Savannah Group Partners with Psychometric Assessment Expert to Create New Tool
May 23, 2019 – Drawing on insights from providing executive talent to over 1,000 businesses on short and long-term transformation projects, U.K.-headquartered executive search and interim management specialist Savannah Group has partnered with Alan Bourne of Sova, one of the leading innovators in the design of psychometric tools, to create a new psychometric assessment tool called the Pillars of Transformation.
“We are increasingly seeing organizations transform multiple areas of their business simultaneously and at varying speeds to meet new and different demands,” said Lisa Gerhardt, partner in Savannah’s global HR practice. “The ability to handle continuous change and transformation has quickly become an essential part of a successful leader’s DNA. Without it, organizations can quickly lose market share, or risk becoming irrelevant. Within this changing landscape it is important to ask: Are we finding and assessing leaders in the right way?”
Savannah Group’s Pillars of Transformation plots executives on six 10-point scales that reflect the different types of behavioral traits important to leadership performance in transformation environments.
Savannah Group’s Pillars of Transformation
“We found that in today’s fast-paced, complex and often volatile working environment, even the most comprehensive candidate profile review and rigorous interview processes can’t fully assess how an individual is likely to respond to the demands of leadership positions,” Ms. Gerhardt said. “The Pillars of Transformation assessment sets out to address this by helping to understand a candidate’s preferred approach to work in a transformation environment.”
The 20-minute assessment plots each individual on six 10-point scales that reflect the different types of behavioral traits important to leadership performance in transformation environments. Since launching the tool, Savannah has used the data to build a model that provides early insights into the executive HR population.
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“The majority of our clients are looking for dynamic and forward-thinking HR leaders,” said Katie Chevis, principal, human resources practice. “The data we’ve gathered so far indicates that HR executives in change scenarios prefer driving through innovation and are equipped with the emotional resilience to learn from mistakes; however, they perhaps have less of a focus on working with others to achieve success,” she said. “This insight is allowing us to interview in more depth by exploring coping strategies and examples of where their natural traits may have been a barrier to success.”
Versatile Recruiters
Savannah Group was launched two years ago by the U.K. office of global search firm Boyden. Savannah’s team of 50 includes 20 partners that are specialists in their fields, including board and corporate functions, financial services, hospitality travel and leisure, industrial, digital and media, and sports and entertainment industries. Corporate functions filled by the firm include: finance, human resources, IT / digital, and sales and marketing.
Savannah Group Launched by Former Boyden U.K. Team
The U.K. office of global search firm Boyden has launched a new executive search and interim management business called Savannah Group. The firm said that companies increasingly want to support and enhance their in-house capabilities by aligning them with specific parts of the search process.
“We offer a bespoke service, not trying to force a one-size-fits-all solution on businesses that increasingly value a more modern, flexible way of working,” said Mr. Ellis. “Independent and more agile, Savannah believes it is well placed to deliver the tailored experience organizations are seeking, without clients having to compromise on quality or global reach.”
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Savannah Group started the year with the addition of Simon Musgrave and Phil Coulter as partners within the firm’s industrial and digital and technology practices, respectively. Mr. Musgrave leads the firm’s energy and industrial practice with a focus on senior executive and board appointments in energy, transport and capital equipment. He joins the firm from Hoggett Bowers, where he was a director. Mr. Coulter comes from Korn Ferry with almost two decades of experience. His expertise lies in the technology market and function.
“Following our re-branding as Savannah Group in 2017, we have been consolidating our position as a leading challenger to some of the more traditional international executive search brands,” said Mr. Ellis. “Bringing Simon and Phil to Savannah allows us to increase our depth of capability within two of our specialist markets.”
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
