Our approach

Executive search requires time, yet most companies begin their executive search when it becomes apparent a position needs to be filled. This reactive approach places a company in jeopardy because filling the position quickly is so critical.

We offer three strategic services that give you the ability to anticipate your needs, respond to them quickly and attract the right candidates before you actually need them so that they are, in effect, identified when you need them.

Benchmarking your team

Team Assessment provides you with world-class assessment of your key leaders and the team. It identifies the strengths of your entire executive team and allows you to identify where you need help, now and in the future. This level of preparedness gives you a clear, short- and long-term view of your management team and reduces the risk of being caught by surprise. This is especially valuable when you have just completed a buyout or merger.

Scouting for the best

Taking a page from the most successful organizations and storied sports franchises, our TalentScouting service scours the marketplace and shortlists the executives you are most likely to need in the future, even when you aren’t in an active search. This gives you the ability and confidence to act—and be seen to be acting—quickly and when you need a new executive. TalentScouting is a smart, proactive succession-management strategy . . . which is especially valuable in a talent-short market. TalentScouting can become a key tool in creating long-term relationships with that talent.

Your compelling recruitment story

Our Blueprinting service transforms your company into a magnet for the right executive talent. It identifies—in seven words or less—the inspirational recruitment message for top talent to choose you over the multitude of opportunities they receive on a regular basis. It positions your organization as a uniquely attractive place to pursue a career, and it provides you with the dialogue which inspires leaders to choose you.

Our clients want to know how to de-risk the hire. Our answer is the Bedford “Getting It Right” Program. When seeking a new leader, nothing is more important than fit. We ensure fit by determining specifically what is demanded to succeed in the role. While the Bedford process of finding you the right candidates is quite complex, it is driven by three simple questions:

• Is there a culture fit?
• Is there a leadership fit?
• Is there a performance fit?

The quality of the answers to these questions reveal whether or not seemingly qualified candidates can actually deliver the measurable results that really matter to your company:

There are many reasons to choose Bedford as your executive search partner, including our people, our experience and our approach. To find out more about this, please click here.

Culture fit

Is the candidate the right fit for the culture of your company?

Dr. John Burdett, Bedford Leadership Advisor and world authority on leadership and transformational change, pioneered a system that measures, categorizes and compares the “cultural architecture” of your company with the “cultural suitability” of each candidate. Using our proprietary tools, we are able to clearly articulate your organization’s culture. The results of this evaluation give you the confidence to choose an executive who will integrate smoothly with your organization, mitigating the consequences of an inappropriate fit.

Leadership fit

Will they lead the company into a successful future?

Dr. John Burdett, Bedford Leadership Advisor and world authority on leadership and transformational change, has developed a unique methodology that defines the leadership requirements of the position and matches them to the measurable leadership qualities of the candidate. Our unique tools help draw out the role-specific leadership behaviours and competencies required for the position.

Performance fit

Will they be able to meet or exceed all declared and hidden expectations?

Surprisingly few organizations create a measurable profile of their business expectations. Even fewer delve below the surface to expose the hidden expectations, the ones most likely to inhibit the speed and magnitude of a new executive’s impact.

The Bedford Success Scorecard measures the success criteria that really matter to your company across a full spectrum of business results and key value drivers beyond financial. These include customer, social, operational and employee; they are all not only revealed, they are quantified where possible. This creates complete clarity around matching the candidate’s background and skill set with the expectations of the position.

The Bedford Success Scorecard provides a clear and measurable scorecard as to what success is in the specific role. The Scorecard provides a guide to the candidates—Am I the right person? Can I do the job? The Scorecard provides a guide to the corporation as to whether the candidate is right for the role. Once the candidate is hired, the Bedford Scorecard provides direction and inspiration to the new leader and an accountability matrix for the corporation.

If any one of these critical dimensions of “fit” is overlooked or shortchanged, the search process is of necessity, predicated upon an incomplete profile.

Unique assessment tools

We have two additional assessment services to ensure candidates will deliver the results that really matter to your company:

• RHR International provides world-class CEO assessments, utilizing both personal interviews as well as in-person and online state-of-the-art psychometric tools. RHR establishes a Profile for Success, based on the company's leadership culture, core values, as well as the behavioral qualities and attributes required for success in a specific role. RHR provides an in-depth psychological report on each candidate and their fit with the company as it compares to the Profile for Success. RHR International has offices in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States. Please visit their website for more information.
• SmartAssessment^® is the most rigorous executive assessment process in the industry. It is used by Fortune 500 companies to reduce the risk of inappropriate hiring choices. SmartAssessment is used by the top private equity firms in the world to maximize the value and performance of their portfolio companies. It is the most accurate predictor of talent assessment known. Clients report an over 90% success rate on how the new hire performed against pre-defined business expectations.

A value-laden search starts with reach—an ability to attract and deliver “best-in-class” candidates. “Attraction” is rooted in the quality of the hiring organization’s “story.” Finding the best candidates often means looking where others have not yet ventured.

The hire decision is about “fit.” “Fit,” in turn, means matching the candidate’s operational style with the organization’s emerging culture. It means finding top performers who clearly display the leadership competencies needed. It means digging, really digging to ensure that the candidate’s performance history and overall background are tightly aligned with the scorecard for the role. And “fit” means assessing the candidate’s potential contribution to “the team.”

You only have one chance to make a first impression

We know that those who don’t land, don’t stay. We also know that if new leaders gets off to a poor start, it can take a long time for them to get back on track.

When someone stumbles on landing not only do the ripples travel far, but the opportunity lost is often one that will not return.

Without breaking stride

Without Breaking Stride was written specifically to de-risk that concern. Developed by our leadership advisor, Dr. John Burdett, the workbook is an easy to follow “map” of integration success.

Based on his own work that goes back over a decade, Without Breaking Stride fills an important gap in the modern search process, and we are delighted to offer this evolutionary resource as part of our holistic approach to help organizations straddle the talent management agenda.