One of the biggest challenges for corporations is how to treat high potential employees who are more talented than others. Recent study has shown that 67% companies are engaged in identifying and developing these people. This study has made clear that high talents exist and companies acknowledged them too. 97% of 57 companies studied world wide are thoughtfully involved in identifying high potential employees.
It has been seen that high potentials are able to perform better because they incorporate organisation’s culture, values and norms in their performance. They are continuous learners and show a high degree of success through their performance. Becoming part of this high potential group 3 essential elements are:
1.Giving high results: To become better than your colleagues you need to give distinction results. You are required to build trust by giving credible results.
Like Mark Smith wanted to switch his job from the accounting department to the banking side. He was highly recognised for his management skills and hence was offered a parallel assignment in the banking division. He accepted it even though the post needed a high experience candidate. So his biggest challenge was to gain credibility from his colleagues and peers. So marks started his assignment by helping others in resolving their grievance and focused on achieving small wins. Within a few months he gained a reputation as a conflict resolver. Today he is the banking head.
2.Learning expertise: To make progress in a career you need to expand your knowledge and expertise. For example for a management expert you start from a small group and then move to bigger groups that requires high experience and influencing power.
3.Behaviour matters: Behaviour has a long lasting impact on anyone. It helps you to excel in your career. John Nolan, employee of the marketing department reached the executive rank due to his high influencing power as well as skill of finding patterns in demographic demand. His ability to win customers made him a public figure.
How high potentials are so dedicated?
They are right doers and deliver high values. They are experts in their field yet there is something extraordinary that everyone does not possess.
These are:
1. Thirst for excellence
2. Always ready to learn
3. Enterprising spirit
4. Good analyser
There is a chance that high potentials lose their track in search of hot opportunity and at the end it doesn’t pay off. They may avoid disagreement with the boss in the context of making them feel disappointed. But above all these they have a talent of being in the right place at the right time.
How to develop your key strength
These are areas which are difficult to teach. One can learn it, only through facing it in their life. One needs to be aware of where you are lacking. Some people are highly attentive towards the signal, environment sends them while others need to improve their radar by organising the right opportunity.
One cannot learn something without making any change in one’s habit. Catalytic learning needs time, mentoring and seeking advice from experts.
Drawbacks of high potential status
For people who are newbies there is less option. They are removed either knowingly or by default. Even being high potential won’t guarantee you a secured job. Every year there is 6 to 12% drop off of high potential employees either volunteering or not. Similar failure was seen by Steavr in his career. He let experts enter his way for handling jobs, he found a waste of his time. It shows he was intelligent but not wise. As he was valuable to the company, so was not removed from the company but was not in the list of high potential.
Conclusion
Being on a high potential list helps in making growth in career. Employees should master how to get on this list. But this is what really matters? It is a big responsibility to be on a high potential list. Performance and behaviour matters a lot in a company and this should be your secret key.
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