The Challenge
A growing business had rapidly transitioned from start-up to a major player in its industry. Its number of staff had increased quickly, and its operating model was evolving at pace as it delivered new products and services, and met the needs of a growing customer base.
Commercial leaders had typically seen their careers evolve organically, with the growth of the business creating opportunities for bigger roles. However, as the organisation entered a new stage in its maturity, there was a desire to better codify what progression in Commercial roles could look like, including the expectations at different levels of leadership.
What We Did
We worked with General Managers and the People team to define a new career framework for Commercial, including:
- Codifying the expectations of individuals at each level of the Commercial business, in terms of impact, skills, behaviours and community contributions, using input from stakeholder discussions
- Bringing clarity to how the framework would be applied in practice and used in career development discussions
- Establishing how the career framework aligned to the organisation’s structure and operating model, including where there was potential for new roles to be created
- Enabling successful implementation by creating materials that could socialise the new framework with team members and wider organisational stakeholders
The Impact
Through the creation of the new framework, the organisation was able to:
- Motivate Commercial leaders around what their careers within the organisation could look like, and what would be required for them to take the next step
- Hold leaders to consistent high standards, ensuring there was both rigour and transparency in the approach to performance conversations
- Gain a clearer view on succession pipelines, including gaps or risks that needed to be mitigated through structural or learning and development interventions
- Establish a community of Commercial leaders, able to align around best practices and finding solutions to shared challenges