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Using a High-Potential Employees Program to Cultivate Company Success in Norwalk, CA

Investing in High Potentials Leadership Development Is Critical to Organizational Success in the Norwalk area

Whether you need to fill leadership positions now or you’re looking for future managers and innovators, identifying and developing top talent within your organization is critical. Some of the individuals most likely to succeed in leadership roles are known as high-potential employees, or HiPos. These gifted individuals tend to have natural communication, leadership, critical thinking and risk evaluation skills that help them see the big picture and navigate learning opportunities and change quickly. By identifying and investing in these individuals, you can ensure your organization has innovative team players and leaders at every level. Your HiPos benefit from employee development programs by learning to leverage their skill sets and natural talents for personal and company growth.

Who are High-Potential Employees?

High-potential employees are a relatively rare breed. They’re people who rise successively through multiple management levels, inspire the individuals in their departments and achieve consistently good results. When business owners identify high-potential employees — also known as HiPos — early on, they can develop their most promising leaders via HiPo programs. While all employees deserve effective training programs, high-quality High potential development programs are especially vital to success because they strengthen company structure and prepare businesses for the future.

What Do High-Potential Development Programs Do?

Essentially, well-conceived HiPo development programs take individuals with great leadership potential and develop those management skills to the max. Department heads and other leaders identify high-potential talent, typically through proven employee potential assessment tools and then invite the HiPos to enter a leadership development program in which they are granted access to interdisciplinary learning opportunities, given real-world challenges to solve and are coached and mentored on a one-to-one basis. Your high-potential candidates then use their newly honed skills to excel in their existing roles and advance smoothly through the ranks.

One of the best peripheral payoffs of a great high potential employee development program is its effect on other employees, who reap many benefits when their managers go through advanced training and development initiatives.  High otential development programs frequently cause positive paradigm shifts when they’re properly implemented, making both individuals and the companies they work for more successful.

The Need for a High Potentials Leadership Development Program Increases as the Talent Pool Becomes Smaller

Consider that the current Baby Boomer generation - those born between 1946 and 1964 - are retiring in droves, at a rate of about 10,000 per day. This means that the HiPo employees pool is becoming smaller and younger. Your company needs to be ready to address leadership development for high-potential employees in the coming years as more managers, experienced leaders and upper-level executives retire. In one survey conducted by Brandon Hall’s Research, entitled The State of Leadership Development 2015, it was found that the challenge of developing a qualified group of professionals becomes even more challenging when you realize that 84 percent of organizations anticipate a shortfall of leaders within the next five years. Younger potentials might be too inexperienced to take on powerful leadership roles. They need to be developed, cultivated and trained so that their talents can be used in effective ways. For the right employees, HiPo leadership development programs do just that.

Why Are HiPo Development Programs Vital?

Naturally talented people are tremendously useful and add value to any corporation. But talent isn’t enough to guarantee either personal or overall success. Talent is a tool: when used correctly, it can broker deals, cut through red tape and break quarterly sales records. When neglected, however, talent alone doesn’t breed accomplishment.

High Potential employee development programs help kindle talent and drive success in three distinct ways, particularly if HiPo employees are identified early in their careers:

1. High potential leadership development programs focus on methods for success as well as results. In the regular business world, bonuses and accolades frequently depend upon results alone, but in the high-potential world, methods matter too. High-potential managers don’t use negative reinforcement or bullying to make staff members work harder, for example — even if those tactics break sales records.

2. Effective high potentials leadership programs help guide early-stage high-potentials as they make developmental decisions. The earlier high-potential employees go into a HiPo development program, the more quickly they’ll develop and the further they’ll go. When companies develop high performing individuals expediently, they set themselves up for ongoing success.

3. High potential employee development programs help prevent burnout. When left to their own devices, driven individuals often push themselves to the brink of total exhaustion. High-potential development programs help HiPo employees pace themselves, so they stay healthier in the long term and remain loyal to the company.

What Do HiPos Look for in a Job?

High-potential individuals look for many of the same basic benefits as everyone else when they read through a job posting: decent health insurance, high-quality training programs, advancement opportunities and a well-equipped workspace. Unlike many other applicants, however, HiPos examine prospective employers carefully and look for very specific additional perks. Both external candidates and internal candidates do this, so if you’re looking for HiPo prospects, you can use this checklist to bait your employment posting accordingly:

• A survey by Training Magazine found that 97 percent of all high-potential employees look for HiPo training programs before they apply for positions at new companies
• Once they’re hired, HiPos expect to be given additional opportunities to advance and succeed
• High-potential individuals want to be identified as HiPos, and if they aren’t formally identified within a reasonable timespan, more than a third of them seek new employment
• More than 80 percent of HiPos look for opportunities to help train and develop other members of staff
• Nearly all HiPos want recognition for the work they do, and they enjoy working on high-visibility teams

Many organizations place a priority on ensuring their HiPos receive the extra support and the additional development opportunities they request. Thus, if you intend to make high-potential employees an integral part of your company set aside an annual HiPo development budget and establish performance metrics and a career path that will inspire and retain your HiPos. Many companies agree that HiPos are well worth the additional investment but most do not have real clarity regarding the real return on investment of ensuring their High Potentials are properly developed and engaged. A 2016 Gartner (formerly CEB) white paper found that high-potential employees are roughly 91 percent more valuable to their employers than regular members of staff, and for several reasons. For a start, HiPos tend to exert about 21 percent more effort in any given task than their peers, and palpably drive business success as a result, so companies generally get what they pay for. HiPos also love to influence the employees they’re put in charge of, so they function a little bit like beacons of light within the organizations they serve.

Support Your Future Growth with an HiPo Management and High-Potential Leadership Development Program
You can actively retain existing high-potential employees and make your company more attractive to external HiPos with a tailor-made executive potential program. At Turnkey Coaching & Development Solutions, we craft a custom high-potential leadership program based on your company’s needs, mission, competency requirements and budget. We train, coach, and engage your executives and potential leaders in proven methodologies that will hone their innate talents and enable them to collaborate successfully with other top-ranking leaders and stakeholders. An effective high potential development program will not only help you retain and develop your HiPos but ensure they return to their positions with fresh inspiration and a desire to contribute, innovate, and collaborate.

When to Hone High-Potential Employees

Most businesses identify high-potential employees at two key points: early in their careers and when individuals are promoted into senior management positions. Opportunities for growth abound at both junctures, though a high potential development program and corresponding training methods used may vary.

• Early-stage HiPo development courses leverage technology, internal mentoring, cross-functional exposure initiatives and existing resources to hone skill in a cost-efficient way. The earlier high-potential individuals begin training, the further they may go.
• Succession planning initiatives that include middle-management and later stage high potentials can embrace high potential development programs best practices by leveraging the experience and knowledge of more senior employees.  Often this type of program requires more customization and thus a little more investment, but can reliably help talented managers and even executives excel in senior management positions. An effective high-potential employee program does not exclude late-blooming high potentials. In fact, the more experienced hipos add significant value and depth to an executive potential program. We encourage our clients to consider a customized, top-down development approach to capture the wealth of experience gained in a lifetime on the job.

In either case, effective HiPo development programs help drive company growth and give businesses unique competitive advantages.

High Potential Leadership Development FAQs

Q: Why are high potential employee development programs so important?

A: Whenever possible, all employees at a business should be given access to high-quality training programs. Having said that, high-potential employees require special attention because they function as key players in your company and hold the power to influence others. Furthermore, developing high potential employees has been shown to reduce turnover, improve innovation, and positively impact the bottom line.

Q: What makes a HiPo development program great?

A: Superior high-potential programs are tailor made for your particular company and built to help your particular batch of HiPo employees succeed. An effective high potential program should consider your company’s mission, values, leadership competencies, and strategic trajectory.  

Additionally, a qualified high potential program partner will customize the program to meet the needs of any level of employee while still challenging your most experienced HiPos.  

Your high potential employee development program should be built using best practices and include various components such as high potential employee assessment tools, feedback and development planning, one-on-one coaching and/or peer to peer coaching, leadership competency instruction, real-business simulations, shark tank style capstone projects to build business acumen, internal mentoring, and cross-organizational introductions, etc.  

There’s no such thing as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ HiPo program.  Instead, we encourage you to give TurnKey a call at 281-469-4244 to explore the right components for your employee development needs, budget, culture, and strategic priorities.

Q: How do High Potential Leadership Programs benefit my business?

After a successful high-potential employee development program concludes, participants return to their roles with renewed vigor, tackle challenges with fresh enthusiasm and advance to new management positions with greater confidence.   The comradery built within the program, amongst their peers, continues to thrive and supports greater networking and interpersonal effectiveness.

Providing your high-potential employees with a career plan and development opportunities fosters a happier culture. And, according to a recent Columbia University study happy company cultures have a turnover rate of 13.9 percent on average; compared to their counterparts with lower morale, where turnover is more likely to be in the 48.4 percent range.

Furthermore, according to the Department of Economics and the University of Warwick, happy employees are 12 percent more productive than average employees.  The research also showed that unhappy employees cost American businesses more than $300 billion annually.

The case is strong to take your high potential employee development goals seriously.

Gifted individuals frequently excel without encouragement, but they do even better when placed in a custom-built high potential development program. HiPo programs are carefully constructed to bring out the best in your most promising people, so your investment pays off in the long run. Well-developed leaders tend to inspire their peers as well as the staff members who report to them directly, and inspired employees tend to deliver consistently great results. In a nutshell, the right executive development program applied to the right people can make your company a leader in its field.

 

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