Top Talent Programme
Context
Ernst & Young is a multinational professional services network, and one of the largest in the world. As one of the Big Four accounting firms with over 300,000 employees it has been continuously ranked as one of the 100 Best Companies to work For over the past 21 years, the longest for any accounting firm.
London Business School is a constituent college of University of London. It has over 2,300 students and has a secondary campus in Dubai.
Challenge
EY have a top talent programme which are a series of events hosted by London Business school. Day 3 of this programme has an emphasis on simulated client interactions in order to build confidence and capability.
EY required four different scenarios so that each partner could demonstrate the capability to stretch and adapt to the different cultures and industries represented by the scenarios.
The Solution
Alchemist co-designed four scenario briefs. The co-design process meant every brief was written as a highly relevant and true-to-life experience.
Actors were aligned across the set of briefs using formal letters and client histories, to ensure there was enough versatility, range and experience.
This meant partners had the opportunity to experience a real challenging conversation opposite an Alchemist actor. The actor could then stop the practice at relevant junctures and facilitate the partner group back through the experience. The partner would then have the opportunity to put feedback into practice and repeat the process.
The impact
Alchemist deployed its scenarios three times a year for four years. 14 to 20 actor-facilitators were supplied for a half day delivery session each time. Partners who participated rated it consistently as the most valuable day of the event.
