Developing the Next Generation to Lead
Consumer Goods.
Succession Planning & Leadership Development
A consumer goods business needed to build succession in its leadership with long tenure amongst all senior leaders. Carrera conducted a program that identified and developed the next tier of leaders to ensure they will be ready to move into executive roles when required.
The Challenge
A global leader in automotive products had a senior leadership team with deep institutional knowledge and tenures exceeding 20 years. That stability was a strength — but it had created a significant succession risk. No clear internal successors existed with the leadership capability to take over when the time came.
The business had taken a first step: creating new sales leadership roles and appointing high-performing individuals into them. But questions remained about whether their leadership behaviours would match the demands of more senior roles — and how much development investment the right candidates would require.
What Carrera Delivered
Carrera designed a succession planning initiative using behavioural assessment and structured development. First, role profiles were created for both the new sales management roles and the senior leadership positions — establishing a clear picture of what was required at each level.
The newly promoted Sales Managers completed behavioural assessments benchmarked against both role profiles simultaneously: where they sat now, and what the gap looked like to the senior level. Results were shared with each individual in a one-on-one debrief, with three to four critical behavioural attributes identified as the priority focus for development. These were built directly into individual professional development plans.
Each participant was then given a strategic assignment — a real business project to complete with minimal intervention from the leadership team. This was deliberate: the assignment was both a development experience and a live assessment of readiness.
The Outcome
All participants presented their strategic plans back to senior leadership and their own teams — and delivered beyond expectations.
Two of those assessed were identified as having genuine potential for senior leadership, with clear development pathways now in place.
The managers were given expanded responsibilities in the months following: broader P&L management, greater ownership of strategy, and more direct accountability for customer relationships.
The leadership team reported high confidence in the pipeline — and continued to create development opportunities for the group.
Succession planning rarely feels urgent — until it is. This engagement gave the business a structured process, an evidence-based view of internal capability, and a development roadmap that was already delivering results before any of the current senior team had moved on.