Development Associate, Leadership Advisory Services

POSITION SUMMARY

Leadership Advisory Services Practice

The Leadership Advisory Services (LAS) Practice is an exciting, vibrant, and dynamic practice within Spencer Stuart. Operating synergistically alongside the Firm’s market-leading Executive Search business, LAS professionals provide advice and partnership to clients navigating a range of key leadership and talent issues including: aligning culture and talent strategy with business strategy; maximizing team effectiveness; merger integration support; executive assessment; and talent development and transition support. LAS provides expertise in leadership assessment and development, which is a critical component to CEO succession. Furthermore, LAS is the engine that drives our capabilities and culture models, which are employed during CEO Succession engagements to ensure clients take a multi-faceted approach towards their leadership decisions.

The Role

The LAS Development Associate enables the continued development and growth of the Development Solution and supports Consultants in the full execution of client engagements, including assessing development needs of executives, teams and organizations, designing development approaches, implementing solutions and measuring overall impact.  The Associate contributes actively at all stages of the engagement lifecycle- from business development/RFP through to advisory recommendations and client/participant feedback. The Development Associate will support the Development Solution and provide program design architecture and production subject matter expertise relative to Spencer Stuart’s organizational development products and solutions. While the focus for this role will be in the area of organizational development, this position will entail work with other solutions and products.

The objective of the LAS Development Associate role is to provide world-class leadership advisory services to the firm’s clients while also serving as a key colleague and teammate in advancing the growth agenda of the practice within the context of the firm’s overall strategic objectives. 

A typical LAS client engagement team may include: LAS Consultants, Associates, Project Managers, Search Consultants and Executive Assistants. We view the leadership advisory skillset to be portable across industries; the LAS Associate serves clients across a diverse range of industry sectors. 

The LAS Development Associate role requires approximately 30-50% travel, primarily within the geographic/continental region of the person’s home office (i.e. EMEA, North America, APAC). Occasional global travel may be required. 

Key Relationships

• This position reports to the LAS Director of Associates (solid line), Consultants (on a per-engagement basis).

• The successful candidate will engage regularly with members of the LAS practice.

• This position will be based in one of our US offices, with the specific office locations variable based on time of year and other factors.

Key Responsibilities

Engagement Management

The LAS Development Associate will be responsible for planning and managing Development Solutions initiatives, to ensure progress and timely deliverables.

• Demonstrates initiative and commitment by doing what is needed at all phases of the process

• Regularly communicates progress to stakeholders

• Manages a large volume of information with rigorous attention to detail; develops personal systems and tactics for maximizing personal organization and productivity

• Overtime, develops an understanding of the resources required to execute all aspects of the workstream; leverages this insight to consistently and proactively develop engagement plans and timelines, and anticipate next steps

• Fosters close communication and builds strong working relationships with peers and colleagues, including executive assistants, associates and analysts

Development of Playbooks, Protocols, Materials and Support Collateral

The LAS Development Associate supports the Solutions Leader in the build out and standardization of solutions protocols and content to enable global scalability.

• Conducting research on cutting edge leadership development solutions

• Designing and architecting bespoke development solutions to meet client needs

• Collaborating with the Global Solutions team to systematize and scale these deliverables across clients and regions.

• Transferring knowledge to other staff to begin to build a cadre of Associates who can design and deliver Development solutions going forward.

Supporting Execution

The LAS Development Associate is critical to the execution of client engagements and plays an active role in all aspects of the engagement lifecycle. The successful Associate will handle multiple engagements across varied time zones with competing deadlines, and will work effectively with individuals who have differing styles in order to consistently produce world-class deliverables for the firm’s clients:

• Fosters business development opportunities and assists in preparation for pitch presentations; participates in new business pitches

• Assists in the development of client communications and engagement plan

• Assists in the administration of proprietary leadership advisory tools and methodologies in the Development space

• Contributes to summary client presentations and other documents identifying key organizational, cultural or strategic findings across the engagement

• Participates in client meetings and supports the facilitation of development programs if and where needed

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Ideal Experience

• Eight or more years’ experience in corporate organizational development programs with a specific focus on leadership development program design architecture and production OR eight or more years’ experience in leadership advisory environment.

• Experience related to architecting, instructional design, production and measurement of corporate development programs for leaders 

• Superior leadership development content creation and business writing skills (as evidenced through project work or deliverable samples to be provided upon request) 

• General business acumen as defined by having operated in a range of business situations/contexts and being able to bring a business lens

• General leadership development acumen as defined by being familiar with critical leadership skills and frameworks, and being dedicated to continuously learn/keep up to date in the space

• Direct interaction/experience with executive-level clients is advantageous but not required

• Undergraduate degree from highly competitive university required. Advanced degree in a human capital discipline is preferable 

• Excellent command of written and spoken English is required. Command of additional languages helpful 

Critical Capabilities For Success

Driving Results: Works to Meet/Beat Explicit Goals 

• Works to achieve goals while overcoming obstacles and/or planning for contingencies.  

• Is proactive and shows strong feelings of urgency about reaching targets  

• Checks work of him/herself and others against required quality standards 

• Reviews performance and progress of key projects and initiatives on a regular basis to ensure team is achieving results, seeking corrective action as needed 

• Proactively organizes and structures research projects

• Clearly communicates

Collaborating and Influencing: Engages individually to build collaboration 

• Invites and uses the opinions and perspectives of others 

• Engages others in a dialogue to gain commitment and bring them “on board” 

• Uses a range of influencing styles and adapts his/her own approach to the audience or individuals; anticipates the impact of his/her words and actions, prepares for possible resistance or pushback and responds in an appropriate, respectful manner.  

• Checks with both sides of a discussion to ensure common understanding 

• Takes initiative to maintain relationships 

Customer/Client Mindset: Highly responsive to clients and follows good process 

• Works to have things done correctly in order to maximize client satisfaction  

• Uses consistent approaches and good processes to address client needs 

• Respects client needs and places the highest importance on delivering timely and effective service 

• Addresses client concerns proactively and reactively 

• Demonstrates a keen sense of urgency and professionalism in responding to client communications and navigating client situations 

The base compensation range for this position is $120,000–167,000 per year. The actual base compensation offered within this range will be dependent on the individual’s skills, experiences, and qualifications. This position will be eligible to participate in our annual discretionary bonus program.

Spencer Stuart also offers a competitive benefits package, which includes:

• Retirement savings plan with discretionary profit sharing contribution and employer match;

• PTO (minimum 15 days per year, increases with tenure), paid sick time (10 days per year), company holidays (12 days per year), and paid leaves of absence when applicable;

• Comprehensive health benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, and healthcare flexible spending account;

• Life Insurance, and short-term and long-term disability insurance;

• Wellness benefits, including an employee assistance program, virtual mental health program, and mindfulness program; and

• Voluntary benefit options, including supplemental life insurance, identity theft protection, and whole life insurance with long-term care and critical illness coverage.