Work Psychology Services Lilli Sundvik
Services
01
Personnel Assessment
Suitability Assessments
When is a suitability assessment useful? A suitability assessment is useful in a recruitment situation when the organisation needs in-depth information about candidates' psychological competencies and also wants to give each individual applicant good feedback. A suitability assessment provides not only in-depth information about candidates, but also information whose use accelerates the recruited person's achievement of full working capacity right from the onboarding stage, and helps the manager lead the recruited person more effectively and individually.
Executive Potential Assessments
Why and when? A potential assessment is worth using when in-depth information is needed about the leadership as a whole and/or about individual leaders, for example when planning a transformation or in connection with an acquisition. Using the information gained from a potential assessment enables more purposeful and effective leadership. A potential assessment is an investment in leadership development and enables data-based succession planning.
The following questions seek answers and concrete development proposals.
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What are the leadership's strengths and development areas in relation to the company's strategic goals?
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What kind of future potential exists within the leadership, what growth opportunities are there? Into which future roles can the assessed individuals develop?
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What is the organisation's leadership style: where are its strengths and what should be developed?
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Are any capabilities missing, or do some capabilities need to be systematically developed or acquired for the organisation?
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What is the management team's dynamics, emotional climate and leadership culture – and how should these factors be developed going forward?
As a result, we get more purposeful and effective leadership, an investment in developing leaders' potential, and input for succession planning
02
Management Team Analysis and Development
Is your company in a situation of change, has the strategy been renewed or clarified, and is it time for the management team to step into bigger shoes, working together in a polished manner? Then it is good to know the starting point, that is, what competence and potential exists in the management team and how the team's mutual chemistry and dynamics work. On the basis of this information, the management team's development needs can be assessed and concrete development proposals presented.
03
Services in Company Acquisition Situations
Key Person Due Diligence, Leadership Culture Assessment and the Company's DNA
Just as when buying a company the financial situation, contracts, ownerships and HR practices are reviewed in advance to understand the risks of the deal, it is also essential to understand the people transferring as part of the deal.
It is important to understand what motivates them, what kind of human potential they have, and how they view change and the future. For many entrepreneurs and key people, a deal situation can be unique and arouse all kinds of fears and expectations. By understanding key people, one not only maps opportunities and risks, but also secures future success and is able to shape expectations related to the future in good time.
Knowing the key people helps shape the future organisation and opens a good channel of dialogue with the incoming organisation.
The organisational culture that key people are used to also affects how their potential comes to the fore. Likewise, the factors behind the organisation's origins can have an important meaning that often subconsciously influences operations. That is why these matters too are worth systematically assessing. The better the different (or similar) culture of the company being acquired is recognised in advance, the easier it is to find unified, suitable ways of working. Sometimes the buyer's and seller's organisational cultures can even be on a collision course, in which case it is especially worth considering how a new, shared way of working can be found.
In general, a systemic perspective is important to keep in mind – how the new culture as a whole can be made to work, how the interpersonal chemistry between people evolves, and how a magic can be created between people that helps everyone bring out the best in themselves.
"I myself once sold my company after twenty years of entrepreneurship, and I still remember what a big change it ultimately was to become part of a larger organisation and how much I myself worried about my own key people and their well-being. I believe that this experience has also enabled me to understand sellers' concerns all the better – sometimes even unspoken ones – and to bring understanding and empathy to situations."
Change Barometer After a Company Acquisition
In the integration phase, much attention is often paid to the integration of finances and systems, because they are urgent and mandatory by nature. By contrast, the promotion of psychological integration and integration related to identities receives less attention. In order to planfully take the right measures that advance strategic goals, information about the state of psychological integration is needed. Here, the change barometer brings objective information.
As needed, surveys, in-depth interviews and systematic observation can be used to determine what stage has been reached. On the basis of this information, the advancement of integration can be directed so that resources are channelled towards advancing what is essential at that particular stage, and the metrics to be followed during integration can be defined correctly. This ensures that strategic goals are realised.
The Legacy of an Exiting Entrepreneur
When an entrepreneur sells their company and either gives up business activity entirely or moves from operational leadership to, for example, a board member role, it is both a moment of joy and a demanding place of letting go. Especially in some family businesses, I have encountered situations where the exiting entrepreneur does not fully let go but has a need to influence the actions of those who continue. Well-intentioned advice can of course be appropriate, but at times the exiting entrepreneur's strong need to influence things can also drain the energy of the new leadership.
Letting go is especially difficult if one does not feel one has received sufficient appreciation for one's work. In company deals, the focus naturally looks more to the future than the past, but it can be worthwhile to pause for a moment to identify and acknowledge the exiting entrepreneur's contribution. The exiting entrepreneur can also benefit from jointly considering a future that now includes other things. Letting go then proceeds smoothly, and, as needed, essential tacit knowledge about, for example, clients and ways of working can also be documented for the successors.
All of this can be done under the guidance of an experienced consultant and, as needed, by documenting matters.