We're operating in a fiercely competitive employment market. It's proving difficult to retain some of our key contributors, our future talent pool.

Retaining people is partly about showing key individuals that they are valued, and that an organisation is investing in their long term future.

One way to compete successfully for high calibre people is to offer attractive personal and career development opportunities, where individuals can see how their own investment in their development will be matched by the organisation's.

For some ideas about some of the things you could consider, look through our Tailored Individual Development Solutions page.

Our Senior Executives are under incredible pressure to 'hit the ground running', and to be exceptional leadership role models. If only we had some means of identifying business leadership potential earlier, we could do more to prepare and develop our high performers

Many organisations have now realised the need to prepare individuals for their future leadership responsibilities, and to avoid burnout. Identifying medium and long term potential requires a different approach to the processes most commonly used to make next step promotion decisions. This is because individuals' 'track records' are insufficient to predict future performance in roles that are radically different from people's previous experience. Particular care and attention is required in creating a process that accurately simulates relevant aspects of future Senior Executive roles, in a way that is appropriate for individuals who are currently at early to mid career stage. 

Further information about our approach to creating and implementing high potential assessment centre processes is included in our Assessment Solutions, under Assessment Centres & Selection Events.

Specific teams, or parts of the organisation, are not well aligned to the overall business drivers. There is a real need for them to understand the new requirements placed on them and to change their ways of working.

or

Cross-functional teams are not working effectively. There are communication problems, unresolved conflicting objectives and a lack of effective co-ordination across different parts of the business.

As with most issues, organisations have a wide variety of options to choose from. Sub-optimal teamworking can often stem from a team not being clearly aligned behind a unifying, common purpose, or where they have not adjusted their ways of working in line with a change in climate, demands or team composition. Often teams neglect the social and personal aspects of team effectiveness in their drive to get tasks completed, and this clearly can impact on performance. Sometimes there are issues around communication and decision making, often linked with an opportunity to better understand and utilise individual differences within the team.

You may want to consider one of our Team Development Solutions.

Interviews and informal chats are over-used here as the basis for making key appointment decisions. The element of 'does you face fit?' is still very prevalent.

Professional selection involves being clear about what an organisation is looking for, and then putting an appropriate process in place to generate rigorous, objective information about people. It means working out what level of external spend is appropriate, according to the risk of making an ill informed decision.

The selection interview is usually an important part of an assessment process, and it is important to ensure the interview is well targeted and structured around key areas.

Fair assessment is not only about having a process that is open to all applicants; it's also about being seen to be fair. Objective assessment processes (e.g. assessment centre based approaches) can provide an important benchmark for evaluating the suitability of internal applicants alongside and external individuals.

If you want to know more about how we could work with you in this area, look at our Assessment Solutions page.

Some individuals are 'out of step' with the requirements placed on them by the realities of our current / future environment. They seem to lack either the skills or motivation to change.

Most organisations are demanding places to work nowadays, and so it shouldn't come as a surprise that it is sometimes necessary to support individuals' development. Rather than rely on a 'blanket' approach to development, working directly with individuals to understand and address their particular issues is often useful.

If you have issues to do with developing individuals' performance, you might like to look at our range of Tailored Individual Development Solutions.

People are increasingly looking a different work / life balance. We've reviewed our employment policies, what else can we do?

Many individuals are now trying to clarify and implement personal choices that improve their quality of life. Increasing numbers of individuals are seeking to address this issue as part of their ongoing personal development. When they complete this process, not only do they have a sense of having re-gained some control over their lives, but their employers tend to find that they reap the benefit of having more highly focused and motivated workers.

You can find out more in our Tailored Individual Solutions, under

At a leadership level, enabling individuals to understand and work to their full potential is partly about enabling people to understand and capitalise on all their assets, not just a narrow skill set.

Further information can be found in the Leadership Development section of our Tailored Individual Solutions page.Further information can be found in the Leadership Development section of our Tailored Individual Solutions page.

Key changes that are being planned and implemented within the business are not achieving the desired outcomes. Any positive impact on business performance is short lived. Changes just aren't 'sticking', and employees are saying they're finding it difficult to 'find their voice'.

Nowadays, it's usual to find some form of communications plan as part of an organisational change process. It's less usual to find one that's well executed - Communication needs to be 'centre stage' if people are going to be brought on board; it is not an 'add on'. In practice, this means anticipating and meeting diverse individual needs for information and communication. Psychologists have shown that people use different styles to process information, and these need to be taken into account in order for organisational changes to be effective. It's also important to ensure that activities designed to give people an opportunity to understand, question and add to thinking actually do this, otherwise individuals are left feeling that consultation exercises do nothing more than pay lip service to the issue of employee involvement.

For some ideas about how we could work with you in this area, look at our Communications & Leadership Of Change Solutions.

It's vital that we get the right people into our key global, and international, roles. And yet we've not really got anything in place to make sure we're making the best appointment decisions. We do offer development support, but it isn't really tailored to individuals' specific needs.

Anyone who has worked in international roles will be aware of some of the challenges of working successfully across different geographies and cultures, and that some individuals are better suited to these roles than others. Nevertheless, organisations are often tempted to rely heavily on an individual's experience, often failing to probe an applicant's personal attributes and how these are likely to translate to performance in their new role. By selecting the right people in the first place, and then putting in place appropriate development and training, international appointments are much more likely to be a success.

If you want to know more about assessment in a global context, please go to our Assessment Solution, Global Assessment Centres. If you're interested in developing people for global roles, then look at our Tailored Individual Development Solution, Global Development Centres.