The Challenge
High turnover in a key scientist role was plaguing this Fortune 500 multinational pharmaceutical company, greatly hindering productivity and advancements in this critical function.
The Preparation
In order to address this problem, XBInsight identified the need for a robust succession plan that included:
- Creating a benchmark for the next level position to measure the readiness of these scientists to be promoted to this role.
- Developing a customized assessment to not only reflect the skills, critical thinking and overall fit needed for the current position, but also identify a clear picture of what success looks like in the next level job.
- Designing a comprehensive leadership development program to prepare high potential employees for next level positions
The Implementation
First, XBInsight created a customized assessment in order to define the skills required for success in the next level role. Once the benchmark was developed for the position, the assessment was administered to current scientists to determine high potentials for the program and to measure their readiness for advancement to the succeeding position. Based on the results, skill and development gaps were identified and included in the curriculum for the leadership program. With the aim of preparing high potential employees for their future position, in-depth development plans were created for each scientist to address potential growth areas.
The Results
XBInsight’s validated assessment and leadership development program is now an integral part of the company’s hiring and succession planning process and continues to be monitored annually. As a result, the company has experienced tremendous improvement in a number of talent-related outcomes, such as:
- Turnover for the scientist position decreased by 25%,
- Engagement survey results for participants increased by 20%,
- Sixty-percent of the participants in year 1 and year 2 advanced their positions and were promoted to the next level.