Situation

One of the world’s largest private equity funds invested $1 billion in a publicly-traded consumer services company. The value of the company had not grown at all during the first five years of the investment. Describing the investment as a “lead balloon,” the board fired the CEO and engaged ghSMART to assess its slate of replacement CEO candidates. Results ServiceCo

Solution

1. Onboarding feedback sessions were conducted with the CEO at 3 months and 6 months from start date to increase the chance of success.
2. The new CEO was so impressed with the insights and value of his SmartFeedback® process that he encouraged the COO and CFO to go through the process for development purposes.
3. The CEO and Head of HR hired ghSMART to help the management team learn Topgrading®. ghSMART designed and executed a series of five workshops for the company’s five regions, training 200 senior executives on skills related to hiring, developing and retaining A Players.
4. ghSMART worked with ServiceCo. in its implementation of Topgrading throughout the company.   By supporting the in-house trainers with the A Method for Hiring Facilitator Guide and other materials, ghSMART is helping to train the next two thousand line managers in the company.

Results

• The CEO hiring decision was considered a “wild success” by the board.
• Senior executives improved their personal and team performance by receiving feedback and then creating and executing action plans.
• 27 new A Players were brought into the management ranks of the company in the first 12 months.
• ServiceCo’s stock price increased 30% in the first 12 months (creating $3.2 billion in shareholder value), crushing both the industry peer and the S&P growth rates during the same period.
• The private equity investor doubled the value of its investment in two years.