Case Study: The Wills Group achieves objective, scalable talent decisions with SHL assessments

The Wills Group needed to address talent and capability gaps in an objective and scalable way

The Wills Group, a Maryland-based family holding company with businesses in retail and comfort, was growing quickly but faced widening talent and capability gaps, including the retirement of senior leaders and a need for stronger marketing, technology, analytical, and leadership skills. Its previous management development approach was too subjective, making it difficult to identify true high-potential employees and build a reliable leadership pipeline.

SHL implemented personality, cognitive ability, and motivation assessments to objectively identify high-potential talent and guide development. The results helped The Wills Group create two development tracks, improve targeted learning spend, and embed more structured talent decisions across the organization. According to the case study, SHL increased clarity on the meaning of “high potential” by 3x and confidence in selecting the right HIPO candidates by 4x, while also improving alignment between talent needs and business strategy.

The Wills Group

Lock Wills

Chief Executive Officer