How we helped the leaders at one of the UK’s leading outsourcing companies to drive its growth Serco

Service Line:

Assessment |

The client

Serco is one of the success stories of the outsourcing industry. A FTSE 100 listed service and outsourcing company, it has been delivering essential public services for more than 40 years. It has more than 70,000 employees delivering services to government and private clients in over 30 countries. Its principal customer base is the public sector, which represents over 90% of its business. Structured into three divisions, it is a global business with an extensive scope and scale of services which includes:

• operating traffic management systems covering more than 17,500kms of roads worldwide
• providing a secure computer and software support service to all 66 UK law enforcement agencies
• managing 192,000 square miles of airspace in five countries
• manage education authorities on behalf of local governments
• transporting more than 275,000 passengers everyday on our driverless trains on London's Docklands Light Railway.

The situation

In order to drive its growth and progress up the FTSE, Serco recognised that one key to its success is how its global leadership team thinks, behaves and performs. It established its ‘H3’ Leadership Model, which defines the capability and behaviour it requires of its senior population in order to achieve its commercial goals. In order to be ‘Fit for the future’, leaders must have the defined skills and capabilities necessary to handle the complexity and challenges that this level of growth brings whilst also ensuring they develop and grow emerging leaders for the future success of the business. In addition, they needed to be strong role models for the culture and values which underpins the way leaders behave.

What Penna did

Penna worked with Serco to undertake an in-depth assessment and development planning process. This involved profiling each of 85 leaders against the H3 model, using a process which examined each person’s underlying capability. An initial face-to-face interview, backed up with psychometrics examining personality and potential ‘derailers’ was used to generate their leadership profile. This was followed up with a detailed feedback and development planning session to ensure that each participant understood and acted upon the assessment information.

The outputs have been used to inform decisions about the selection, succession planning and development of senior managers. In addition, detailed summary reports have been used to highlight the emerging themes and business implications for appointment, succession planning and restructuring activities.

For more information

Please contact Gwyn Rogers at gwyn.rogers@penna.com.