The challenge

The main challenge was building up the leadership team to ensure a healthy mix of functional knowledge while ensuring that the people selected could effectively work together (team-fit).

Building up a new team, let alone a leadership team, is never easy, especially for relatively inexperienced leaders in hiring and candidate selection. While an experienced executive search consultant can be of great help, the final decision still falls on leaders themselves.

In those situations, it’s easy to fall victim to the biases we all have. As in, we hire the people who are the most like us. A solution was needed that took a more data-based approach that took the biases out of the equation. 

The solution

The solution proposed by the consultant was to use Wisnios suite of decision tools. The tools help in minimising bias and make better-informed hiring decisions through data and talent analytics.

• Job analysis tools - Job analysis tools guide the user through the first steps of a data-driven hiring process, starting with outlining the essential requirements and objectives of the role to identify an ideal candidate's competencies.
• Structured hiring tools - The Hiring Dashboard brings transparency to even the most complex hiring process by giving a clear overview of shortlists, Candidate Profiles, and candidate evaluations based on the job-specific requirements with a range of hiring decision tools.
• Team analysis tools - Based on behavioural science theories on values, personality, and competencies, team members complete a series of online surveys and review their Team Profile to learn more about their colleagues' traits, motivators, and skills.

The result

To better understand the roles being hired for, the Wisnio Hiring Dashboard was used for the two newly created positions with key objectives, threshold criteria, and differentiating competencies defined for both. The headhunter then used the analysis as a basis for starting the search process.

A graph showing the candidate's personality fit with the team. 

Next, the shortlisted candidates were asked to go through the Wisnio assessment (online, three tests, ~20 minutes), after which the platform created a personal Candidate Profile for each. The Profile highlights candidates unique traits and behavioural characteristics along with personal values and motivators on an individual and team level. 

With no team in place yet, the shortlisted candidates were compared directly with the Managing Director as overall fit with him was an important aspect to consider. 

This enabled the Managing Director and the headhunter to go through each Candidate Profile one by one to understand and compare the results to assess how a candidate would fit into the team.

As part of the assessment, Candidate Profiles come with personalised behavioural interview guides for checking fit with previously highlighted competencies and behavioral patterns.

Example behavioural questions from the personalised candidate interview guide 

In addition to evaluating the threshold criteria and differentiating competencies, the Managing Director evaluated team fit factors: personal values, behavioural diversity, and the WOW-factor or the interviewer’s gut feeling.

After going through the interviews and evaluating each candidate separately, the results were displayed on an interactive comparison table which makes it easy to understand how different candidates compare and where their scores differ. The higher the overall score, the better the match with the hiring criteria.

Example candidate comparison table

Initially, the company hired two people, who, together with the Managing Director, were added to a team on the Wisnio platform, which gave them a detailed understanding of team dynamics and development opportunities. 

Based on that analysis, it was clear the team lacked in a few critical areas, and thus two additional people were hired to fill those gaps.