Unleash Your Organization’s Superstars by Investing in High-Potential Talent
While it’s fair to say that we, as executive leaders, believe everyone in our organization has the capacity for great growth and success, there are usually some shining stars among your hiring pool—those individuals who stand apart as high-potential employees, or what’s called “HiPos.”
These individuals are those who live and breathe your company’s vision, mission, values and goals. With HiPos, company culture is part of their DNA. They’re highly aligned to what’s vital, always motivated, productive and results-oriented, not just because they may believe in the organization or want to hit those marks, but because it’s simply who they are. A cut above high performers of your workforce, they aspire to be consistently excellent, capable and engaged. For HiPos, these traits are far more than hobbies—they’re habits.
How can you invest more in this type of talent? It starts with knowing who they are, and identifying these superstars in your midst. Here’s how to start:
Conduct and scrutinize performance reviews. To spot the cream of the crop, commit to conducting regular performance reviews; quarterly is ideal. Notice who stands out, particularly in areas that align with your goals around an engaged culture as well as your Vital Few, or those select, key measures that have the potential to drive the bulk of your performance, productivity and results. Take action: Set time aside on your calendar to examine those performance reviews and note the go-getters who are exceeding expectations.
Look for leadership traits. HiPos aren’t just great team players, they’re people who have a healthy amount of both natural and acquired leadership skills, and they authentically aspire to self-improve. As a leader yourself, you know there’s no leadership “silver bullet”, but probably get which leadership traits matter most in your unique culture and within the context of other team members, i.e. emotional intelligence, adaptability, problem-solving skills, courage, humility. Take action: Tap the power of the DiSC® profile offered through our assessment services to determine which leadership styles exist among your teams and their people, and who might be the best to focus on and cultivate in terms of a HiPo employees.
Gather feedback from 360-degree peer reviews. As you seek to surface HiPos to invest in their development, collect insights and stories from other staff members, company stakeholders, mentors, executive coaches and even customers/clients who might have had experiences interacting with those individuals and their leadership style. These types of “peer reviews” can shed great light on these HiPos’ ability to excel while helping you understand how to make it happen with the right training, upskilling, resources, support, etc. Take action: When conducting these informal queries, ask open-ended questions and remember to listen more than you talk!
Ready to identify and invest in high-potential employees? Contact MAP today!
