Specialists in Talent Management

High performing and effective management teams resolve complex cross-functional issues that are critical to the organisation’s success. By working as a team, and in its collective leadership of the organisation, it needs to enact behaviours that define the performance culture it has agreed to create.

This new paper from Ramsey Hall looks at how businesses can develop and sustain a postive culture within the organisation. Please click here to view.

A great deal has been written about the need for organisations to nurture their talent and keep their people motivated and utilised to their full potential. This paper looks at how more and more organisations are generating competitive advantage through sucession planning.

Please click here to view.

We always welcome comments on our reports, please feel free to email dryder@ramseyhall.com if you wish to discuss these issues with one of our team of consultants.

By Jenny Ludford CPsychol

The general economy remains uncertain however, there is a general expectation that the pace and recovery of economic growth will fall. Whether you are an optimist or agree with the general consensus, it is fair to say that there are still tough times ahead. As we assess the market and work closely with clients to ensure that they have the talent and resources to meet the challenges ahead, we are increasingly asking “what do you understand about the ability and potential of your own talent?”

Progressively more organisations are looking to their internal resource pool for ways to increase their competitive edge. Whilst most organisations realise the importance of measuring current performance levels of employees, we have increasingly found that many organisations do not fully understand, or recognise, potential areas for development in their managers and leaders. When we consider, that by developing the talent of managerial teams businesses could transform themselves and, as an additional benefit, address longer term performance issues.

Objectively assessing the current and future capability of managers and leaders is an effective way of identifying the gaps between current performance levels and the future needs of the business. Ramsey Hall is increasingly asked to work with organisations to assess, through objective development centres, the capabilities of managers in order to identify ways to address performance issues and take organisational performance to the next level.

Placing a greater importance on the development of internal capability will, undoubtedly, increase the potential of your business and enable improvements to be made to the ‘bottom line’, increase customer expectations and help your organisation to compete in ‘ austere’ times. Additionally, such measures could also serve as a tool to boost morale, increase employee engagement and enhance the career experiences and potential of your organisation’s most valuable asset, your people.

Phil Boyle,  the managing director of The Ramsey Hall Group, has recently been appointed as the next President of the prestigious Royal Aeronautical Society.

Phil will become part of a proud history of Society presidents when he officially takes over the presidency in 2012. Past presidents of the 17,000 member-strong worldwide Society include HRH Prince Philip and military aviation pioneer Baden Baden-Powell – brother of the famous founder of scouting Robert Baden-Powell.

“I am deeply honoured to become the next president of the RAeS and look forward to helping to write the next chapter in the Society’s long and proud heritage by strengthening the links between the members of the society and the headquarters team” said Boyle.

“What really excites me is the challenge of making careers in aerospace more attractive to young people – finding new ways to inspire the next generation of aviation pioneers.”

Phil  is the longest serving Trustee of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the current Chair of the Solent branch – recognised as being an exemplar branch within the Society and especially highly regarded for the support it provides to young people wishing to study for a career in aviation or aeronautical engineering.

Given the recent furore surrounding the phone hacking scandal concerning Rupert and James Murdoch and News Corporation, it would be inappropriate if we didn’t make some sort of comment about what has been hitting the headlines in the UK and across the world.

Whilst this appears to be a failure of business controls within the organisation, it would not be untypical of businesses that have inappropriate control structures in place. Indeed, many organisations who turn to Ramsey Hall for advice are concerned that their own leadership structures within their Board and Executive Teams do not always act effectively.

Without these types of structures in place, history shows an increased likelihood of consequences such as business failure through to major scandals as seen with the recent phone hacking scandal at News International, ENRON and such like.

Mike Cook, Ramsey Hall’s Board Consulting Specialist said, “Effective leadership and senior management with well established performance management controls, really are essential to any business who is serious about thriving in the long term. Having worked with a wide selection of businesses we can see when things ‘aren’t right’ and can quickly act to ensure the business becomes secure and stable as well as legally compliant.”

For more information about how Ramsey Hall can help your organisations, please call Matthew Davis on 023 8023 6944 or email info@ramseyhall.com

We are pleased to announce a new business partnership between The OPG (a division of Ramsey Hall) and A&DC. This means that we can offer our clients A&DC’s broad range of online products and consulting tools for use in all areas of the Talent Management cycle.  In addition, we are now authorised to deliver the A&DC Assessor Skills Training course, accredited by the British Psychological Society and the Institute of Leadership and Management.

This represents another milestone in our partnership strategy with other leading assessment materials suppliers, following our successful partnership with SHL.  More details to follow!

Global industrialist, Ratan Tata, has reportedly made a blistering attack on UK managers’ work ethic according to reports in The Times (May 21^st 2011).  He claims that British managers, “will not go the extra mile.”  The rest of his comments are well documented. As leading talent management experts, we have asked ourselves, “Is he right”?

Having worked with a broad spectrum of managers across the UK, within global corporations to SME’s, our experience proves that the motivation and behavioural competencies demonstrated by those with managerial responsibility reflect the culture and climate prevalent within their organisations.

Indeed our extensive programmes within traditional engineering and industrial sector businesses reflects this as we have identified a direct correlation between those organisations  where investment is made in employee communication, learning & development and succession planning and increased levels of employee motivation as well as engagement. Where employers have not had the resources, inclination or focus to identify and provide the learning & development interventions that enable individuals, teams and the organisation as a whole to meet its goal and objectives, the feedback from employees demonstrates a disengaged workforce and a lack of motivation that will drive the organisation to success.

In many unenlightened organisations it is often to readily able to identify employees who demonstrate behaviours which reinforce company cultures which have not changed for generations and our now unacceptable.  Why? Because they have never been encouraged to behave differently; they have not been given the opportunity to help drive change and complacency sets in. In the worst cases, they do not know better or worse, they hate their job and cannot wait to go home.

Whilst many within the talent management sphere are concerned with over regulation of the employment market, we believe all employers should invest in their people and develop a high performance culture if UK business is to succeed in the global economy.  Discretionary behaviours that drive business success only take place if the company culture motivates teams and managers to have the self awareness and emotional intelligence to grasp a better way of working.

Ratan Tata makes a sweeping generalisation. In truth, I am sure some managers will fit this profile, but in the main I think that Managers within Britain Plc respond with aplomb to a challenge – they just need the development interventions that enable them to realise their full potential.

I would welcome the thoughts and opinions of other Talent Management Experts – drop me a line and let me know what you think?  .

Following on from the resounding 2010 success of Ramsey Hall’s Occupational Psychology Group (OPG), the new look Website (www.theopg.co.uk) provides greater detail about our award winning business psychology solutions.  Already the SHL Partner of the Year, we are delighted to have been awarded several major long term strategic initiatives as well as ongoing support to our growing client base.  

The OPG’s core business is competency framework design, assessment, coaching and development through its team of HR professionals and Chartered Occupational Psychologists on behalf of organisations of all sizes.

Our recent seminar with Peter Humphreys has been a resounding success with 30 Business and HR leaders in attendance at the Rose Bowl near Southampton.

Peter was able to outline why it is essential to understand and develop a Director’s or Manager’s leadership capability and potential both before hire, but also before any development activity.  Those present were given the opportunity to complete an OPQ32r Leadership report post seminar.

Leadership assessment and development services are key practice areas for Ramsey Hall.  To discuss further please call Matthew Davis on: 02380 236944.

Ramsey Hall is delighted to announce that we have been awarded the prestigious ‘SHL Partner of the Year’ for 2010. SHL is the world leader in objective assessment solutions and as Ramsey Hall has been recognised for the previous two years as a leading partner, it was a tremendous accolade to the team.

To win the award Ramsey Hall, through its Occupational Psychology Group (OPG), was assessed against criteria which included; best use of SHL tools, client recommendation, recognitions as an ambassador for SHL and, of course, sales of SHL tools together with business growth generally. 

Phil Boyle, Managing Director, commented: “over the last 12 months SHL has seen how we not just assess people but help facilitate step change to our clients’ performance.”

Assessment services range from one-on-one psychometric evaluation, as well as 360 degree feedback, to the provision of total solutions including assessment & development centres.  These are often combined with coaching, organisational development and change management programmes aimed at achieving step change to performance. These leading edge solutions are delivered by our multi discipline team of business psychologists and HR consultants.  In addition, psychometrics forms a core part of our Executive Search practice offering.

For more details please contact Matthew Davis on: 02380 236944.