How can you tell if an employee has high potential? It’s not always as easy as it sounds. High-performers might perform well and take pride in their work, but they may not have the desire to take on a leadership role. High-potential employees, on the other hand, are those who have the ability and aspiration to be successful leaders within your organization.
To easily spot high-potential talent within your company, here are some identifiable traits of high potentials and high performers and tips on how your business can best utilise them both!
What is a high-potential employee?
High-potential employees are those who have the ability and aspiration to be successful leaders within an organization. So how can you easily spot high potential within your company? While a high performer might perform well, take pride in their work, and accomplish what is asked of them – they may not necessarily have the desire or intention to assume a leadership role. High potentials on the other hand will most likely have these traits:
These individuals show ambition with their career development as opposed to just contentment with staying at one job for extended periods of time. They would rather aim high than stay low when it comes to promotions, bonuses, etc., even if that means being passed up occasionally.
A great way to identify this kind of talent in your company is to keep a close eye on who volunteers for new projects, especially when it means learning something outside of their usual capabilities. High potentials want opportunities and challenges because they know that’s what keeps them stimulated and interested in the long run, so give them this kind of work if you notice someone doing well with it!
So how can a company best utilise a high-potential employee? Well, aside from giving them new and challenging projects to work on, here are some other tips:
Invest in their development
High potentials want to continuously learn and grow, so make sure you’re providing them with the necessary resources and opportunities to do so. This could mean sending them to training courses, putting them in mentorship programs, or simply giving them access to senior leaders within the company for guidance and feedback.
Promote them sooner
High potentials are usually quite ambitious, so don’t hold them back! If they’re ready for a promotion, give it to them. This will not only keep them motivated and excited to keep taking on new challenges, but will also show the rest of your employees that you’re willing to invest in those who have high potential.
Provide opportunities for them to work with other teams
High potentials want as many different experiences within a company as possible so they can learn about their strengths and weaknesses outside of their comfort zone – this is exactly what cross-functional projects provide! If there’s an opportunity available where someone from another team would be beneficial or helpful, ask if anyone has interest first before just going ahead without consulting everyone involved.
High potential employees don’t always need to have all three points above fulfilled in order to achieve success at a job; however, chances are high won’t do any better than average if they don’t have at least one. It’s important for businesses to remember that high potentials and high performers are not one and the same, so knowing how to identify each is crucial in order to get the most out of your workforce!
What is a high-performing employee?
High-performing employees tend to not show ambition or desire for career development as much as high potentials do. They often prefer to stay within one role for extended periods of time instead of aiming higher (hence why companies like Google offer such great benefits for those who reach the five-year mark). High performers are also less likely to volunteer for new projects or even take on challenging work outside of their usual responsibilities. They’ll do what is asked of them but they’re not always looking to learn something new or move up in their career, which can be a little limiting when it comes to business growth and innovation.
However, high-performance employees still have great potential within your company! While this group might seem like better candidates for management positions because of their stability and dependability – high-performing individuals will usually make just as good leaders as high potentials would. These two groups just differ in how motivated they are by opportunities and challenges at work so use that knowledge wisely depending on the situation at hand!
While high-performing employees might not always have the desire or potential to be leaders, they’re still a valuable asset to any company. Here are some tips on how to best utilise them:
Ask if they want to remain in their current roles
High-performing employees are usually very good at what they do, so don’t move them around too often or give them too many new challenges at once – it might overwhelm them.
Give them access to senior leaders
High-performing employees want guidance and feedback from those who have been in the business longer than they have. Provide opportunities for them to talk with and learn from senior leaders within your company.
Keep them challenged
As mentioned before, high-performing employees want stability but also new challenges at work. If you can’t move them up or give them a new project, try giving them more responsibility within their current role instead of just doing the same thing day in and day out.
Spotting the difference between high potentials vs. high performers is important for any business, as it allows you to tailor different development programs and career paths accordingly. By knowing what each group wants and how they best operate, you’ll be able to get the most out of your workforce!
Keep these distinctions in mind when you’re looking to fill a vacant management position as well as when trying to develop future leaders within your company!
Need help with your high potentials or high-performers?
If you’re looking to get the most out of your high potential employees and high performers, get in touch for a free consultation with ChandlerWoods! Our team of experts will help you create a development plan tailored specifically for your high potential employees and high performers.