HEADSAHEAD represents the highest quality standards and efficient, transparent search processes.
We provide tailored and dedicated advisory services, offering inidivdualized solutions rather than one-size-fits-all approaches.
Throughout the entire search process, we serve as a critical, independent partner and moderator for both clients and candidates. For us, open and honest communication forms the foundation of a trustworthy and effective collaboration.
We fill Top Executive Positions
We specialize in filling top executive positions at the first and second management levels, as well as roles on supervisory and advisory boards, through direct search. To achieve this, we approach candidates in a targeted and personal way with specific search mandates.
Throughout the search process, we are deeply committed to addressing the individual needs of our clients and candidates. Instead of offering ready-made solutions, we provide customized project work tailored to each situation. That is why a structured market analysis is the foundation of every search process.
Within a confidential setting, we bring together the right personalities, enabling our clients to gain a comprehensive market overview, refine their strategic perspective, and make well-informed, sustainable decisions.
We ensure high transparency by providing detailed written documentation of the project’s progress and evaluating candidates based on clear and measurable performance criteria.
THE PROCESS
Client Briefing and Specification Development:
Client briefing and creation of the position specification
Analysis of the company profile
Market Analysis:
Conducting a market analysis
Establishing the search strategy and target company list
Market and data research based on client and functional groups, recommendation management
Structured identification of suitable candidates
Direct Approach:
Initiating contact via phone or digital channels, assessing suitability and readiness for a career move
Interview by HEADSAHEAD:
Conducting personal, structured interviews
Preparation of a Confidential Report:
Analyzing and evaluating professional, intellectual, and personal qualifications
Consultant’s evaluation
Presentation of Suitable Candidates:
Personal guidance and moderation of discussions
Recommendation for decision-making
Reference Checks/Candidate Assessment (Hogan)
Final Candidate Integration:
Support during contract negotiations
Guidance and assistance with onboarding
WE FILL SUPERVISORY AND ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER POSITIONS
The quality of work within supervisory and advisory boards is a crucial success factor for the sustainable development of companies. The right appointments to these boards significantly influence their effectiveness. We advise our clients in filling their board positions and identifying the most suitable person.
With our own extensive experience on supervisory and advisory boards, we have the expertise to understand your specific situation and collaboratively define the critical requirements for candidates.
We also engage in ongoing dialogue with highly qualified candidates as a member of the Arbeitskreis deutscher Aufsichtsrat (AdAR).
BOARD CONSULTING
OUR SERVICES
The current challenges have never been greater: global geopolitical changes, the use of artificial intelligence (AI), financial imbalances and sustainability require a transformation of business models and make it necessary to adapt the strategic direction. People are the key to success. Outstanding leaders and management bodies have a significant influence on successfully overcoming challenges. We therefore place people and their potential at the centre of our consulting services:
The Supervisory Board's foremost and most important task is to select suitable, qualified and experienced members for the Executive Board and Supervisory Board and to recruit them for the company. The Supervisory Board must ensure that the members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board have the knowledge, skills and experience required to properly fulfil their duties at all times.
The recruitment of suitable board members requires clear skills profiles that must be aligned with the company’s strategy and its current situation, i.e. these look different if the company is in a reorganisation situation, a change of strategy or in a phase of international expansion. It is also important to check that a candidate can fit in with the existing team and integrate quickly and that they fit in with the corporate culture. Trusting cooperation within the board is crucial for the success of the company.
A well-planned and managed succession process is key to the performance of the board, especially for board members. A change can have a significant impact on the entire organisation and the company’s strategy.
Structured succession planning for the prominent role of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and the committee chairmen is of similar importance. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board plays a key role in the fulfilment of the extensive tasks of the Supervisory Board.
Our service offer to you: Together with you, we develop a long-term and robust succession plan that takes into account the current composition, including skills profiles and the necessary flexibility in special situations. This involves designing an ongoing planning process to make the transition and succession effective and successful. We work closely with you to understand and manage the expectations of the stakeholder groups. We work with you to develop the competency profiles to achieve the strategic goals set and make recommendations on the skills matrix. Progress is continuously tracked and agreed timelines are adhered to. We also thoroughly review the internal and external candidates under consideration and present you with the most suitable candidates.
Around a third of externally appointed board members and top executives fail within the first 18 months. This not only leads to a considerable career setback for those affected, but often also to an economic fiasco for the company and reputational damage for the supervisory bodies.
As a new board member, it is important from day one to master the new challenges in the shortest possible time and not to put your foot in your mouth. Your tasks are varied and our onboarding programme is also designed for the first 3-6 months of your employment.
The reasons for potential failure are very rarely a lack of expertise or management experience. Rather, it is usually inadequate individual preparation of the candidates, insufficient introduction and support from the company in the first few months and a lack of awareness of the new challenges that jeopardise success.
Particularly in this sensitive phase, broad-based professional support is crucial. Newly appointed board members and supervisory board members are confronted with previously unknown legal requirements, the correct integration into the governance structures of the company and an unfamiliar, almost always invisible, foreign corporate culture. In addition, there are sometimes industry-specific regulatory requirements that make it difficult to get started. Unlike in the past, new managers today have to understand the dynamics of new organisations from day one in their new role, fit seamlessly into the structures of the new company and quickly assume responsibility for important decisions.
With OnBoard360 (www.onboard360.de), we offer comprehensive support in this area. With many years of experience in the areas of legal advice, corporate governance, communication and executive coaching, we develop customised integration plans from a single source. Ideally, the consulting process begins before the start of the term of office in order to create clarity about the dos and don’ts of individual onboarding from day one. Thanks to the intensive and integrated support, integration not only runs smoothly, but also much faster.
This applies in particular when candidates take on a role on the Management Board or Supervisory Board for the first time, cannot draw on their own experience from similar activities or other mandates or come from abroad due to the increasing internationalisation of companies.
Our services: Together with you and the responsible persons in your company and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, we coordinate the onboarding programme on an individual and tailor-made basis. The introduction is carried out comprehensively within a clearly defined time frame. We support you in your new management role and also in building up internal and external networks
It is not only listed companies that should follow the recommendation of the German Corporate Governance Code and regularly review the efficiency of the supervisory board. While the efficiency review used to be seen as a chore in order to implement the recommendation, the added value of a well-structured and intelligently conducted efficiency review is now clearly evident. It is crucial for the high effectiveness of the Supervisory Board and can also be an important source of inspiration for succession planning.
We work closely with you during the efficiency review to understand and manage expectations. We design company-specific questionnaires, conduct individual interviews with all relevant stakeholders in consultation with you if required and present the results to the board after consultation with the chairman of the supervisory board. We also use a digital tool to benchmark the results with other companies.
As a trusted advisor, we identify with your specific requirements and potential for improvement in the search for solutions and facilitate structured and continuous further development in order to strengthen committee collaboration and improve its effectiveness.
It is important to us to generate real added value – in the best interests of the entire Supervisory Board and for the various stakeholders.
The demands placed on management boards and supervisory boards, especially their chairmen, are increasing and their continuous professional development is becoming correspondingly important. In addition, managers in the company expect both their management board members and the chairperson of the supervisory board to adopt an attitude - in an environment that is currently facing many challenges.
In practice, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board is the linchpin of successful Supervisory Board work, as he is the only member of the Supervisory Board to be continuously and intensively involved by the Executive Board in all important issues, even between meetings. This gives him a considerable information advantage, which implies a special management responsibility. For him and the Executive Board, there are not only current geopolitical aspects to consider, but also ongoing technological change, in which complex tasks such as sustainability issues must be mastered.
Our services for board members and supervisory board chairmen: We prepare leaders for their first role on the board of directors or as chairman of the supervisory board and support them in becoming more effective in challenging situations as part of their mandate. This enables them to better manage the increasing complexity and increase the efficiency of their work on the board of directors or supervisory board, particularly in difficult and critical situations, in order to fulfil the numerous interests of various stakeholders.
The Supervisory Board is the central element in the system of corporate control. Its core legal task is to ensure that the Management Board fulfils its duty of care. The advisory function has become increasingly important in recent years. Whereas in the past the Supervisory Board mandate was often regarded as a quasi-honourary office, the GCGC now formulates the duty of every member to independently educate and train themselves in all relevant areas of Supervisory Board activity.
Regular further training and its implementation in practice are key factors in being able to adapt to new situations and areas of expertise.
Professional committee work requires a particularly keen sense for complex challenges – from regulation to strategic transformation. The challenges are constantly changing and can often only be met with a different governance mindset and resilient internal structures for effective control.
Our services for supervisory boards and companies: Together with our cooperation partner Management Alliance (www.managementalliance.de), we offer tailor-made training and further education programmes on all issues relevant to the supervisory board – both as individual training courses and as in-house board training courses. We qualify you as the new generation of supervisory board members and provide you with the relevant skills and the necessary network to improve your skills profile and qualification matrix.
With our many years of experience ranging from family-run companies to the leading German index of listed companies in the HDAX, we are your reliable advisor and constructive sparring partner for your path to governance excellence in your supervisory bodies.
Advising family-owned businesses is our passion. They have shaped our economy for generations, and their success is based on their established corporate culture, value orientation, and high sense of responsibility towards employees and society.
We advise family businesses on the structuring of their corporate governance, corporate succession, and the appointment of non-family management. We also provide support in the targeted contracting and selection of advisory and supervisory board members. It goes without saying that we make sure that the personalities fit in with the corporate culture and contribute to the sustainable success of the family business.
Our consultants have many years of expertise and are often themselves members of supervisory and administrative boards in family businesses. As reliable sparring partners for important business decisions, we bring a professional external view and contribute to decision-making and accuracy. We pay particular attention to the individual interests of the family. The knowledge of the entrepreneur’s personal connection to their company and respect for their special responsibility are the basis for a trusting collaboration.
In our projects, we talk intensively with all parties involved, be it the shareholders’ advisory board, the supervisory board, individual shareholders, or trusted representatives of the shareholders. We reflect the market openly, transparently, and with a sure instinct.
In addition to traditional executive searches, we support family businesses in important questions of strategic corporate management – in fundamental issues, the regulation of corporate governance structures, the management structure, or the design of participation models.
Let us talk about how we can advise you in your Executive Search.
We are experienced partners of private equity companies and know the German market. We build bridges between the interests of investors and medium-sized companies.
In addition to traditional PE funds, we support family offices, especially mid-cap investment companies and wealthy private individuals in the development of their company investments. We advise them on the search for entrepreneurial leaders for their portfolio companies and on the appointment of investment professionals and senior advisors for the advisory board. We have a robust network of auditors, lawyers, investment banks and consultants. We also use our experience to design deal and growth-oriented salary and participation models for management.
We are involved in buy-and-build considerations at an early stage and start the search parallel to the usually exclusive due diligence. We get to know existing shareholders personally and obtain a meaningful picture for a successful search that is also supported by all shareholders. As experts for family businesses and SMEs, we have the special market knowledge and, above all, the necessary understanding of the culture of the acquired company. In this way, we support you in achieving the desired increase in company value – and in a sustainable manner.
Let us talk about how we can advise you in your Executive Search.
We systematically advise and support our clients with additional aptitude diagnostics validation tools such as executive assessments and management audits. The focus here is on leadership and management competencies and, above all, the candidate’s personality. The objective is to find the person who fits with the relevant corporate culture and who will further develop it in a future-oriented way. Our consulting experts who implement the specific diagnostics tools relevant for this have excellent methodological competence and their own management expertise.
As certified advisors, we work with the recognised Executive Assessment Hogan. This web-based assessment tool validates managers’ behaviour. It is tailored around global research conducted for decades and, among other things, it refers to the “Five Factors Model” that is classified as the reference model in personality psychology.
On request, we also use individually designed management audits for the selection process with in-depth interviews and presentations as well as detailed feedback to the candidates. These management audits consider the special features of the industry, position, organisation and corporate culture of our clients.