Overview:

• The recruitment time was halved, and by focusing on critical areas, over a hundred new recruits were found in the IT department within three years.

Challenge:

A major European telecommunications company sought to compete with global media and IT players by embracing the internet telephony revolution and building businesses in both mobile networks and digital television. They approached Challenge Advisory for help devising a comprehensive talent and leadership strategy, as well as improving their general human capital strategy.

The Revelation:

Challenge Advisory’s organisation team came together to understand the client’s challenges, and to do this, they devised a comprehensive diagnostic analysis. This analysis showed that the client’s main concern was a shortage of adequate leaders, as well as technical talent such as IT specialists. As well as this, information silos stood in the way of the cross-division collaboration that is necessary for the proper incubation of talent.

The credibility of the client’s human resources team was also in doubt by line managers at the organisation, and thus, any talent initiative was approached tentatively. The first step of the client solution was to collaborate with the human resources director. Challenge Advisory worked with them to devise a three-year plan to turn the communications company into a pioneer in human capital. This plan mainly involved refocusing the recruitment process to increase volume at a lower cost.

The organisation team also worked at deploying the best talent to the positions that needed them most, focusing on human capital in board meetings and business reviews, and a set of key performance indicators, wherein line managers were assessed for their effectiveness in earmarking future leaders.

To cultivate leadership talent already at the client’s business, Challenge Advisory then devised a special training program that built the skills managers need to drive growth, and gave them the opportunity to apply this to real-life situations, shaping strategy, improving cross-division synergy and growing revenue. The organisation team also encouraged the board to mentor those with high potential in the business and build their leadership qualities. Finally, the human resources team refocused their strategy towards business impact across the client’s organisation, establishing themselves as strategic advisors to the line managers and the board.

Outcomes:

The solution put together by the Challenge Advisory team had an immediate effect on the client’s organisation. The recruitment time was halved, and by focusing on critical areas, over a hundred new recruits were found in the IT department within three years. As the program neared completion, the talent and leadership pipeline fuelled growth for the next five years, even in the face of global economic downturn.