redefining leadership:
building tomorrow’s
leaders today
Nicole Pritchard
Regional Manager, Talent
Management, AXA Asia
4 June 2012
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Overview
2

AXA at a glance

Identifying, assessing, and developing AXA
Asia’s future leaders

Few tips and building leadership team ownership

Lessons learnt and pointers
Before we begin...
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Before we begin...
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How do we plan for the future when the world
changes so quickly?
How do we build leaders for the unknown future?
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AXA Group
Leading Global Insurer and Wealth Manager
Our Mission
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AXA Asia
Our Regional Footprint
As of 31 December 2011
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Leadership at AXA
Redefining
Leadership
Globally, AXA recognises leadership as a key business challenge
“Leadership is critical to our
success. Indeed, this is the only
driver that will help us make the
cultural transformation required to
engage all of our employees”
“We must develop the leadership
qualities needed to get the best from
every staff in our organization. We
need to capture their hearts and
minds.”
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Henri de Castries,
Chairman and CEO, AXA
Leadership challenges at AXA Asia
Young company
High growth
aspirations
(organic & inorganic)
Rapidly changing
markets
Talent starved
market
Importance of
having the right
leaders
The need to develop
leaders at all levels
Challenges
Hence…
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The Top 20 Research and findings
- an external perspective
The Top 20 Companies for Leaders Study
Three key differences emerged between Top 20 Companies and
other survey participants
 Leaders lead the way
 Unrelenting focus on talent
 Practical and Aligned Programs
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Source: Hewitt/RBL Survey
Leadership Development Journey
1. Begins with
deeply
understandin
g the
businesses
current and
future
requirements
2. The business
analyses its
leadership
requirements…
….
3. Leadership
requirements are
reviewed against
what exists both
today and what is
needed in the
future ………..
3a. Quality of
bench
strength
Business
strategy
5. The
business is
led
effectively
4a.
Development
planning
Effective
Business
Leadership
Leadership
skills/
attributes
3b. Quality/
quantity of
pipeline
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4. Actions are
initiated to
develop and
source the right
leadership ……..
4b. Talent
pipeline
management
1 & 2. Business strategy translated into
key attributes required by future leaders
Leadership success dimensions directly cascaded from business strategy
 Embedded within all business processes
 Regularly reviewed and updated to reflect business priorities
 Expectations defined across the employee population
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3a. Quality of bench strength
Consistent framework defining potential
at AXA Asia
Custom designed development centres
Asia Leadership League Development
Centres launched in 2010 to identify and
build tomorrow’s leaders:
i)
 Identification and development
framework for key talent groups
 Consistent across all countries
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Future country CEOs and Excom:
three day Development Centre
ii) Future country Leadership Team
members: two day Development
Centre
iii) Key young talent: two day
Development Centre
3a. Quality of bench strength
Assessing future leaders at AXA Asia
Assessing the potential of future leaders to successfully lead AXA
Asia is against a defined model and uses a robust, multifaceted
approach
Structure of the program
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Pre-centre
Indiv idual debrief
Self ref lection & Self assessment
Online exercises - aptitude tests and personality questionnaire
Day 1
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Introduction
Career Dev elopment
Interv iew
In-tray exercise
Peer Meeting
Mini Feedback
Learning log
Debrief
Day 2

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Direct report meeting
Customer Meeting
Boss Meeting
Group exercise
Day 3

Dev elopment workshop
 Sharing session with Mi ke
Bishop & Bill Henders on
 Wor kshop on Rec ei ving
feedbac k & Lear ning Styles

Feedback (60 min) with
f acilitator pairs
Post-centre
Indiv idual report summarising key observ ations, strengths and dev elopment opportunities
90-min f eedback session with facilitator pairs
Session with line manager to agree dev elopment themes and actions
3b. Quality/quantity of pipeline
Redefining
Leadership
Organisation and Talent Review (OTR)

Global standardised annual
succession planning and talent
review process

Review breadth and depth of talent
within all companies in Asia
 Critical leadership roles
 Critical professional families
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
Regional Excom heavily involved

CEOs held accountable for
conducting review within their
company

Identify concrete development
actions

Monitor and review
4a. Development Planning
Technical and behavioural skill planning
& development

Annual individual development planning

Regional Training Needs Analysis linked to
strategic business plan

Managers and staff held accountable for
development plan execution
Long-term career planning

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Annual career
development
dialogues
conducted with all
staff
AXA University campuses in Singapore
and Paris

Dedicated facility and faculty designing and
delivering customised programmes and
forums
International mobility

Short and long
term assignments
encouraged to
develop
capabilities
4b. Talent pipeline management
Internal pipeline management
Candidate A
Leadership Team
2011 People Movements
New Joiners (to 1 Nov)
4 joiners (1 external; 3
internal transfers)
- John D
- Jane M
- Fei X
- Alan B
11 joiners (6 external; 5
internal transfer)
- Shane B - Dean S
- Kevin M
- David P
-Jim B
- Rebecca A
-Calvin S
- Steve K
-Ben P
- Ahmed P
-Aran P
7 joiners (all external)
- Eric P
- John J
-Ian C
- Rob S
-Brad S
- Lisa M
-Stephanie S
2 departures
- Gareth M
- Albert J
Excom (n=x)
8 departures (6 external; 2
internal transfers)
- Tony B
- Simon G
-Kim D
- Jean W
-Oliver F
-Steven S
-Tom B
-Ellen B
0 promotion
PF Leader/SVP-EVP
(n=x)
2
lateral
moves
7 lateral
moves
Principal/Senior Manager (n=x)
11 departures (9 external; 2
internal transfers)
- Ruby C
- Clement B
- Esther T - Michael F
- Mark D
- Eric C
- Jan T
- Cynthia B
- Kevin W
- Mike W
- Daniel Q
Candidate F
Candidate C
Candidate E

Review every six months the external
pipeline of talent for key roles

Conduct in all countries

Proactive networking and relationship
building
x (x departures; x
internal transfers)
1
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Candidate B
Candidate D
0 promotion
Functional Leader/Vice President
(n=x)
Candidate G
CEO, x
entity
Departures (to 1 Nov.)
4 promotions
x joiners (x
external hires, x
internal
transfers)
External talent mapping

Active monitoring and management
of movement of talent within the
organisation

Balance buy versus build
Retaining future leaders at AXA Asia

Targeted measures are used to retain future leaders
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Senior executives actively manage any derailing / plateauing of
future leaders
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Career Track
Recognition
Development dialogue
Development plan execution
Market positioning of fixed compensation
Long Term Incentive Plans
Targeted actions to address concerns
Role movement
Coaching
Building Executive ownership
A common issue with developing future leaders is gaining CEO &
Leadership team ownership

At AXA Asia, engagement and ownership by the Leadership team has
been gained by

Annual Talent Sessions: Regional CEO along with Regional HR discusses with
each country annually and reviews the health of future leader pipelines &
development plans

Quarterly reviews / Excom Off-sites: Along with the Business Quarterly Reviews,
Regional CEO and Excom review the talent pipeline and development plans
implementation with all countries

Assessing and developing future leaders: Senior executives commit significant
time to assess the suitability of identified future leaders, participate as facilitators in
Development Centers along with partnering with them for their development.
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A quick Audit …
 Do you know what your leaders of the future look like?
 Do you know who your best talent is? Do they know?
 Is there a significant difference between their total
compensation and the average performers in their position?
 What developmental opportunities do high potential leaders get
compared to other leaders?
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Building tomorrow’s leaders
A few tips on what we can do…
 Initiate one on one CEO dialogue with the identified
talent
 Develop high-potential development programs
 Create assignment-based development programs
 Develop "on-boarding" programs to ensure success
in new roles
 Link high-potential status to total compensation
review
 Track high-potential growth to identify best growth
paths
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Few
Tips
The Right Programs, Done Right
Short-Term and Long-Term Opportunities
What can we Do Today
 Assess - Ask senior team for
feedback on current processes
for developing leaders
 Prioritize - Identify the 3 things
that the company absolutely
must do this year to build
leadership depth and quality
 Compare - Understand how
the programs compare to those
of the Top 20
 Audit - Determine the total
dollars spent by the
organisation on developing
leaders; assess return
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Longer Term Actions
 Leadership Strategy Develop a holistic leadership
strategy outlining how to
source, align, develop and
reward leaders
 Implementation Audit Assess capabilities to
effectively implement
leadership programs
 Create the Practices –
Create and implement those
practices with the greatest
leverage for building leaders
Few
Tips
Lessons learnt at AXA
 Gain leadership team ownership early on
 Identify the “right” leaders
 Give future leaders the job and resources they need to
succeed
 Support, develop and encourage future leaders
 Reward and empower
 Be prepared to “Let them soar high”
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Closing questions to ponder upon
Redefining
Leadership
Based on our conversation today . . .
 Where do you see the greatest areas for improvement in
your approach to building leadership depth and quality?
 How committed is your CEO and Leadership Team members
to build strong leaders?
 What barriers exist to implement new leadership practices
or processes?
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