Identifying high potential employees and nurturing them

How rich is your talent pool?Are you training your best talent to become your company’s future?

What a well rewarding world it is for today’s employees. Talent Management professionals of a company nowadays, understand the value of High Potential ( HiPo ) employees. It reflects the efficiency of a company’s Talent Management if they can identify valuable candidates, train and nurture them enough to fit high level positions and are able to retain them.

It is much wiser and feasible for an organization to train their own potential employees to high managerial posts and leadership roles, compared to acquiring and employing professionals from the market. To do this, the first obvious step would be identifying potential employees.

Fishing for the Right Candidate: Each organization has different goals, consequently the factors on which they assess a HiPo employee also differs, having said that there are still some factors which can generically help in assessing a HiPo employee.

1.     Teamwork and leadership:

Some people are born to lead, but this alone cannot qualify an employee as a HiPo candidate, to lead and to have leadership qualities might sound similar but is not same. People with leadership qualities have the ability to take a team together toward company goals, it means to have the eye of finding the correct potential in his teammate and using it to drive best results.  To be a leader it is essential to have the patience of driving a team together towards the same goal and to have the ability to keep them motivated throughout the process.

2.     Conscientiousness and punctuality:

If an employee is dedicated and committed about delivering as promised, he has bright signs of becoming a potential leader.  These kinds of people have the ability to make sure their team delivers quality, and on time, they are capable enough of driving their direct reports towards results within a given time frame.

3.     Stress performance:

A very important trait that looks essential for a leadership role is a candidate’s performance in pressure hours. The ability of an employee to not come under pressure during a crisis moment, encouraging people and being able to drive them towards achieving a goal in time. It is essential to assess whether he can put the situation together and achieve the target or not.

4.     Like-mindedness with the company’s core values:

If an organization chooses an employee as a HiPo candidate, it most likely assess whether his/her goals are in alliance with those of the organization or not. It is only intelligent to home breed a future high post candidate with similar values and vision, this helps in achieving higher goals for the company and broadening avenues together. If the employee and company both share the same road ahead, it not only makes the journey worthwhile but also the destination more promising.

5.     Interest, knowledge and efficiency in his area of skill:

When an organization is looking for candidates that can be nurtured to fit into tomorrow’s leadership roles, the first and foremost point will always be his/her interest in what the company does. If an employee possesses great dedication and love for the work he does, only then will he want to stay in his current field and then consequently the same company. Having a passion towards what an employee does will always push him towards seeking more knowledge on the subject and acquiring more skill. If a candidate shows signs of interest, then the company can train him better to maximize his skill set.

Nurturing HiPo Candidates: Once identified, the business invests time and strategies in nurturing these individuals into promising talent for the company’s coming years. The following can be done to make these High Potential candidates, tomorrow’s leaders:

1.  Keeping them active and challenged: These HiPo must be exposed to challenges at a constant pace to keep them from getting stagnant.

2.  Job rotation: An efficient high post manager must have a good overview of the company’s processes, policies and work environment. For this to happen, job rotation can act as a fruitful training.

3.  Assigning mentors: The experience of the senior executives can be put to use by making them mentor the selected HiPo candidates.  Working alongside experienced individual opens you up to new perspectives and methods of problem solving.

4.  Training workshops:  Training sessions on leadership and management qualities must be conducted every now and then. Well-known executives from these fields should be invited to facilitate such programs.

It is far better for organizations to invest into homebred leaders and managers than to go talent hunting every now and then. If identified correctly, high performing and potential employees can prove to be great assets for the company.  They not only understand the ideology of the company but also help in taking it forward; thus opening wider avenues for the organization. It’s not only the corporation that benefits from home breeding of top line managers and leaders it is also advantageous for the employees to grow and stay in one organization.

Image Source: Talent Guard