An executive hire works out. But nobody can say exactly why.
The search takes months, the new leader arrives, the first weeks go smoothly. A year later, the questions come up. How much did the selection matter? How much did the onboarding matter? How much did the context that was prepared (or not prepared) to welcome them matter? Usually there is no answer, because nobody measured the impact.
Some organizations are starting to treat search and onboarding as one continuous process rather than two separate moments. Before looking for anyone, they define the expected profile, map the existing team and clarify what the role will need to achieve. The goal is not only to find the right person, but to know where that person is being brought, and to prepare the environment to receive them.
Join us on 20 October 2026 at 13:15 CEST for a 45 minute Webinar Café by Birn+Partners Team Italy.
We will examine this approach through a real-life project at Alessi, the renowned Italian company celebrated worldwide for its iconic designer homeware. The project involved the search and onboarding of a new COO, with the support of Birn+Partners Italy, from mapping the competencies of his team to the onboarding journey that supported his integration into the company.
We will hear both perspectives: that of the HR Director who championed this approach and that of the COO who experienced it firsthand as a new leader.
Together, we will explore three questions that go to the heart of how a senior hire really succeeds:
Starting with the organization, not the candidate
An in-depth initial analysis (team mapping, expected profile, competency assessment) can seem costly in time and effort. What convinces a company to invest in it, and what does it reveal about where the organization is, where it wants to go and what is missing?
Onboarding as a project
What changes when a new leader arrives already knowing where they stand, how to move and who to work with? And what does structured support mean, not only operationally but psychologically, in the most delicate phase of a new role?
Measuring success
Can the outcome of a search and onboarding process be quantified, in months gained, in percentage, or in any other unit? And what do the team and the organization gain, beyond the individual hire?
We will start from a real experience, including the less linear parts of the journey: initial doubts, tools that were met with skepticism, and how minds changed along the way.
Voices from the field: Massimo Camanna and Giancarlo Chirulli, Alessi
Massimo Camanna, HR Director at Alessi, endorsed the entire search and onboarding process from within the company. He will bring the perspective of the person who chose a structured approach and measured its impact on the organization.
Giancarlo Chirulli, COO at Alessi, is the leader who was onboard in. He will share what it meant to enter a new company with a clear picture of the role, the team and the expectations, and how that shaped his first months.
Two perspectives on the same story, and one final question:
If this project could be quantified, to what extent did it contribute to the success of his integration within the company?
Key takeaways:
- A concrete perspective on why defining the profile and mapping the team before the search reduces the risk of getting both the person and the context wrong
- Reflections on how structured onboarding shortens the time a senior leader needs to become fully effective
- An honest view of the doubts, effort and trade offs involved in choosing this approach
- A conversation among peers about how, and whether, the success of a new hire can really be measured
Whether you are a CEO, HR Director, executive leader or people manager, this Webinar Café will offer a concrete opportunity to look at a senior hire not as the end of a search, but as the beginning of a process, and to ask whether its success can be measured.
This webinar will be held in Italian.