Assessing Directors’ Core Competencies – the Case of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation, Hong Kong

In 1993 the Executive Board of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) in Hong Kong approved the implementation of a corporate wide manpower and succession planning process. Succession at executive director level was identified as a priority. It was recognised that it would be necessary to identify and assess skills appropriate to company ‘direction’ as distinct from ‘management’ in order to proceed with succession planning at director level and to identify director training and development needs. Two crucial questions emerged: was it possible to identify the core competencies that are required by executive directors? If so, could those competencies be measured and assessed objectively? The experiences of the MTRC in identifying director competencies and in designing, validating and implementing the assessment process during 1994 and 1995 suggests that they can. Their experience forms the basis of this paper. The relatively sparse literature on the identification of director‐level competencies is discussed. The competencies identified by the MTRC are outlined. The development of assessment centres, which are widely used to assess core competencies in managerial and professional roles, is then explained. Finally, the experience of the MTRC in extending the use of assessment centres to appraise board‐level governance rather than managerial competencies is described and conclusions drawn.