To be a source of inspiration for people and organizations to stimulate the development of their identity.

“Leaders create an environment in which everyone has the opportunity to do work

which matches his potential capability and for which an equitable differential reward

is provided.”Elliott Jaques

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Every day there seems to be another new book extolling new ways of thinking about leadership, every organization is either about to embark on or working through a new leadership program.

Our view of leadership has been built up through over fifty years of research and practice. We don’t claim to have all the answers but we do offer frameworks for your strategic and operational leadership development process that have been time tested and proven across every continent and sector.

L E A D E R S H I P

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Our refreshing approach is built on the scientific principle

that under the right conditions, individuals and

organizations are self-regulating systems.

Our expertise is founded on unique insights, inspired by

Elliott Jaques, who was a pioneer in defining the interaction

and the fit between the complexity of a function, role or

organization and the mental processing capability of an

individual.

Jaques could soundly demonstrate that the mental

processing capability of a person to handle complexity is a

determining factor in being successful in a role. As

complexity rises, so does required mental processing

capability.

Elliott Jaques discovered that all work in organizations is

naturally stratified into maximum seven levels of complexity

defined by their time span of discretion.

L E v E L S o f w o R k

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C o m P L E x I t y

Corporate Prescience

Corporate Citizenship

Strategic Intent

Strategic Development

Practice

Service

Quality

CAPABILIty

Previewing

Revealing

Weaving

Modelling

Connecting

Accumulating

Touch and Feel

vALuE SyStEm

AS vIABILItyAS DIRECtIon

ADDED vALuE foR tHE futuRE

AS InnovAtIonAS ContInuouS ImPRovEmEnt

ADDED vALuE foR tHE PRESEnt

© BIOSS

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Taken into account the contextual reality we inspire clients

in finding the right adjustment of people and their

challenges.

We apply a holistic approach where work and people are

seen as two sides of the same coin: we add value by aligning

the capability of an individual to the complexity of the role

and by aligning corporate and personal values. Our insights

have taught us that one factor in particular has a strongly

predictive value for success in a position: the mental

capacity to deal with increasing complexity.

We offer our clients a premium services portfolio which will

help them to grow faster than the market and/or to better

fulfill their mission to their customers.

v A L u E P R o P o S I t I o n

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o u R m I S S I o n

Our mission is to build resilient organizations where people, work & strategy are balanced with the purpose to create value by focusing on the essence.

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Focusing on the essence…

Successful strategies try to align people, work and

value creation by analyzing the building blocks

required at every complexity level within an

organization.

o u R S E R v I C E S

StRAtEGy ConSuLtInG

Accord Group helps you to balance the tangible measures

of viability with the intangible measures of reputation at

each level in your organization.

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Focusing on the essence…Successful search depends upon truly understanding the context - the match to strategic goals - and being able to link the role and the person in a seamless way.

At increasing senior levels, the work requires executives to engage in:• increasing ambiguity and complexity• longer time horizons and greater uncertainty• a wider internal network of influence and collaboration• a more proactive interaction with the external

environment and a more strategic value contribution

With our world class diagnostic methods we are able to identify the level and type of challenges within a role. Through focusing on the mental processing capability of the candidate, complexity and capability are aligned.

ExECutIvE SEARCH

We assist organizations in defining executive positions, identifying well-qualified and motivated candidates, and selecting those best suited through comprehensive quality assured search processes.

Technical know-how or market / product knowledge are insufficient to build and sustain successful organizations. The quality of the judgments that people make is crucial to success.

Appointing the wrong executive is not only a poor investment but also a lost opportunity. Where wrong appointments are made, it’s often because the challenges within the role are not clearly identified. Senior executives have to embrace and work with the strategic dimension.

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o u R S E R v I C E S

ExECutIvE IntERIm mAnAGEmEnt

Accord Group is the reference you should call on

whenever you need to bridge a temporary gap, to run a

project or to execute a change management program.

We guarantee that our clients achieve sustainable

competitive advantage, build more capable organizations,

and secure lasting results.

Our interim managers are experienced value creators who

possess 20 years + of experience in fields including general

management, corporate finance, human capital,

information technology, marketing & sales, logistics &

manufacturing, innovation, corporate and social

responsibility.

Our pool of interim managers is a community of leaders.

What we look for when we are hiring are individuals with

integrity, a sharp analytical mind, creativity, project

management skills and the ability to work at the required

complexity levels.

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Focusing on the essence…

We are the only professional services community

working with Levels of Work certified professionals.

At Accord Group, candidates are not only selected on

acquired knowledge and experience, but they are also

assessed to understand to what extent their judgment

skills and the complexity of the assignment are aligned.

Process optimization, strategic development or identity

development show another complexity and

consequently make totally different demands on an

interim manager beyond the experience level.

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o u R S E R v I C E S

oRGAnIZAtIon DEvELoPmEnt, tALEnt mAnAGEmEnt, ComPEtEnCE mAnAGEmEnt & ExECutIvE ComPEnSAtIon

Having an effective organization design is crucial to meet its

strategic goals. Structures need to be underpinned by sound

design principles. Working with Accord Group means:• a high performance organizational culture• clear role accountabilities• appropriate levels of empowerment• improved performance management linked to

accountabilities• an aligned talent, succession and development program

whereby people decisions are made in an objective and timely manner and organizations rediscover and build their capacity for self-regulation

• a tailored and level based talent profiling matrix whereby both distinctive and non-distinctive core competencies are identified for each role, grouped by sublevel of complexity

• opportunities for more focused coaching and mentoring• up-to-date and relevant remuneration strategies to attract,

to retain and to reward top talent

Organizational design needs to be dynamic and responsive

to the external environment and facilitate rapid changes

inside the organization in response to the external demands.

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Focusing on the essence…

Levels of Work ensure that any organization: • balances the long and short term measures of success

and effectiveness• balances the quantitative measures such as financials,

market share, timeliness and quality with qualitative measures such as brand loyalty, trust, engagement and reputation

• aligns every role and function with one another; so one part of the organization is not undoing or wasting time doing what others are doing at the same time

• links global reward policies, processes and practices with the strategic intent and values

o u R S E R v I C E S

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BoARD & mAnAGEmEnt REvIEw

In today’s turbulent times, the effectiveness of Boards is

crucial in order to gain competitive advantage.

Nomination committees are increasingly using the services

of Accord Group to identify, to select and to attract the best

qualified Board members to ensure their independence and

avoid potential conflicts of interest.

Diverse board membership and adherence to governance

guidelines is not enough to ensure superior Board

performance. Many recent crisis or scandals happened

although the companies involved were apparently managed

by prestigious Boards and Executive teams.

Board processes and the quality of relationships between

Directors are also key factors.

We have developed a robust model for gathering data to

evaluate Board effectiveness and to form a solid basis for

planning systematic Board development initiatives, taking

into account the specific constraints of their activity and

shareholding structure.

The need for external advice and support during the

performance appraisal process of senior managers and

executives is increasing. For many years we help Boards and

CEO’s of both private companies and public bodies with the

yearly performance appraisal of their top executives.

To support this process we developed an online software-tool

that allows us to carry out 360° performance appraisals in a

timely and smooth fashion.

ASSESSmEnt & DEvELoPmEnt

When effective performance in a current role is used as the

only criterion for promotion, it can lead to people being

over-extended. This phenomenon of over-promotion is aptly

described in “The Peter Principle” and refers to people being

promoted until “they reach their level of incompetence.” An

old adage, but still true today!

Making effective judgments in the face of increasing

complexity and ambiguity is the key to success. Inevitably

these judgments become increasingly important at more

senior levels in organizations where the uncertainties and

o u R S E R v I C E S

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ExECutIvE CoACHInG

“When the challenge of ‘what there is to do’ is in balance

with what we feel capable of doing, we feel a sense of

well-being, we can engage with our work; our

imagination is captured, we feel confident and

competent.”

Gillian Stamp

Focusing on the essence…

Coaching is about helping the coachee finding the right

balance between her/him and her/his environment.

The essence is to be a guide during that process.

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Focusing on the essence…We can help to appreciate, evaluate and predict the capabilities and potential of individuals, teams and organizations. Our tools have a proven track record across a number of business sectors and are proven to be culturally & gender fair.

We’re convinced that the quality of an assessment process can’t be measured by the way that this process is organized but by the reliability of the prediction.

Scientific research shows that the use of processes developed by Jaques results in a predictive validity of min. 0.80 and thus by far exceeds the level of traditional assessment centers. Some studies indicate validities as up to 0.92.

the ambiguity increase. In addition, knowledge, personal

skills and experience play a role in supporting the

judgments that people make.

Supported with the research conducted by Elliott Jaques

regarding the match between capability of a person and

challenge in a role, we offer extended assessment and

development services:

• competence based assessments

• current and future capability assessments

• succession and talent management

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w H y w E A R E u n I Q u E …

Offers an integrated and

holistic approach to strategy

implementation, organization

development, recruitment,

talent management,

competence management,

leadership development and

compensation policy

Is sector, gender and culturally

fair

Is based on 50 years of

scientific research, validated

by numerous independent

international studies

Can be applied in different

contexts: we don’t offer one

size fits all prescriptive soluti-

ons; traditional tools are static

and only applicable within

one single context, let alone

they question the context

Our Levels of Work philosophy:

ACCORD GROUP BELGIUM C.V.B.A.

Esplanade 1 B78 • 1020 Brussels | +32 (0)2 474 03 90Rijvisschestraat 118 B3 • 9052 Gent | +32 (0)9 221 53 10

info@accordgroup.be | www.accordgroup.be

Accord Group is a member of AltoPartners, a distinctive global alliance of independent executive search firms with officesin 30 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

www.altopartners.com