Leadership Development

Empowering Next-Level Leaders at a Global Investment Firm

The Challenge

As a fast-scaling investment firm, our client faced dual pressures: deliver on ambitious growth while enhancing a culture that will fuel success. With the desire to unlock the fullest potential of early-career leaders - who are the largest cohort and key to productivity of the firm - our client was committed to investing in the development of this critical cohort to perform at their best to enable the firm to perform at its best.

“If our Associates don’t continue to grow, senior leaders end up doing deeper work and we will not be able to achieve our business priorities as quickly or scale as rapidly as we need to.”

The idealis. Approach

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In partnership with the client, idealis co-designed and delivered an immersive development experience to equip early career professionals with the mindset, skills, and motivation to drive sustainable value creation. Grounded in rigorous research and data driven methodologies, we collected over 2,400 data points within two weeks, using our proprietary Real to Ideal Blueprint and Human Core Assessment to understand the strengths, gaps and opportunities that Associates faced to perform at their best within the firms’ current culture.

The data highlighted the competing demands and pressures faced by these leaders, and revealed the distinctive needs and experiences of this critical cohort to perform at peak levels. Anchored in our High-Performance, High-Humanity approach to transformation, we co-designed a three-day on-site leadership experience. This Day-in-the-Life simulation mirrored Associates’ real environment filled with competing priorities, diverse stakeholders, and time pressure that create uncertainty.

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The Transformation

Through this experience, Associates didn’t just learn new skills to perform, they learned how to confidently navigate competing demands, stakeholder dynamics and assert themselves with purpose and power - grounded in what matters to them, while anchored to what mattered to the firm.

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Connecting their personal values to business priorities using idealis’ Human Core assessment coupled with 1:1 coaching sessions

Understanding what “great” performance looks like in the role with clear examples and leaders to learn from

Making decisions and judgment calls under pressure with key leaders in the room to offer real-time feedback

Mapping and testing strategies for managing stakeholders with input from key leaders

Recognizing the direct link between their behaviors and value creation at the firm through intimate discussions with executive leadership

Equipping the Human Capital Team with a clearer view of factors shaping the employee experience.

The Results

The engagement delivered measurable shifts for both individuals and the cohort of early-career leaders:

Self awareness on areas of growth and focus that would unlock their personal potential

Clarity on how to best engage stakeholders at all levels with confidence

Real tactics to help navigate and communicate in challenging interactions and contexts

Stronger connection between behavior and impact, grounding Associates in why their day to day work matters to sustainable firm growth

Greater ownership of culture and results, with increased capacity to take risks, manage time, and take initiative to drive value and offer leverage to senior management

"What we valued most was having a partner who understood our culture while challenging us where we could grow. The result: our Associates now see their day-to-day work more clearly linked to their development and the firm’s mission — a rare and valuable outcome.”

Director of Human Talent
Financial Services