"I'm being micro-managed!"

Marian was a successful sales manager who had been brought in 2 years ago to boost revenue in her business unit. She had achieved all her sales targets and was itching to do more. She was full of ideas about how to diversify with new products and services but was finding it difficult to persuade her Sales Director Tim to share her vision. He seemed to be spending more time picking at operational details and seemed reluctant to make decisions about more important issues. Marian herself felt she knew what to do but did not have the authority to sign off those decisions. Tim and Marian argued frequently. Tim confided that he found Marian difficult to control and hinted at a personality clash.

What we did

We analysed the roles of both individuals to identify any overlaps, lack of clarity or gaps. We also used Jaques' Model of Human Capability to identify how well Tim and Marian were matched to their current roles and to predict their future potential capability.

What we found

The roles, as defined in the current job descriptions, were ambiguous. There was lack of clarity about which tasks either Tim or Marian were accountable for. There were no clear delegated authority levels. This was a simple case of re-definition of roles.

Marian was found to have outgrown her role in terms of Level of CIP. Her CIP had matured to Level 4, whereas her role was at Stratum III in the organization. She therefore had the raw potential to move up to Director level (Stratum IV) but would require coaching in the additional business skills she would require in such a larger role.

Tim's profile revealed that he had been promoted to Director level too early - his Current Level of CIP (Mid Level 3) was lower than Marian's so that he was unable to give her the wider context she needed from a manager. However, he had a range of useful skills which would be better suited to another role in the organization. In addition, we discovered that he did not particularly enjoy being a manager, but was more interested in work requiring external research and networking.

Their personal styles were indeed quite different but this was not the root cause of their inability to work together. Their personal styles were, in fact, complementary. However, both of them needed a job move to create a better match with their Capability Profiles.

"We need to re-launch the business."

A small Eastern European subsidiary of a global automotive brand was struggling to achieve its revenue and profit targets. In addition, it needed to respond to its parent company's introduction of a radical new business model.

Our Response

Over a 10-month period we recruited and helped to develop 50 new employees (from a wide range of nationalities in the region), from senior manager level down to first-line administrators, using a new organizational structure and matching people against newly-defined roles. From this matching process we were able to identify the future potential capability for each new employee, thereby creating a robust succession plan not only for the local company but also for the regional division. As part of their personal development plans, all staff were given opportunities to develop a broader awareness of the total group of companies through networking across national boundaries. This was a simple and low-cost initiative which raised motivation and performance levels.

In the following financial year the local company's sales results took it from the bottom to the top of the parent company's regional league table.

"We're not sure about our managers' true potential"

We were asked, initially, to design and deliver a generic management training programme for a group of middle managers in an international commercial real estate organization. However, during the first exploratory meeting we discovered that the senior management team had no system for analysing the target group's development needs. Nor had any consideration been given about how to utilise their talent for future business requirements. Our concern, therefore, was that they could spend time and money unnecessarily on a training programme which would fail to bring lasting benefits and which could demotivate the affected individuals.

Our Response

We conducted a comprehensive analysis of each individual's current and future potential capability using Jaques' Model of Human Capability. Not only did this analysis produce a clear picture of strengths and needs upon which to build a tailored development programme - combining individual coaching plans with group-orientated activities - but, critically, the senior management team discovered untapped future potential in the target group. They were able to identify, as a result of our evaluations, who was (or would be soon) ready for more challenging work at higher levels in the organization and, equally important, avoid promoting some individuals who were not yet ready - despite the fact that they were successful in their current roles. The development action plans also formed the basis for each individual to create a personal career roadmap.

This is a good example of a number of points. Firstly, success in your current role is not, in itself, a reliable indicator of future potential capability. Secondly, it's about developing people for the right role at the right time in their maturation mode - not only for their own benefit but also for the organization to make optimum use of its precious training resources. Finally, there needs to be a total Talent Pool Management system in place - including a reliable appraisal process - so that there is an integrated approach to identifying and developing talent at all levels.