How MiddleGround Reduced Manufacturing Execution Risk by Assessing Manufacturing Talent
MiddleGround Capital is a private equity firm that acquires and grows lower middle-market industrial and specialty manufacturing companies across North America and Europe. The firm combines operational expertise with strategic investment to improve performance, accelerate growth, and create long-term value by:
They wanted to build stronger leadership teams to accelerate value creation across operationally intensive portfolio companies.
Challenge: Reducing Leadership Risk Before It Hurts Performance
For MiddleGround Capital, operational excellence is at the heart of its investment strategy. Success depends on leaders who can drive performance, execute complex initiatives, and lead effectively in demanding manufacturing environments.
The challenge was identifying those leaders before critical hiring and promotion decisions were made.
Traditional selection methods — behavioral interviews, resumes, and reference checks — provided valuable information but offered limited insight into how candidates would actually perform under pressure, make decisions, lead change, or navigate operational complexity.
MiddleGround’s leadership team had previously used behavioral assessments, but they wanted a more predictive, scalable, and objective approach that could be deployed consistently across portfolio companies and internally.
They knew that their key talent decisions couldn’t be left to gut feel. They needed real data on whether someone could actually lead in a plant or a dynamic operations environment.
MiddleGround introduced simulation-based leadership assessments to measure how candidates actually behave in realistic business situations rather than how they describe themselves during interviews.
The simulations placed candidates in challenging leadership scenarios involving ambiguity, competing priorities, conflict, coaching conversations, and organizational change.
The implementation included:
Instead of relying primarily on intuition, hiring managers gained objective behavioral data that highlighted leadership strengths, development needs, and potential execution risks before candidates entered critical roles.
The assessments were used as a roadmap to identify where to support a new leader and where they may experience friction.
Results: Better Hiring Decisions and Stronger Execution
The impact extended well beyond improving hiring accuracy.
Perhaps most importantly, the assessments helped MiddleGround broaden its talent pipeline by identifying high-potential leaders who may have been overlooked using traditional hiring methods.
Rather than rewarding the strongest interviewers, the process identified candidates with the greatest demonstrated leadership capability.
Why the Approach Worked
The assessment process aligned closely with the realities of private equity operating environments.
Rather than serving as a one-time hiring tool, the assessments became part of MiddleGround’s broader leadership strategy by supporting hiring, promotions, succession planning, onboarding, and leadership development.
“Leadership simulation assessments are now a non-negotiable for us. They’re a core part of how we plan for growth and make talent decisions — whether that’s internally, across a portfolio company, or internationally.”
— Krissie Baily, Director | Middle Ground Capital
The Bottom Line
Manufacturing execution depends on leadership execution. By replacing subjective hiring decisions with objective, simulation-based leadership data, MiddleGround Capital significantly:
— across its portfolio.
Rather than guessing who would succeed in demanding operational environments, the firm gained the confidence to make faster, smarter talent decisions that supported both immediate performance and long-term value creation.
To learn more about assessing manufacturing talent to accelerate results and reduce execution risk, download How to Fast-Track Leadership Development and Business Results with Just-in-Time Action Learning
About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a trusted performance consulting and training firm that helps high-growth technology, services, and life sciences companies turn strategy into measurable results. We partner with executive teams to build competitive advantage by aligning culture and talent with strategy — so individuals, teams, and organizations perform at their peak. Learn more about how organizational alignment drives performance.
Tristam Brown is an executive business consultant and organizational development expert with more than three decades of experience helping organizations accelerate performance, build high-impact teams, and turn strategy into execution. As CEO of LSA Global, he works with leaders to get and stay aligned™ through research-backed strategy, culture, and talent solutions that produce measurable, business-critical results. See full bio.
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