Succession Planning Project for a Top Client in the Banking Industry

About Client  

Our client is a full service national commercial bank in Nigeria that has evolved from the nation’s pre-eminent investment banking institution to a fully-fledged commercial bank. Its business lines and operations are structured around these segments; Retail and Consumer market, Commercial and Institutional market and Corporate and Investment market. Its headquarters is in Lagos, Nigeria.  

The Problem 

Leaders come and go every day in different organisations, and given their level of experience and expertise and an understanding of company culture, replacing them isn’t that simple. Additionally, now more than ever, talent scarcity is becoming more prominent. Individuals are either leaving the country to find new opportunities or moving to other similar organisations. Simply put, there isn’t as much talent out there as there used to be. And even if there were, they are not as easy to find as before. 

The business environment is volatile presently and will continue to be so long as people and organisations exist. This means efforts must be geared towards upskilling employees, or their organisation will be left behind. 

With this knowledge in mind, our client realised addressing the problem was the key and not cutting corners around it. They realised that the best way to achieve this is to invest in their own talent and ramp up their succession planning efforts.  

Therefore, they needed a succession planning expert who understood their organisational context, business reasons and ability to conduct a seamless succession planning exercise that will help them identify the readiness level of their talent to take up leadership roles. They also needed us to create success profiles for these candidates, develop relevant assessment tools to measure the identified leadership competencies and create a report that includes recommendations for each of the candidates that undergoes the assessment.  

The Solution  

We approached the problem using our 5-D model. First, we diagnosed the problem, where we met with the client to get a proper understanding of their needs and how we could come to their aid. We understood their organisation’s strategy of producing the next set of leaders in 3-5 years. We reviewed this strategy to appropriately define a measure of success. By deploying a behavioural protocol, we were also able to identify the candidates to proceed with in the succession planning exercise.  

We then designed the project delivery framework to ensure we completed the project flawlessly. We also identified the leadership competencies to be assessed. This came off the back of conducting behavioural protocol for each candidate.  

Next, we developed and validated the success profile based on the identified leadership competencies. We also developed and validated the relevant assessment tools to test various competencies needed for future leadership roles. After that, we set up the development centre on our Virtual Assessment platform.  

We then delivered on the project by conducting the development centre, where we used our various assessment tools to identify leadership gaps in the candidates and the areas where development is needed. Some of the assessment tools we used included Competency-based interviews, Identity Personality Profiling, Role Plays, Group Exercises and Analytical Exercises.  

In the last part of the project, which we called Drive, we submitted a formal and detailed report which contained findings on the project, where we detailed the readiness level of each of the 55 employees and the interventions needed to be put in place before they can be recommended for leadership roles.  

The Result  

In the end, the client was able to 

  • Objectively identify suitable successors in their organisation and their readiness levels for the role.   
  • Identify gaps and what needs to be done to close the gaps within a period.  
  • Develop interventions for their employees to get them ready for future leadership roles.  
  • Get continuous support and further recommendations from us on the succession planning project.  

Client Testimonial  

“It was a good experience overall. The reporting was also great. We got good value for our money, and I rate the execution 9/10”  

As an organisation, identifying your future leaders starts from now. Are you looking for a partner to help you conduct an effective Succession Planning exercise? Then schedule a free consultation here and our subject matter experts will be in touch with you.

Related Article