Our process evaluates the skills, potential and leadership style of candidates for a specific role. Whether you are promoting internally or hiring from outside, we use objective, data-based scorecards to support sound decisions. The goal is to match the right leader with your team and culture.
Beyond assessing fit for new roles, we also design personalized leadership development programs tailored to your company’s needs, helping you strengthen and refine the talent you already have.
A poor executive hire can cost far more than just money.
Executive assessments rely on detailed evaluations to guide leadership decisions.
Assessing the organization’s goals and the candidate’s needs.
We assess the executive’s full psychological profile.
Critical for companies committed to strict compliance and integrity.
An open discussion to capture customer needs and expectations.
Using psychometric tools to measure aptitude, personality, and compatibility with the position.
Structured interviews designed around assessment results and role requirements.
Delivering in-depth reports with expert analysis to support decisions.
Collecting input from multiple sources to build a full view of performance.
Comprehensive and integrative process to leadership development.
Detailed leadership development program based on specific needs.
We expose leaders to a mix of practical business cases and academic material applicable to their own situations.
Executive and in depth reports are delivered to the client.
Follow up with our client after 6 months to ensure continued success.
Diagnosis of situation: A leading global tech firm faced challenges in their senior management hiring. Despite rigorous traditional interviews, they had several leadership misfits in the past, leading to decreased morale and a noticeable dent in company growth. Relations between the main European office and the U.S. division were strained. Retaining these Sales Directors, as well as their top-performing members, was crucial.
Implementation: The company collaborated with a specialized assessment firm to restructure its leadership hiring process. This involved:
Results: After implementing the executive assessment process, the company observed a 35% decrease in leadership role turnovers within a year. The newly hired leaders displayed better alignment with company goals, contributing to a 20% growth in overall productivity. This strategic move not only bolstered the company’s bottom line but also enhanced company morale, establishing a cohesive organizational culture.
Diagnosis of situation: Our client confronted two distinct challenges with their Sales directors. One director exhibited outstanding sales figures but faced high attrition rates within his managerial team, with some being pivotal for the client. Conversely, the second director demonstrated commendable individual performance but struggled to elevate his team to the expected sales targets. The higher-ups in the division lacked the expertise to nurture these directors in these specific areas.
Relations between the main European office and the U.S. division were strained. Retaining these Sales Directors, as well as their top-performing members, was crucial.
Implementation: After thorough discussions with both corporate and local leadership, we crafted a bespoke training regimen for the two Sales Directors.
Results: Following this intervention, both directors not only continued with the firm but also amplified their performance metrics and successfully retained their integral team members. At our headhunting firm, while we excel in identifying prime leaders, we also emphasize the significance of refining existing talent.
Executive assessment is a structured diagnostic process that evaluates a leader’s skills, competencies, personality and cultural fit within an organization. It identifies strengths and development gaps relative to a specific role or leadership benchmark, providing an objective basis for promotion, internal mobility or development decisions.
The most common use case is for executives already within the organization when a company is considering a promotion, wants to understand if an internal candidate is ready for a more senior role, or needs an objective view of a leader’s current capabilities. It can also be used for external candidates in a final evaluation stage.
The process begins with an alignment meeting to define objectives and role requirements. It then includes a psychometric test using PAPI by Cubiks Talogy, a structured competency-based interview of approximately two hours conducted outside the office to encourage openness, and an optional 360º reference check with a minimum of four sources superiors, peers and direct reports. An optional 100-day plan exercise and case discussion are also available. The full process is typically completed within 10 to 14 days.
Zavala Civitas has offices in Madrid (Europe), Shanghai (Asia Pacific) and Toronto (North America), with a strong partner network across Latin America. The firm delivers executive search projects globally across the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
Zavala Civitas provides a Contrast Profile showing the candidate’s fit with the role as a percentage, a Leadership Report analyzing strengths and development areas across key competencies, a 360º Evaluation Report, and a final report with conclusions and a proposed development plan. All reports can be delivered in English, Spanish or Chinese.
Yes. Zavala Civitas conducts both individual and group assessments. Group reports provide a comparative view of multiple executives across core values, leadership competencies, hard skills and training readiness giving companies a full picture of their leadership team’s strengths and gaps.
Zavala Civitas combines validated psychometric tools with structured competency interviews and multi-source reference checks — producing a complete picture of a leader, not just a test score. Every assessment is anchored to the specific role, culture and strategic context of the client. The process is conducted by experienced consultants who understand what senior leadership actually requires in practice.
The Executive Leadership Development Program is a structured intervention designed to grow the capabilities of existing leaders. It can follow an assessment — using the diagnostic results to define the development plan — or it can be run independently when a company already knows what it needs to develop in a specific executive or team
The program runs across three phases, each tailored to the specific leader and organizational context. Phase 1 is an Individual Assessment and Development Plan using validated psychometric tools to identify the executive’s profile, strengths and preferred development path. Phase 2 is a Training and Implementation Plan built around business cases, academic readings and role-playing scenarios sourced from leading business schools designed specifically around the executive’s development areas, not a generic curriculum. Phase 3 is a Coaching and Follow-Up period of three months, supporting the executive in implementing their plan and adjusting based on ongoing reflection and feedback.
The program is built on three evidence-based frameworks. Phase 1 applies the Person-Job Fit Theory (Kristof-Brown, 2005) through PAPI psychometric assessment to measure fit and identify development needs with precision. Phase 2 applies Kolb’s Experiential Learning model (1984), which demonstrates that learning is most effective when combining concrete experience, reflection, conceptual understanding and active experimentation ensuring executives apply what they learn in real business situations. Phase 3 applies Schön’s Reflective Practice Theory (1983), using structured coaching to help executives continuously adjust their approach based on real-world feedback and self-reflection.
No. The two services are complementary but independent. Assessment provides the diagnosis identifying where a leader is today and what gaps exist. The development program provides the intervention closing those gaps through structured learning and coaching. Companies can engage either service separately or combine them for a more comprehensive approach.
In one engagement with a global tech firm, implementing the program led to a 35% decrease in leadership role turnovers within one year and a 20% increase in overall productivity. In another case with a global safety assurance firm valued at over 1.5 billion USD, two underperforming Sales Directors improved their performance metrics and successfully retained their key team members.
Leadership development is most valuable when a company has identified a capable executive who needs to grow into a larger role, when a team is underperforming despite having the right talent, or when an organization is going through transformation and needs its leaders to operate differently. It is particularly effective when combined with assessment, as the development plan is then grounded in objective diagnostic data rather than assumptions.