1. What is the Final Candidate Assimilation Process?

• The Final Candidate Assimilation Process © is an absolutely unique differentiating service of B. Brownson & Associates, L. P. which is essential to our comprehensive, custom-tailored, retained executive selection process.
  
  
• The firm’s Practice Director has enjoyed twenty-five year career in line management, strategic human resources planning, executive leadership development, organization development & effectiveness, large-systems change management, and human resources & administration in executive positions with m&m/MARS, General Electric, Georgia-Pacific, and Quanex Corporation. He initiated and facilitated countless assimilation interventions throughout the United States, Europe and the Pacific Rim.
  
  
• The formal Final Candidate Assimilation Process is a heavily facilitated intervention to contribute to the rapid development of a strong, positive working relationship between the final candidate and his/her staff, direct reports, and associates with whom she/he will be working.

2. Why is the Final Candidate Assimilation Process of Significant Value?

• The ability of the final candidate to hit the ground running, become rapidly and fully integrated with competencies, personalities, priorities, concerns, expectations, and operating imperatives of the new organization and its members is an essential element of the executive selection process. The effectiveness of these insights and productive relationships is affected by the degree of shared understanding and knowledge among the final candidate and the team, developed through two-way communication.
  
  
• B. Brownson & Associates, L. P. leaves nothing to chance in any facet of the executive selection process from clarifying and specifying position requirements, identifying and assessing high performing candidates, and negotiating and structuring the employment agreement. Our only measure of success, however, is exceeding client expectations. Because of this we provide the client and the final candidate with a comprehensive assimilation process to assure rapid integration and focus on operating imperatives. The Final Candidate Assimilation Process facilitates this critical and often neglected element of performance excellence.
  
  
• From a “change management” perspective, the final candidate and every individual within the client organization with whom he/she will come in contact will experience change. Changes – large or small – are most often managed by announcement and expecting individuals to “deal with it.” This is why many changes simply do not work in the long-run. We have learned through experience in change management in major corporations and organizations that the two interrelated elements of human change must be managed. The first element is Change : a shift in the way things are done, which has two stages – an “old way” and a “new way.” The final candidate has experienced such a change from the “old job” to the “new job.” (So too has everyone who will become associated with the final candidate.) The often neglected aspect of change management is the second element of Transition : an internal process in three overlapping phases that people go through in response to the shift caused by change. Transitions begin with endings, during which one disengages from and breaks the old identity with “the way things were.” What follows is a chaotic zone, in which one is between two ways of doing and being, having lost the old and not yet having found a way to live with the new. Finally the individual experiences a new beginning, after which one again feels “at home” and productive in “the way things are” with the new identity based on the new conditions.
  
  
• The Final Candidate Assimilation Process facilitates a great deal of the transition for all individuals involved in the assignment of the final candidate within the organization – that is, it acknowledges the transitional steps that everyone will have to navigate.
  
  
• Impact. The formal Final Candidate Assimilation Process hastens the establishment of two-way communication between the final candidate and all of the key stakeholders with whom he/she will be associated. The process has been used at all levels in the major global corporations with which the Practice Director has been associated with outstanding success. Managers have elected to use it again as they have progressed in the organization, which is testimony to their belief in its value and effectiveness. The process has also been used by all levels of management from Chief Executive Officers, Executive Officers, General Managers, and professional individual contributors. Feedback received from employees involved has indicated that the process not only gave them a chance to share concerns and demonstrated their new manager’s sensitivity to their concerns, but also speeded their transition process involve in the change to a new manager and/or organizational situation.

3. Who is Involved in the Final Candidate Assimilation Process?

• The Client. The executive (or management team) initiating and directing the selection process often includes the individual to whom the final candidate will report, the human resources professional, as well as others from the client organization with specific interest in the process. These individuals will be involved in structuring the content of the formal assimilation, may participate in the information-gathering meeting, and are stakeholders in the rapid integration and contribution of the final candidate.
  
  
• The Final Candidate. It goes without saying that the final candidate is a major stakeholder in the process. The process enables this individual to learn more about the people with whom he/she will be working, the priorities & culture of the organization, the concerns & expectations of stakeholders, and the near-term operational imperatives which must be addressed. The process may also generate a plan for immediate action on critical issues facing the organization.
  
  
• The Stakeholders. This is a group composed of direct reports to the final candidate, people with whom the final candidate will require a close working relationship, the final candidate’s immediate superior, and perhaps even be extended to include specific suppliers, customers or consultants.
  
  
• The Outside Facilitator. The process may appear straight-forward and “easy” to orchestrate. It is, however, a heavily facilitated process which enables stakeholders to generate responses to specific questions about the final candidate. This information is then shared with the final candidate, who then discusses his/her responses with the stakeholders. The final candidate has the lead in this second meeting while the facilitator keeps the meeting on track and focused on often sensitive concerns and expectations.

4. When is the Final Candidate Assimilation Process Initiated?

• The intervention is most effective when it is provided to the final candidate and the stakeholders within the first two weeks of employment (or assignment in the new position, as in the case of an internal promotion/transfer). However, it is often advisable to wait for an appropriate time when all direct reports and/or other stakeholders can be assembled. In the case of subordinate organizations with wide geographical dispersion, it may be best to link the Assimilation Process with a scheduled planning meeting or the like.

5. Where is the Final Candidate Assimilation Process Conducted?

• Generally the process is best when conducted at a conference of suitable size at the client organization’s facility. The conference room needs to be large enough to comfortably accommodate the size of the stakeholder group, several flip charts, and have sufficient wall space on which to place a twenty (or so) flip chart pages.
  
  
• Other meeting logistics include provisions for drinks and possibly some snacks for the sessions.

6. How is the Final Candidate Assimilation Process Facilitated?

a. First. The process begins with a preliminary meeting between our Practice Director and the final candidate to discuss the total assimilation and integration activities which have proven to be a best practice. This includes a handbook for rapid integration as well as a discussion of the formal assimilation process.

 

b. Second. The facilitator communicates with the client organization and executive stakeholder to arrange for the formal assimilation event, to describe the process and desired outcomes, and to uncover specific executive expectations and concerns. This input will be included in the content and structure of the questions asked during the stakeholder meeting.

 

c. Third. The formal Final Candidate Assimilation Process is initiated with a meeting between the final candidate’s stakeholders (direct reports, staff, executives, and other key individuals) and the outside facilitator. (Approximate Time: 2 - 2 ½ hours)

 

• The final candidate is not present during this stakeholder meeting to ensure that stakeholders do not feel inhibited about speaking freely or about raising sincere questions, concerns and expectations. The facilitator presents a communication model, an overview of the change management process as applicable to the assimilation of the final candidate, and a rationale for undertaking the assimilation process.
  
  
• The stakeholders and facilitator develop responses to a set of questions. Those listed below form the core of the process. Additional questions are usually tailored during preliminary meetings with the final candidate and executives. The facilitator raises these questions with the stakeholders and records responses on flip chart and then secures the pages on the wall.
  
  
• What do we already know about our new manager?
  
  
• What don’t we know, but would like to know?
  
  
• What are our concerns / expectations about this person becoming our manager (or associate, etc.)?
  
  
• What do we want most from our new manager (or associate, etc.)?
  
  
• What does our new manager (or associate, etc.) need to know about us as a team?
  
  
• What are the major problems that he/she will be facing with us over the next year?
  
  
• What are specific suggestions we have for overcoming the problems we have described?

 

d. Fourth. The facilitator reviews the data with the final candidate. (Approximate Time: 1 hour)

• Following the initial stakeholder meeting the facilitator and final candidate meet to review the data that has come from the meeting and to assure the final candidate’s understanding of the points/issues raised. If appropriate, the facilitator may suggest appropriate responses to some of the points raised, or at least recommend the thought process the final candidate may work through in forming her/his responses to her/his stakeholders.
  
  
• The final candidate will then develop responses to the key issues. The facilitator and final candidate will then meet with the stakeholders in a second meeting.

 

e. Fifth. The stakeholders assemble for the follow-up meeting with the final candidate and the facilitator. (Approximate Time: 2 – 2 ½ hours)

 

• The final candidate presents the data given to him/her by the facilitator. This serves two purposes. First, it validates that the facilitator has accurately communicated the points raised by the stakeholders in the initial meeting. Second, it forms the agenda for the meeting.
  
  
• The final candidate either responds to the points in sequence, or may lump them together in a patterned or theme response.
  
  
• The final candidate should seek clarification of points as appropriate. The process works best if the final candidate assures that it is a two-way exchange rather than a monologue. The facilitator will assist in this process.
  
  
• Depending upon the new manager and the stakeholders, the finale of this meeting may be some action planning around proposals and imperatives brought forward as a result of the discussion.

 

f. Sixth. A follow-up session is scheduled for about six months following the formal assimilation meeting. (Approximate Total Time: 3 – 4 hours) During this session, the facilitator meets with the final candidate’s stakeholders without the final candidate present. The same process is employed in that the facilitator then meets with the final candidate, followed by a meeting attended by the stakeholders, final candidate, and facilitator. The following questions form the core of the discussion:

• What is your new manager (or associate, etc.) doing well that you would like him/her to continue doing?
  
  
• What isn’t your new manager (or associate, etc.) doing that you would like for him/her to do?
  
  
• What is your new manager (or associate, etc.) doing that you don’t like and would like for him/her to do differently or stop doing?