The Talent Pipeline - Engaging High Potentials

I came across an interesting whitepaper titled "Is Your Talent Pipeline at Risk? Engaging High Potentials"

For those of you already familiar with career development and organisational engagement, the information in this paper may not come as much of a surprise to you. However the paper does make some important distinctions on terms and discusses common pitfalls that managers can make when planning to engage high potentials.

I'll post some of the more interesting observations I gained below:

Firstly, there is a big difference between performance and potential. It makes a lot of sense once you think of it but before I saw this table I would have often placed them in the same 'mental pool' of thought. It is entirely possible for someone to a high performer with low potential, visa-versa and everything in between.

One quote I particularly like from the paper, probably because it sounds like it was pulled from an episode of Yes Prime Minister, was from one of the contributors, Abgeka Scapello “If you have aspiration without ability, then you are an incompetent dreamer.”

As a follow on from this chart (however in the actual document the chart is at the end) the paper outlines three key pitfalls or traps to avoid. The paper already does quite a good job of summarising end expanding on these points so I'll quote them below.

1.     Don’t assume high potentials are engaged. It is vital that employers understand what drives engagement for this key group. High potentials generally have higher expectations for how they should be treated – starting with simply being identified as a high potential. Senior leaders should double or triple their efforts in keeping young stars engaged by:

·         Recognizing them early and often

·         Linking individual goals to corporate goals

·         Giving them opportunities to help solve the company’s biggest problems

·         Regularly taking the pulse of valued employees

While it’s important to acknowledge high potentials, you must be cautious not to disenfranchise the rest of your organisation. Consider how you recognise and reward other members of your workforce, including offering career development opportunities to other key segments of your employee population.

2.     Don’t confuse high performance with future potential. More than 70% of today’s top performers lack critical attributes essential to their success in future roles. The bulk of talent investments are being wasted on individuals whose potential may not be that high.

There are three attributes that best define stars: Ability + Engagement + Aspiration.

·         Ability:

Intellectual, technical and emotional skills to handle increasingly complex challenges

·         Engagement:

Level of personal connection and commitment the employee feels toward his or her role and to the firm and its mission

·         Aspiration:

Desire for recognition, advancement and future rewards

3.     Avoid delegating down management of top talent. Top talent is everyone’s responsibility. It is a long-term company asset. Responsibility for high potentials’ development must be shared by general managers. There is often an assumption that line managers know their people best, but they should not have the sole responsibility of managing top talent. What happens when management of top talent is not shared?

·         Candidates are selected solely on the basis of recent performance.

·         Candidates are offered narrow development opportunities limited to their own business units. Managers focus mostly on skills required now rather than tomorrow.

·         Employees are hoarded by line managers and not shared throughout the organisation.