Case Study 2.

The Company: A major retail player in the UK.  A long-established and highly respected company with a presence on every High Street.

The Issue: The company had been through perhaps the toughest period in their history where, as a result of complacency and a lack of innovation, the competition had made serious in-roads into their market share. The traditional (in such circumstances), tough, ruthless and financially astute Chief Executive had been brought in to make major changes and had achieved significant success.  However, his style was not thought to be appropriate going forward as some of the decisions made had been very unpopular.  The Board, in conjunction with the Non-Executives and indeed, the Chief Executive himself, decided that someone new had to come in to progress the company through its next stage of development and revitalisation.

The Solution: The WSA was used with each Board member and the Non-Executives on the selection panel to define their own styles but also, to provide a common language which everyone could use in deciding what the new Chief Executive’s specification needed to be. Using the profiles of the WSA it was possible to hold very effective discussions about the type of individual needed and it was reported by those participating that the process was remarkably good at ensuring the thinking of individuals was backed up by clear logic and that personal preferences were identified and investigated for objectivity.  This was critically important in this particular situation because there were many sensitivities within the company as well as within the Selection Panel itself.  A specification was agreed and the detailed brief provided to an appropriate recruitment firm.

The Outcome: The job attracted some of the top names in UK retailing and many of these candidates were of undoubted calibre and were attractive in terms of their acceptability to the City.   However, when they were assessed using the WSA, mis-matches between their styles and that which was required emerged.  In the end, the individual who had the best fit with the range of competencies, styles and skills required turned out to be an internal candidate who was subsequently appointed.  Feedback from the selection panel was simple and direct – “Without the WSA providing a common language and accurately assessing people against the desired profile, it is highly likely that the wrong candidate would have been appointed given the internal and external pressures on the decision.”