The intelligence agency’s human resources department needed help assessing its current system and redesigning a new leadership development and selection process. A successful leadership development process invests in employees and provides growth and training opportunities for long-term employee retention and success. High-performance organizations leverage vital employee development programs to benefit individuals and the agency’s mission.
The agency wanted to holistically understand more about its leadership development and selection processes:
The agency needed to develop a holistic system to improve leadership selection, development and evaluation. This required assessing current selection systems, identifying areas for improvement, incorporating best practices, potentially enhancing or changing leadership training and development, strengthening the applicant pipeline and improving evaluation methods. Aptive took on the challenge of conducting an organizational assessment to improve equity in the hiring process.
Redesigning the leadership selection process for a modern workforce: Aptive recommends best practices for the intelligence agency’s leadership selection process using industry-specific assessment tools, data analysis and change management principles.
Before redesigning the leadership selection process, the intelligence agency needed to understand the differentiating factors that define various leadership roles. To begin the assessment process, Aptive gathered input from stakeholders to determine where gaps in the hiring and promotional processes existed. The team examined the current leadership selection systems for front-line leaders, senior leaders and executive roles. This holistic examination revealed areas for improvement.
Enhancing Training for Future Leaders
After creating recommendations for evidence-based practices to redesign various leadership systems, the intelligence agency needed accompanying training to align training and development. Aptive provided recommendations for training programs tailored to developing agency leaders and recommendations for standardizing evaluation methods for current leaders.
For the project’s next phase, Aptive is working hand-in-hand with key agency stakeholders to redesign selection, evaluation and development processes so they are measurable and impactful.
The intelligence agency is prioritizing its leadership roles. Through a standardized selection process, redesigned evaluation methods and new candidate recruitment techniques, it is moving toward transforming its leadership workforce. Focus groups and interviews with former employees and stakeholders provided insight into the agency’s current leadership selection and development approach.
Consistent communication between the agency and Aptive ensures that findings and recommendations can be evaluated immediately. In addition, the organization is embracing guiding principles for its leadership transformation process. Current working groups are designing and implementing systems that complement these guiding principles and ensure a standardized, equitable recruitment and hiring process.
