On October 5, 2012, Vantage hosted a client event at Venue Six10 in Chicago entitled “Leadership Competencies Can Drive Organizational Performance.” We invited our clients Ezequiel Olivero, HR Director of South America for Amcor PET Packaging and Robert Paxton, Vice President of Talent Management and Corporate Human Resources at Owens Corning to speak about their leadership models and how they have helped create a competitive advantage in their respective companies.

From left to right: Robert Paxton, Mike Tobin, and Ezequiel Olivero

Here are some of the key takeaways.

  • We learned how important it is to have a leadership model that sets a very high bar. This sets the right tone for establishing a high performance culture, developing a robust internal talent pool, and establishing leadership and talent management practices that are built to last. Setting the bar well beyond “acceptable” when defining your competency model is crucial.
  • Keeping an eye on key players and high performers when piloting a new program is also crucial. Understanding those people that will support and advocate for the initiative will help your new model gain traction.
  • The model must be owned and endorsed by the CEO and senior leadership team. Senior sponsorship is essential to the success of your leadership model. Your organization needs someone at the top to drive your competencies through all parts of the business and to assess their impact.

Both HR executives presented innovative ideas for how to bring their leadership competencies to life (e.g., building internal capability in evaluating talent). Vantage can partner with organizations—and has partnered with both Amcor and Whirlpool/Owens Corning—to translate their leadership or competency model into practical tools to drive talent management processes. We can also work to transfer assessment and development skills into our clients’ organizations.