Building a Skills Bench for Growth
Situation
An investment management firm had a strategy for significant global growth. The question was whether they had the people to execute it, and a capability framework robust enough to maintain performance standards as the organisation scaled.
Talent decisions had been made on instinct and relationship for years, which had worked in a stable environment. Growth had the potential to expose gaps.
Approach
The engagement opened with the creation of structured frameworks to map the organisation’s existing and future skills requirements, and to assess current capability against the demands of the growth strategy. The initial 60-day baseline assignment produced a current skills profile, the first time the organisation had that picture in a form it could act on.
The baseline replaced assumption with something the organisation could plan from. Some gaps were more specific than leadership had anticipated, which meant training investment could be directed precisely where it would move the dial, rather than spread broadly on instinct. The frameworks built during the baseline assignment were also designed to last, giving the organisation a means to monitor and measure capability uplift on an ongoing basis rather than reverting to gut feel between planning cycles.
Outcomes
The output was a capability development plan tied directly to the growth strategy, with clear priorities, identified internal talent, and targeted buy-or-grow decisions for the gaps that mattered most. Where capability could be built internally, development pathways were mapped. Where it couldn’t, the decision to go to market was made on evidence rather than instinct.