Services
Leadership Diagnostics & HR Advisory
Assessment, Advisory and AI Competence Development for Leadership Teams — independent of or complementary to Executive Search.
Not every leadership challenge translates into a search mandate. Some situations require an independent assessment of the leadership team already present in the organization. Some need a strategic HR perspective before a structure is established or a role is defined. Others, in turn, require the development of the leadership team's own competencies. Ertler Executive Search offers three standalone service lines for these situations — grounded in business psychology, direct experience with leadership under pressure, and years of assessing senior talent across industries and geographies.
Focus Areas
Leadership Assessment and Management Audits — as standalone or integrated into Executive Search
360° Feedback, BPT® Diagnostics, and Executive Assessment by qualified business psychologists
HR Advisory and AI Competency Development for Senior Leadership Teams in the DACH region and internationally
Leadership Diagnostics
When does external diagnostics or HR advisory make sense?
The trigger for external diagnostics or HR advisory is often not a vacancy — it is a structural or competency issue that a vacancy would only temporarily address. An organization preparing for growth needs clarity on whether its current leadership architecture can support the next phase. A company in transformation must know if its senior team has the necessary change capacity before designing new roles. A board considering succession solutions needs an independent assessment of internal candidates before deciding whether to search externally.
Our HR advisory engagements are project-based and scope-defined: we work on organisational design, leadership architecture, role profiling ahead of search, HR strategy, and management audit preparation. Where appropriate, we combine advisory with diagnostics — so that recommendations are grounded in validated assessment data, not impression alone. For organisations that have previously worked with us on search mandates, advisory often follows naturally: we know the business, the leadership culture, and the market context well enough to add immediate value without a lengthy briefing phase.
Assessment Methods
Management audits, BPT® assessment, and 360° feedback
Diagnostic credibility arises from three things: the instrument, the person using it, and the independence of the assessment. Most assessment processes in executive search compromise on at least one of the three.
Members of our team are qualified business psychologists, certified in the assessment tools we use, with direct experience in executive evaluation at the senior level. Where mandates require, we also work with an external network of certified test psychologists — to ensure assessor independence and GDPR compliance. Our assessments use the validated BPT® (Occupational Personality Test) with optional Riemann-Thomann cross-evaluation for leadership style and interpersonal dynamics. Data is stored exclusively in Austria or Germany in accordance with GDPR. Under stable living conditions, BPT® results remain a useful reference point for several years and can support position changes, promotion decisions, and development planning without retesting.
As part of a search mandate:
Candidate assessment is integrated into the shortlisting process. Clients receive structured dossiers that combine findings from competency-based interviews with psychometric results and a written evaluation.
As a standalone mandate — Management Audits:
Where organizations need an independent view of an existing leadership team — before a restructuring, after an acquisition, or as part of succession planning — we conduct structured management audits. These include individual executive assessments, team dynamics evaluation, and a written report with specific development or repositioning recommendations.
360° feedback
The 360° feedback process adds another dimension: structured external perception data from supervisors, peers, direct reports, and relevant external partners, combined with a 90-minute individual exploration session. The output is not a score — it is a development roadmap.
CEO and leadership succession in owner-managed businesses
Succession in a founder-led or family-owned business operates under different constraints than a standard executive handover. The incoming leader steps into an organization shaped by a single leadership identity — often built over decades — and the tolerance for cultural disruption is lower, the stakeholder dynamics more complex, and the change management demands more acute than in a professionally managed corporate structure.
Our succession work in owner-managed businesses goes beyond candidate assessment. We work with shareholders and advisory boards to map the specific requirements of the transition itself: the cultural fit criteria that cannot be derived from a job profile, the change readiness of the organization, and the interpersonal dynamics that determine whether leadership authority transfers successfully. Internal and external candidates are evaluated not just on competency but on their capacity to carry a culture they did not build.
AI competence development for leadership teams
The strategic challenge of AI adoption is not technical — it is a leadership and governance issue. Which decisions can AI support, and which must remain human? How does the leadership team manage AI-generated outputs in high-risk contexts? How does the EU AI Act influence accountability structures, and who in the organization bears this responsibility?
Our AI competency development program is aimed at executive boards, senior leadership teams, and HR functions that navigate these questions in practice. It is not a general AI literacy training, but a structured competency assessment and development process built around the specific operational context of the client organization.
The program runs in three phases: an AI maturity assessment that maps the current state of AI integration in leadership practices, HR processes, and operational functions; a role-specific competency development program built around actual decisions and responsibilities of the leadership team; and an embedding phase that implements governance frameworks and competency measurement. Deliverables include a written AI maturity report, a role-based competency development plan, and a governance framework tailored to the organization's risk profile and the EU AI Act requirements.
Typical Mandates
Assessment, Advisory and Competence Development for Leadership Decisions.
Management audit before restructuring or post-acquisition integration
Leadership architecture review before scaling or market entry
Standalone psychometric assessment of internal succession candidates (BPT®)
360° feedback program for a senior leadership team or individual executives
HR strategy and role design ahead of a search mandate
AI maturity assessment for leadership teams
AI competency development for executive boards and HR functions
CEO succession assessment and cultural fit evaluation in owner-managed and family-held businesses
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Direct answers to frequently asked questions before a diagnostic, succession, or HR advisory mandate.
Additional Services
Supplementary services and Practice Groups
Start the conversation
Are you considering a management audit, leadership assessment, or HR advisory mandate?
We would be happy to determine together with you based on your issue whether diagnostics, advisory, or a search is the right answer.