Managing talent as the organisation develops

Client: Virgin Atlantic Airways
Sector: Airlines, travel and hospitality
Service: Assessment and development

The client

The newly appointed Flight Operations Director of this growing airline had an interesting challenge. The organisation has a unique and powerful identity and culture . youthful, fun, slightly rebellious, but also innovative and strong on customer care. The Director understood his is a very serious role responsible for planning, safety, service in the air and on-time performance. The airline world is a fierce marketplace where prices are falling, costs are rising, security is constantly under threat and the pace of change is constantly accelerating. In this setting, he recognised that he needed to ensure he had the talent in his organisation to meet these challenges and that his team worked well together.

Edgecumbe’s contribution

It was decided to focus on the senior team. We agreed to carry out an assessment of all the members of the team. We conducted in depth interviews and asked each person to complete aseries of psychometric questionnaires. We wrote up the assessment reports using our .primary colours. model of underlying capability which assesses each individual against three main areas of competence . strategy, people and delivery. Each individual was given a rating for each capability against a notional world-class senior management population using our Edgecumbe Managerial and Professional norms. They were also designated as specialists or generalists.

Edgecumbe completed individual reports and fed them back to each individual. We also completed a report for the group that highlighted the strengths in the team, areas where they were weak and the strength in the team compared to other comparable groups. Finally, we rated their jobs against the same three underlying areas of capability so that we could comment on the degree of fit between the individual and his or her task.

The outcome

The insight that was gained during the process has proven to be very valuable and helped the Flight Operations Director to have a very clear understanding of the capabilities and potential of the team and how well suited they are for the challenges ahead. The report also profiled the team indicating areas where they are likely to work well together and other aspects where it is more difficult. The assessments have additionally been used to form developmental plans for each individual and have greatly assisted performance management within the team. Whatwas already a high performing group, have now come to learn a lot more about themselves and others, the challenges they face and how best to achieve their goals.