Supporting executives in career transition: what the Map & Match and CDME partnership taught us

Helping executives in transition reposition themselves for the long term

Executives in career transition face a pivotal moment. It becomes essential to make sense of their path again, to get clear on the value they bring, and to build a plan that matches what genuinely drives them. That phase is often delicate, and it calls for reliable diagnostics and one-to-one support.

That is what brought Map & Match and CDME (an association promoting shared-time working) together, around a common conviction: helping executives reveal their intrinsic talents, know themselves better, and make their next move a lasting one.

Over a year, the partnership put the Map & Match approach to the test in a real career transition setting. Now closed, it leaves a body of experience that any organisation looking to add a diagnosis of natural talents to its support programmes can learn from.

A partnership born of two needs: evidence and reassurance

CDME's intentions were clear from the start: offer its members an innovative, reliable diagnostic able to put evidence behind what engages them and make repositioning easier.

"When we approached Map & Match, we had two aims: to give the executives we support an objective, innovative assessment able to reveal their intrinsic talents beyond purely technical skills; and to speed up and secure their professional repositioning, by giving them a shared language to put words to what drives them and build a plan consistent with their deeper motivations." — Bruno Carlier, partnership lead for CDME

The T5™ profile, developed by Map & Match, was made available to CDME members, together with a conversation with a certified coach. The aim was to clarify their career plan, sharpen how they present themselves, and rebuild their confidence.

What the T5™ profile gave executives in transition

By putting what people are drawn to ahead of technical skills alone, the T5™ profile let these executives look at their own path and ambitions differently.

"The T5™ profile raised the quality of the support we give our members. It professionalised the self-discovery stage, which is often a delicate one for experienced executives. The feedback confirmed how relevant the tool is in a transition context; several members praised the clarity of the report and the precision of its recommendations." — Bruno Carlier

Among the benefits CDME saw most clearly:

• A realisation about their key motivations: many discovered, or rediscovered, what really energises them at work.
• A realigned career plan: setting motivations against skills opened up options that were sometimes unexpected, and more sustainable.
• A sharper pitch: building on their signature talent made them far more convincing with recruiters and clients.
• A shorter transition: executives who acted on what the Map & Match profile told them cut several weeks, on average, off the time it took to reposition themselves.

What the people involved said

Many members praised the relevance and clarity of Map & Match, and the value of the support around it. Some accounts confirmed an intuition; others surfaced appetites they had never really named.

A few of their words:

"The questionnaire is easy to fill in and takes very little time, especially if you answer spontaneously — which is the point of this kind of assessment. It brought out certain aspects of my Energy Skills™, and above all what gets on my nerves. That helped me improve the opening of my CV and highlight the right skills." – Frédérique

"This kind of tool and debrief lets you place the cursor on your own path, your own life. For me it confirmed what I know of myself and of what I am looking for." – Fabien

"Discovering your talents shows the functions where you naturally feel more at ease, which often line up with technical or operational skills you already knew you had. Overall, even if the questionnaire can look complex and is sometimes hard to decode, it sheds extra light on yourself and on the comfort zones worth building a coherent career move on." – Paula

"My profile will certainly help me adapt how I speak about myself depending on the role, especially when answering job ads with the right keywords." – Christine

"It is a great opportunity, and a real change from the usual assessments." – Soumeya

Members described the report itself as clear and precise, but the conversations with the Map & Match coaches and the CDME team were often what turned the results into action.

What this says about the needs of executives in transition

Over the year, several key needs were confirmed in the field as decisive in an executive's transition:

• Individualisation: every path is unique, so a diagnosis of what motivates the person remains indispensable.
• A clear narrative: executives need a simple but authentic story to convince future employers or partners.
• Psychological safety: understanding your own drivers takes the anxiety out of change and makes decisions easier.
• Long-term alignment: a plan built on deep motivations lasts far longer than one built on whatever opportunity happened to come up.

A pro bono initiative rooted in strong values

The programme was offered free of charge to the executives involved, as a pro bono commitment made jointly by CDME and Map & Match.

The collaboration rests above all on a shared ambition: giving executives in transition support that is human, structured and meaningful, at a moment when the usual landmarks can give way.

In closing: a model other organisations can learn from

This partnership shows what a diagnosis of natural talents can do in a career transition. It shows how a structuring, positive and objective tool, combined with good human support, reveals talents and strengthens someone's ability to picture a future that fits them better.

Any organisation involved in supporting people through a career move — associations, alumni networks, internal mobility teams, public or private schemes — can take something from this approach.

To find out more about CDME:

• contact form for executives
• contact form for companies

To find out more about Map & Match and how it fits into your own support programmes, get in touch.