercise enabled the specific roles of specialist, leader and innovator to be assessed through connected scenarios in a highly realistic setting. There were also reflection elements to look at how participants were able to consider their experiences and demonstrate elements of learning agility. A self-development module was followed by an in-depth 1:1 behavioural and psychometric feedback sessions and the creation of an individual personal development plan. The evaluation process showed that the ‘Talents’ had benefitted from the exposure to strategic assignments, feedback and networking opportunities.
Outcome:
The design and implementation of the Talent Centre process was a work of genuine partnership, with A&DC and Grundfos combining their expertise to produce a process that is innovative and unique to Grundfos. Assessor Training ensured that Grundfos personnel from around the world were upskilled and involved in the project implementation, giving them a sense of ‘buy-in’ and also proved to be a valuable learning experience. The Talent Centre event is currently being rolled out across the World, targeting around 150 potential Talents, who, if selected as having global potential, will continue into a developmental ’Greenhouse’ for fast track development to help Grundfos achieve its organisational development goals.
“We were looking for a partner, who, on one side, had to be very innovative, as our talent programme goes way further than traditional talent management programmes and on the other side be very professional, as they had to ensure a strong link to the Grundfos company and our values. Therefore, we were not interested in a standard agreement but a unique concept developed specifically to our company. The challenge for this partner was also the limited amount of time, as we only had a month and a half to develop the concept before going “live”.
A&DC was recommended to us and the co-operation has been absolutely exceptional. They listened to our expectations and understood our intentions; they have been flexible, though never compromising their own principles.
A&DC lived up fully to all our expectations and the criteria we had drawn up beforehand. A&DC contributed to develop an innovative and pioneer concept to Grundfos and they have been highly professional and competent throughout the entire process – from idea to execution.
The partnership has been characterised by both confidence and very strong project management, which ensured that we in the very limited time for development still reached our goal with a unique concept. The team at A&DC has been more than 100% dedicated and delivered a valuable product (Talent Centre) of very high quality to Grundfos.” Marjanne Grønhøj, People & Strategy Partner, Grundfos.
