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Who are your high potentials?

curranrecruit
Mar 9, 2015
3 min read

There is substantial body of research (CIPD, Aon Hewitt, SHRM, etc.) indicating that organisations with stronger leaders can show twice the revenue and twice the profit growth than their competitors. In a previous blog we’ve talked about the importance of having a succession plan. In this week’s post we want to take a closer look at the first, and probably most important step in planning for your future leaders, and that is identifying high potentials.

What is a high potential (HiPo)?

Generally speaking, high potentials are employees who can develop into leaders - rather than those who just do the job. Research by the Harvard Business Review shows high potentials represent the top 3 to 5% of a company’s talent (Nikravan, 2011).

A high-potential employee is one who has been identified as having the potential, ability and aspiration to hold successive leadership positions in an organisation (Bersin by Deloitte staff, n.d.). Once identified, they are often singled out for focused developmental opportunities designed to prepare them for future leadership positions. High-potential employees are also commonly considered highly intelligent, talented, ambitious and extremely motivated individuals. They represent the company’s values and continue to produce work that is above and beyond what is required.

Why HiPo’s are important?

If you agree that people are an organisation’s competitive advantage, then you’ll also agree that it is critical for organisations to proactively and systematically take action to ensure that they have the human resource capability to meet current and future business requirements. HiPos are essential in terms of risk management, succession planning and ensuring the presence of the necessary capabilities at the top levels of an organisation (Silzer & Dowell, 2010a; 2010b).

Early identification of emerging talent is essential for organisations to build more robust leadership pipelines. Organisations that successfully identify and develop high potential employees and leaders gain measurable financial performance advantages over their competition (AON Hewitt, 2013). Without the accurate identification of HiPos, companies cannot effectively deploy their resources to support the development of future company leaders.

This week’s tips for identifying and managing HiPos:

Identifying High Potentials

Ask yourself some questions about each individual –

- How does he or she fit in with the organisation currently?

- How will he or she fit in with the direction the organisation is moving toward?

- In what areas does the candidate need improvement in order to be more productive?

- Is this an area where you are willing to offer training and/or guidance?

Look for key characteristics that are common in high-potential employees –

- Works hard but in an efficient manner (works smarter, not harder)

- Is not afraid to ask questions or throw out new ideas

- Curious and leads by example

- Self-starter

Capture the readiness of the individual

The identification process must also check whether the identified potential has the ability to take on the scale and scope of a higher role. It is important for the organisation to consider the readiness and identify any critical gaps in individual capabilities. The organisation must then plan to bridge the gap before the identified high potential takes on a higher role.

Meet with your high-potentials regularly, not just at appraisal time

Review progress on their development plans and on their career planning. If there are stumbling blocks, ask: “What do you need to successfully meet this goal?” Do your best to provide what they need.