Consumer demand for technology is at an all-time high in the Middle East with the largest growth happening in Saudi Arabia. As the leading technology retailer in Saudi Arabia, eXtra has maintained consistent growth during this period and recorded an all-time high of 55 million USD in revenues for the fiscal year 2019.
In order to nurture a pipeline of retail management talent, eXtra launched a high potentials program to identify and develop retail sales professionals who showed potential for becoming the store managers of the future.
Omcore Consulting was hired to design and administer an assessment center to the highest performing sales professionals across all of eXtra’s retail stores.
1. The Situation
Although top performers were selected based on their sales numbers, management at eXtra was well aware that a store manager’s success goes beyond sales figures. Therefore, we were asked to develop an assessment center that measured behavioral, sales, and managerial competencies relevant to the role of a store manager at eXtra.
eXtra already had a competency dictionary and job descriptions for their store manager role. We requested access to this information along with other relevant data to analyze the job role before developing the assessment center.
2. Our Approach
To develop and administer eXtra’s high potentials assessment center, we divided the project into 5 stages:
Data Analysis
We analyzed company strategy, sales numbers, customer feedback, performance reviews, competency definitions, and other relevant information. This allowed us to build an accurate picture of what a successful store manager looks like and use those standards as the benchmark for our assessment center.
Competency Dictionary Refinement
We identified some gaps in the existing competency framework based on our findings from the data analysis, so we developed new competencies and refined existing ones to ensure proper alignment with requirements for a successful store manager.
Psychometric Assessments
We recommended and administered a personality assessment that maps to eXtra’s competency framework in order to assess the existing level of proficiency for each employee. The personality assessment we used supported English and Arabic to ensure that language doesn’t affect the accuracy of the results.
Assessment Center
We designed an assessment center that included a combination of case studies, role plays, interviews, and group work. Omcore’s certified assessors administered the assessment center at eXtra’s headquarters.
Assessment Reports
We summarized results from the psychometric assessments and assessment center in a comprehensive report that was submitted to management. An individual assessment report was also prepared for each employee with a detailed breakdown of strengths, areas for development, and a recommended action plan.
Project Scope of Work
- Meet with key stakeholders to align on project objectives and intended outcomes
- Analyze requested documentation and identify any gaps or points of concern
- Discuss findings with stakeholders and agree on store manager job profile criteria
- Define behavioral, managerial, and sales competencies for store manager role
- Assign proficiency levels for each competency relevant to the store manager role
- Build benchmark profile to compare with assessment center results
- Select a relevant psychometric personality assessment
- Administer personality assessments in English and Arabic
- Develop a battery of assessments that included case studies, role-plays, interviews, and team activities
- Administer assessment center at the company location
- Develop a summary report that combines output from personality assessment and assessment center for each assessed employee
- Identify strengths and areas of development for each assessed employee
- Provide recommendations for developing competencies for each assessed employee
3. The Outcome
The assessment project achieved several positive outcomes for eXtra:
- The competency framework was updated to reflect the requirements needed for their store managers
- A baseline profile was created for successful sales managers
- eXtra gained visibility over the strengths and areas of development for their high potential sales employees
- An individual action plan was prepared and put in motion for their high potentials