Client example: Assessing the competitive marketing capability of one hundred marketers worldwide

The clear identification of specific weaknesses in marketing capability and the discovery of pockets of individual expertise enabled this client to confidently plan and resource innovative marketing programmes.

Global financial services corporation – operating through a dozen independent marketing teams across Europe, Asia and North America – aiming to break into new markets with new products.

Assess the marketing capability of 100 personnel, identifying strengths and short-falls. Formulate skills development programmes to fill the gaps and ensure all teams could support the new strategy.

Customised to the client’s marketing organisation, with staff allocated into business units and functional (role) groupings.

Client selected key capabilities to be assessed for each unit and group, with a generic sub-set of business critical capabilities flagged for all
Face-to-face assessments undertaken with each marketer with individual scores being recorded and validated
Data and analyses provided for each individual, unit and group, giving an understanding of individual, team and functional strengths
Recommendations made on training requirements as well as opportunities to share and exchange existing skills

Presented as a series of heatmapped tables and charts highlighting the key issues. Click each image below to expand:

Variation in marketing capability
The capabilities of functional groups varied greatly across the organisation. Two were well skilled, while one scored surprisingly poorly.

Succession planning required
Big gaps in planning and strategy skills between seniors and their next in line, revealed the need for better succession planning.

Lack of planning insight
There were proven strengths in basic execution skills but the assessment identified a lack of informed planning based on proper analysis.

Pinpointing deficiencies in capability
In terms of business critical skills, a number of business units were shown to be below what the business needed to achieve its key goals.

Targeting performance improvements
Performance in similar roles varied significantly. In one group, two thirds of staff were above or at expectation in business critical skills. Training priorities were identified for the remaining third.

Locating pockets of latent expertise
Individuals were discovered with specialist skills that had gone unrecognised. Costs of acquiring these skills through recruitment could be avoided by sharing this expertise across business units.

The client was able to develop customised training programmes based on key group needs aligned with the strategic marketing needs.

Individual performance improvement was targeted as were specific functional skills. Hitherto unknown pockets of expertise were recognised and used to the benefit of the wider business, saving time and money in the process.

Subsequently, a number of new marketing initiatives were confidently planned, supported by improved organisational capability in key areas. These include the adoption of new marketing tools and techniques, with the prospect of incremental new revenue streams.