To support its global growth strategy JT (formerly Jersey Telecom) has been working with assessment specialists Talent Q to identify and develop talented employees among its 450 staff across the business who could demonstrate the potential for progression into management and leadership roles.
Talent Q designed and delivered an assessment process called Aspire, which included a development centre, a personality questionnaire, competency-based interviews and one-to-one feedback. Of the delegates included in the process, 11 have now been promoted and nine have been identified as successors for JT’s most senior roles.
Since 2011, JT has increased turnover by more than 50% by expanding its global reach, introducing new services, undertaking strategic acquisitions and creating new partnerships. Talent Q had worked with the Group in 2012 to transform its senior leadership capability by embedding leadership competencies. The new Aspire process was created to assess those with potential further down the organisation and to identify their development needs so that interventions could be put in place to help them achieve the required competencies.
“Our growth rate meant we that needed to create a pathway for our emerging talent,” said Nicola Reeves, JT’s Head of Performance and People Development. “We identified an initial group of 19 employees from across the business who had the aptitude to progress, and Talent Q created a process that would quantify their potential and assess their strengths and development needs against our chosen competencies.”
Talent Q began by assessing all delegates using its Dimensions personality questionnaire. It then designed and delivered a development centre, in which participants worked in small teams to resolve a ‘crisis scenario’ at JT. Each team presented their recommendations to a panel of assessors. Delegates were then given additional information relating to the case study, and asked to present their personal proposals to the assessors regarding the lessons learned.
“Delegates were extremely positive about the development centre, saying it gave them a real insight into what it means to be a manager at JT,” said Nicola Reeves.
Each delegate later had a competency-based interview, followed by a one-to-one feedback review in which Talent Q gave individuals a written report with the results of their personality questionnaire and in-depth feedback on the various aspects of the development centre. In-house development programmes, secondments, projects and mentoring schemes were instigated by JT to help candidates address their individual development needs.
Six months later, delegates undertook Talent Q’s 360-degree feedback assessment to monitor their behaviour in their jobs. “Across the board, we saw a marked improvement in competency,” said Nicola Reeves. “Increasingly, these employees were seen as innovative high performers and they were described as being better communicators, better decision makers and more committed to JT.”
As a result of the process, 11 delegates have been promoted into new positions or have expanded their responsibilities, and six others are waiting to take on new roles. Also, nine people from this group have been identified as potential successors to JT’s top 40 roles.
“The resultant changes in roles and responsibilities provide the ultimate evaluation that this development investment was worthwhile,” said Nicola Reeves. “Already, Aspire has created a buzz throughout the business and there’s a real desire to run the programme again.”
By addressing the issue of emerging talent, JT has created a pool of motivated and capable people who can step up to its management and leadership roles.
“Organisations often address emerging talent with less rigour than senior talent,” said Nicola Reeves. “Without assessment, you could identify ‘high potential’ employees and their success will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. However, objective assessment ensures that progress is tracked from a fair and established starting point, and it helps to identify development needs. That’s what the Aspire process and our partnership with Talent Q have given us. In a business like ours, which doesn’t stand still, this means we can be confident that we’ll have high quality leaders and managers as we grow, and we can offer even better career development opportunities for our staff.”
For further information, please call Talent Q on +44 (0)1844 218980 or visit www.talentqgroup.com
