Executive Hiring · Assessment · Onboarding

Hire right. Get them moving to a flying start.

Bad executive hires cost millions. Slow onboarding compounds the problem. Skyline G combines precise pre-hire assessment with intensive first-90-days coaching and AI-powered insights to reduce bad fits, accelerate integration, and drive productivity from day one.

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The Hidden Cost of Executive Misalignment

One bad executive hire costs more than you think.

Executive hiring has the highest stakes. An executive's decisions ripple across the organization — affecting hundreds of people, billions in strategy, and the company culture. Yet most organizations hire executives the same way they hire individual contributors: resume, interviews, and references. This approach fails at executive level because what matters most isn't visible in interviews.

$2-4M+

Average cost of executive failure

Lost productivity, team disruption, re-recruitment, opportunity cost. A failed executive hire often costs 1.5-3x salary in direct and indirect expenses.

12-18 mo

Time to identify poor fit

Organizations often don't recognize a bad executive hire for a year or more. By then, damage to team morale, talent retention, and organizational momentum is severe.

3-5 x worse

Team impact than manager failure

A bad manager affects their direct team. A bad executive affects their entire division. Lost engagement, increased turnover, and strategic misalignment cascade through the organization.

30-40%

Executive turnover in first 18 months

For external hires, industry research shows roughly 1/3 fail or leave within 18 months. This isn't always bad fit — sometimes it's poor onboarding and lack of early support.

What Goes Wrong

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Culture Misalignment

Executive hired for "track record" but doesn't align with organizational values or leadership style. Creates friction immediately.

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Collaboration Issues

Executive fails to build peer relationships. Teams see them as disconnected or arrogant. Peer leaders actively resist collaboration.

⚠

Team Disruption

High-performing team members leave immediately. Institutional knowledge walks out the door. Remaining team becomes demoralized.

⚠

Strategic Derailment

Executive takes division in wrong direction. Contradicts organizational strategy. Board and leadership forced to intervene.

⚠

Slow Ramp (Even for "Good Fits")

Even executives who ultimately succeed often lose 6-9 months to slow onboarding, relationship building, and context understanding.

The Skyline G Solution

Two offerings, one mission: Reduce bad fits and accelerate success.

1. Pre-Hire Assessment

Before making the offer, assess cultural fit, leadership style, collaboration capability, and organizational alignment. Catches mismatches before they cost millions.

2. First-90-Days Coaching

Post-hire, intensive coaching during critical 90-day window. Accelerate relationships, clarify expectations, establish early wins. Get executives fully productive in months, not years.

Pre-Hire Assessment

Before the offer. Know your fit risk.

Behavioral assessment reveals whether a candidate will thrive in your organization. Catch misalignment before it becomes a $2M+ problem.

The Assessment Process

Finalists complete a comprehensive executive assessment battery: personality assessments (Hogan and Birkman), and emotional intelligence capability test (EQi 2.0, MSCEIT), problem-solving and decision-making style, leadership orientation, and behavioral interview. We also conduct brief 1:1 interviews with the candidate to understand their leadership philosophy, motivation, and what they're seeking. These assessments provide predictive indicators of success.

You Get a Report

Executive summary showing how the candidate aligns with your culture, leadership model, and specific role requirements. Highlights risks and potential friction points. Includes suggestions on how best to leverage their talent and how best to coach the leader.

Debrief & Decision

We debrief findings with your leadership and hiring team. Answer tough questions: How will this person handle your specific challenges? What onboarding will they need? What early wins should we expect? This conversation surfaces risk and helps your team make truly informed hiring decisions.

What the Assessment Reveals

Cultural Alignment

Does their leadership style match your culture?

Collaboration Capability

Will they build peer relationships quickly?

Resilience & Adaptability

How will they handle your specific challenges?

Decision-Making Style

Does it complement your organizational decision-making?

Motivation & Ambition

Are their goals aligned with the role?

Risk Factors

What patterns might cause issues?

Onboarding Coaching

The critical first 90 days. Get them productive fast.

Executive onboarding has a window: the first 90 days. Miss this window and executives get stuck in slow-ramp patterns that last 18+ months. Hit it right and they accelerate dramatically.

The Four Critical Phases

Weeks 1-2: Pre-Start & First Impressions

Before day one, the new executive is anxious. We start coaching immediately. Clarify expectations with CEO/Board. Prepare for early conversations. Day 1-2: Set the tone — meetings with CEO, direct reports, peer leaders. First week: listening tour, relationship building, pattern recognition. Coaching focuses on making a strong first impression and gathering intelligence about the organization.

Weeks 3-4: Establish Credibility & Quick Wins

Critical period. New executive is learning, being evaluated by their team and peers. Coaching focuses on identifying quick wins — demonstrable progress on important issues. Establish working relationships with key stakeholders. Begin understanding team dynamics, organizational silos, real vs. stated priorities. Make one or two early decisions that signal competence and build trust.

Weeks 5-12: Intensive Learning & Goal Setting

Executive is building a detailed understanding of strategy, market, competition, team, culture. Coaching focuses on pattern recognition — what's working, what's broken, what's causing the most friction. Set 6-month and 12-month objectives aligned with organizational strategy. Identify the 3-5 most critical success factors. Build deeper relationships with direct reports and peer leaders.

Weeks 13-24: Deepen Relationships & Establish Authority

By week 13, the executive is past the honeymoon period. People show their true colors. Politics emerge. Difficult decisions become necessary. Coaching shifts to helping the executive navigate complexity, establish their authority respectfully, and build the execution discipline their team needs. Focus on longer-term strategy and culture fit.

Critical Success Factors

✓

CEO Alignment

Executive and CEO aligned on 90-day priorities and success metrics. Regular check-ins prevent misalignment from compounding.

✓

Team Onboarding

Direct reports given structure for supporting new leader. Clear about expectations, communication norms, feedback loops.

✓

Early Wins

Identify 1-2 achievable wins in first 4 weeks. Demonstrates competence, builds credibility with team and organization.

✓

Peer Relationships

Peer leaders are critical. New executive must build credibility quickly with peers at their level. Coaching focuses on these relationships.

✓

Learning Structure

Clear onboarding curriculum. Executive knows what to learn, in what order, why it matters. Accelerates learning curve dramatically.

The Coaching Model

Intensive first-90-days coaching: Biweekly 1:1 sessions focused on real-time challenges. Coach attends key meetings, provides feedback on how decisions land, guides relationship-building. Monthly check-ins with CEO and board to assess progress against 90-day success metrics.

Result: Time to Productivity

Executives with onboarding coaching reach 70% productivity in 90 days. Without it, executives often take 6-9 months to reach that level. That's a 3-6 month acceleration — worth millions.

Assessment Portfolio

Precise tools for executive hiring decisions.

Predictors of Leadership Success

Personality Assessment · Hogan

The Hogan assessments identify personality traits that predict leadership performance and highlight behavioral risks that may emerge under pressure.

Cultural fit Leadership style Collaboration Decision-making Risk assessment

Work Style and Motivational Drivers

Work Style Assessment · Birkman

The Birkman assessment helps us understand how leaders prefer to work, what motivates them, hidden needs, and the conditions under which they perform at their best.

Personality type Decision-making Stress response Team role

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence · MSCEIT

MSCEIT measures how well candidates perceive, understand, and manage emotions. This includes their ability to read interpersonal dynamics, anticipate how conversations will affect others, and navigate difficult situations with judgment and empathy.

Self-awareness Self-regulation Empathy Social skill