The Client
Our client is one of the top 5 financial institutions with a strong foothold in Portugal's banking sector, offering a comprehensive range of banking and financial services. With over 4,000 employees, the organization holds a significant position in the domestic market and was at an inflection point of innovation and business line expansion at the time of engagement.
The Challenge
Despite a clear strategic ambition to expand into new business areas, the organization was struggling to consolidate and execute on ideas amid continual internal change. The CEO identified a critical gap in leadership intelligence: without deeper insight into the profiles and dynamics of the top executive team, it was difficult to understand the root causes of execution challenges or build a coherent leadership pipeline capable of navigating the transformation ahead.
The Solution
Boyden implemented a psychometric tool to assess individual leadership preferences — covering motivations, decision-making styles, and business-cycle alignment — across the full executive population. Each leader received individual, tailored feedback sessions to build self-awareness. Boyden then addressed the CEO's specific concerns directly, presenting the implications of the group's current profile alongside targeted hypotheses and recommended actions. A High-Performing Team Session was facilitated with the Board Members, followed by one-on-one meetings with each Board member to review their respective Executive Director team profiles and prepare for team-level sessions. A comparative analysis across the different executive teams was produced, and a structured team action plan was developed to address priority issues and improve collective performance.
The Results
The engagement covered theExecutive Board and the Executive Directors. Boyden delivered individual and group leadership preference profiles, a diversity and complementarity analysis, a comparative assessment of the six executive teams, direct advisory to the CEO and Board Members, and a concrete action plan for high performance.
The Impact
Boyden gave the CEO and Board an evidence-based, systemic view of their leadership pipeline — enabling more precise decisions on talent allocation, team composition, and strategy execution during a pivotal period of organizational change.
