Case Study Summary

The challenge

The mining industry faces a demographic timebomb in senior positions, especially for the critical site-based role of General Manager. Our global mining client had 34 General Managers and a pool of 200 potential successors at different stages of readiness for promotion.
They wanted a talent management strategy to assess, prioritise, retain, and develop the top talent in this group and asked Change Associates for help.

What we did

We designed a succession planning process for General Managers, and managed development centres to identify high-potential candidates, using psychometric tests and interviews to determine their readiness for promotion.

We assessed the current General Managers to support their leadership development, using interviews, analysis, and benchmarking.

In addition, we developed a ‘white glove’ onboarding experience for newly promoted General Managers recognising the critical nature of their roles.

The result

• Two General Managers from the original cohort rapidly moved to senior positions within their business unit.
• The new succession process allowed internal successors to be assigned to each active General Manager role, leading to greater diversity and inclusion and improved morale and retention amongst General Managers and their successors.
• The talent acquisition team significantly enhanced the time-to-hire and onboarding process for internal and external candidates.