Bussines cases

Assessment in a merger: the confidence of getting right

Merger processes are often described as stories of winners and losers, beyond the talent of people behind the positions in an organization chart. But there is another way to manage them, offering all professionals the same opportunities for development and guaranteeing the company the right assessment of all its talent.

Objective

Help the company evaluate the talent available to create a new Animal health structure after the merger.

Project

Assessment of one hundred employees based on the company’s success profile ensuring the objectivity of the tools and processes used, and the results in line with the company’s needs, not only in the short but also in the medium term.

Outcome

The company has a complete talent map, assessed in an objective manner, allowing to define a new structure – with 25% of cross movements and promotions – and to draw a talent map for the future.

A merger. A scenario in which insecurity, uncertainty and disappointment emerge. Where it is extremely difficult to decide on the people and the way in which they are going to make up the new organisation chart and where organisations need to fulfil a double objective: to successfully merge two workforce and to know the talent they have to succeed in such an important change.

This second part is not only essential for the business, but also to generate internally a healthy culture allowing the organization to work on the development of its internal talent and to be prepared for the changes and natural development of the market.

The pharmaceutical company involved in this business case hires a strategic leadership advisor to conduct an assessment of its management team when its small structure specializing in animal health absorbs a larger business.

A model for integration

HR leads the project and sets the main objective of carrying out an integration in the shortest possible time to minimize uncertainty. The results, in addition to making up the new organization chart, will serve as a talent development map for the future. The company is aware that in the process they may find several candidates for the same position or positions without any fully qualified professional and wants to make decisions based on the most objective information possible.

The program was carried out in only three months and structured in three phases:

Design

First it was necessary to define the competence and success profiles to be evaluated: the same skills in all roles with a higher level of demand for the higher positions. One of the key aspects of the project was the transparency of the methodology and criteria used by the consultants to guarantee the homogeneity and objectivity of the scores. The communication plan to ensure professionals always understood the objectives of each action also played an essential role.

Assessment

The process began with a two and a half hour kick off in which, in addition to the one hundred people evaluated, the management, HR and the consultancy firm were also involved.

The assessment sessions were held throughout Spain in heterogeneous groups, with the assistance of one consultant for every two people.

Management of results

Each person received a final report with an explanation of their strengths and opportunities for improvement, which was used to develop an individualized training program. The overall results presented to the company included:

Map of potential: which allows the company to know what it has in its organization, what profiles it has according to the level of demand established in all categories and where they are according to the objectives.
Roadmap: which allows to clearly see what actions to take to develop the skills needed, both in the organization and individually.
Talent development map: which allows identifying future risks, where the talent is and the development areas to reach what the company wants to achieve.