Building A Developmental Assessment Program With Best Buy

Best Buy is a consumer electronics organization with locations across the globe. Their products include a variety of electronics such as stereos, mobile phones, video cameras and home appliances.

YSC Consulting’s partnership with the client started when the consumer electronics industry was in transition to the digital era, where consumer habits were changing and digital competition was on the rise. They were beginning to shape their business strategy for the future after coming out of a period of stabilizing the business and returning to growth after heavy disruption to the retail sector.

As an organization, they recognized that they needed a different kind of leadership for their Top 125 leaders to take them through this period of transition and help shape the future of the organization.

As a result of the market changes, leadership expectations shifted and the client requested YSC’s expertise to solidify these expectations, and determine the current capabilities of their leadership to carry them through the organizational and wider industry shifts.

YSC delivered an assessment program for this client’s Top 125 leaders globally.

Co-creating a profile of success:

YSC worked in partnership with the client to create a “Profile of Success for Enterprise-Level Leadership”, tailored to the client’s current context. This allowed YSC to assess 125 of their leaders against an ideal profile of the capabilities and experience needed to successfully take the organization through the transition and beyond.

The Profile was co-created using interviews and focus groups with input from multiple levels of the organization, including the Board. The Profile was subsequently used as the original framing for the shift in the new leadership expectations, and to benchmark leaders for recruitment, promotion and development purposes.

Individual assessments:

After the Profile of Success was finalized, 125  leaders were assessed using the YSC Executive Development Profile (EDP) which involves a four hour deep dive into the individual’s key drivers, potential, as well as strengths and development areas. YSC consultants used the assessments to determine how well each leader matched the requirements detailed within the “Profile of Success for Enterprise-Level Leadership.” Following the assessments, aggregate analyses were conducted exploring the collective strengths and development areas of the cohort, illustrating where they are now and where they need to be in future on their leadership journey.

Workshops:

Following the assessments, YSC began a series of workshops with high potential leaders. A one day workshop was conducted with the executive team which included a presentation of the aggregate analysis, a session on their purpose as a team, and current team dynamics to bring to life where leaders were on their collective leadership journeys. Following the success of this workshop, leaders asked YSC to tailor the process for five of the functional leadership teams within the organization.

YSC’s engagement and ongoing partnership with our client reshaped their thinking of the leadership expectations and shaped their approach to recruitment and development of key leadership roles. Currently, the leadership within this organization is thriving and aligned on their vision for the future of the business.