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Focus finder revisited

The table below takes some of the key corporate benefits we identified in the Focus Finder and provides indicative examples of how an organisation might seek to achieve the specified benefit.

Substantive Corporate Benefits
Benefit Description Possible area of focus for scheme Possible features of scheme
Influence organisational strategy Using intelligence from the talent pool to feed into strategic planning Deliberately wide range of roles to ensure diverse views. Roles that are very close to customers, or that in other ways give signals about the direction of the business Two-way process, with feedback from scheme participants as important as assessment of their potential
Having people ready to step into key roles if the current holders become unavailable Small number of key roles, for example where role holders are approaching pension age Very clear role definitions and targeted assessment and development, with scheme aiming to have specific successors in place and trained up Very clear role definitions and targeted assessment and development, with scheme aiming to have specific successors in place and trained up
Actively setting out to ‘fast-track’ people from under-represented groups Range of senior roles in which equalities data shows there is clear under-representation of certain groups Positive action development opportunities; addressing bias in selection and cultural barriers; involving scheme participants in discussion of organisational change Positive action development opportunities; addressing bias in selection and cultural barriers; involving scheme participants in discussion of organisational change
Identifying roles which make a difference to the organisation and which competitors do not have, to help the organisation put resources into maintaining what makes it different Key academic or technical roles in areas the organisation wishes to promote/support Research development for academics; mentoring; internal peer-review schemes Research development for academics; mentoring; internal peer-review schemes
Widening the conversation about what the organisation needs and how it will be identified and developed, thus improving its capacity for self-criticism and improvement Same as for 'influence corporate strategy' above Same as for 'influence corporate strategy' above Same as for 'influence corporate strategy' above
Improving internal candidates’ capability to fill key roles and, by defining the roles more clearly, attracting good external candidates too One or two levels of senior roles, clearly defined, and all possible feeder roles, broadly defined Clear role definitions; robust competency assessment of ‘feeder’ roles; trusted feedback Clear role definitions; robust competency assessment of ‘feeder’ roles; trusted feedback
Increasing the level of interest in roles such as heads of academic departments, which may be hard to fill because they are seen as unwelcome distractions Identified roles, and all possible feeder roles, broadly defined Involving existing postholders; soliciting participants’ views on the roles and how they can be redefined Involving existing postholders; soliciting participants’ views on the roles and how they can be redefined
The organisation may have certain roles in which there is a wide variation between the top and bottom performers Identified roles plus feeder roles Emphasis on role definition and assessment Emphasis on role definition and assessment