Organisational Design, Succession Planning & Top Team Development
The Roles:
Aardman
The Client:
Aardman is a world-leading animation studio. They’ve received many accolades for their groundbreaking productions of feature films, series, advertising, and interactive entertainment - including eight Oscar nominations and four wins. Two years of collaborating with Aardman began with a leadership consulting project, which later led to executive search campaigns and trustee placements.
One of the many things that makes Aardman such a remarkable company is its innovative ownership model. In November 2018, Aardman became an Employee-Owned organisation. Employees, known as Partners, share the responsibilities and rewards associated with ownership. This move safeguards their culture, independence, and creative legacy, while ensuring the values of founders, Peter Lord and David Sproxton, continue to flourish.
Following several successful experiences with Moon’s Executive Search team, Aardman sought the expertise of our Leadership Consulting division. We were excited to collaborate with them again and help ensure they were positioned to lead in their field for years to come.
Simon Quinn, Moon’s Director of Leadership Consulting led the process, working alongside our Founding Director, Vanessa Moon, to craft a bespoke programme to suit the company’s specific needs and reduce any barriers to success. This involved comprehensive assessments of their organisational design, succession planning and top-team development.
We analysed the chain of command and reviewed key roles as part of our organisational design evaluation. We advised on communication between departments and balancing transparency with confidentiality.
Our succession planning assessment involved in-depth interviews to determine potential leaders within Aardman. We recommended secondments in different divisions of the company to broaden the experience of promising candidates and increase leadership opportunities. Our findings were initially presented to the candidates, and only shared with the Board with the individual’s permission, helping build honesty, trust, and transparency. This project prepared the studio for a seamless transition between leaders, allowing continued growth and productivity.
Top team development is viewed by most industry leaders as integral to lasting success. We guided Aardman on how to prioritise it and merge it into the People Strategy. One-to-one interviews and psychometric testing uncovered latent talent areas within the Executive Board. We produced an insights report on each individual’s development with recommendations for the future. This outlined specific actions needed to drive development and elevate performance.
Overall, the project was a huge success. Aardman’s Executive Board were thrilled with our findings and recommendations.
Sean Clarke, Aardman’s Managing Director, commented:
“It was great to work with Simon and Vanessa again, who impressed us with their extensive knowledge of development and leadership. Their support and advice on organisational design and succession planning have prepared us to achieve our long-term strategic objectives.”
Simon Quinn commented:
“Our partnership with Aardman was a delight. Having collaborated with their Executive Team on past search campaigns, we relished the opportunity to get to know them even better. Together, we were able to enhance their organisational agility and unearth opportunities for growth and development.”
Preparing your business for lasting success? Contact us at welcome@moonexecsearch.com to find out how we can help.
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