I'm a Hi-Po, He's a Hi-Po, She's a Hi-Po...

According to a Hay Group study on key reward drivers, the war for talent will be waged around high performers, high potentials, and mission-critical roles.  There’s been a lot of focus lately on identifying and motivating high performers. The purpose of this post is to focus on high potentials.

Why?  Because let’s face it, the war for talent in the coming years won’t be won by retention and acquisition alone, at least not for mission-critical roles needed by a wide spread of companies.  Companies will be forced to invest in people to ensure they have the critical skills they need when and where they need them. 

There are several challenges involved with developing a successful high potential strategy:

Challenge #1: Identifying High Potentials – The simple definition of a high potential is someone who has what it takes to grow into a new role, typically but not necessarily a leadership role. But how are these people identified?  The answer to this question varies from company to company – for example, flexibility and a 'can do' attitude may be more valuable than a fixed skill set in companies that pride themselves on agility.  Other companies may place more value on social skills and cultural fit, although you might want to check out Chuck Csizmar’s recent post ‘Is Performance Still Important?’ if that's the case at your organization.  I also recommend Joshua Letourneau’s post on social network analysis, which explains why your high potentials may not be who you think they are. 

Challenge #2: Developing and Retaining High Potentials – Once you’ve identified your hi-pos, you want to develop and hang onto them as they - hopefully – grow into their potential.  This brings us into rewards territory but what does that mean? The Compensation Handbook cautions that rewarding hi-pos with higher base pay is expensive and probably won’t help you retain them as their skills grow.  Recent studies indicate that combining adequate base pay, differentitated variable pay, flexible work conditions and career development opportunities is the best way to retain hi-pos (and everyone else for that matter).  My recent post 'Who’s Your Talent Manager?' offers more detail around defining an overall talent management strategy.

Challenge #3: Everyone Else – Assuming you take your hi-po identification and retention seriously, it’s easy to get myopic.  The first thing to be cautious about is throwing the term ‘high potential’ around, since it may lead to inflated expectations among the chosen few and feelings of resentment among the non-chosen.  Another important point to keep in mind is that when we talk about hi-pos we’re usually talking about a fairly small, select group of people that are themselves selected by another small, select group.  Tammy Erickson’s post ‘Are High Potential Programs an Anachronism?’ warns that overlooking experienced solid performers who are not identified as 'hi-pos' can be detrimental to overall company performance. 

Bottom line: If you narrow your hi-po strategy to a few rarified leadership roles, you’re missing an opportunity to develop the entire organization.  Whereas if you also focus on lateral potential and alternate career paths, suddenly everyone’s a contender.

Ann Bares pointed out in a recent Compensation Cafe post that if companies want employees to take more responsibility for their own job security they need to meet people halfway with clear communication, active coaching and training.  The idea is that instead of choosing a select few from on high and giving them the keys to the kingdom, you create an environment where everyone who wants to can be a high potential.

… wouldn’t you like to be a hi-po too?

Picture courtesy of Mission Minded Management.

Laura Schroeder is a Compensation Strategist at Workday, headquartered in Pleasanton, CA.  She has more than twelve years of experience designing, developing, implementing and evangelizing Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions in the US, Asia and Europe.   Her articles and interviews on HCM topics have been published in national and European trade journals.  She currently lives in Munich, Germany and enjoys reading, writing and spending time with friends and family.

Comments

[Derek Irvine, Globoforce]

Great post, Laura, and couldn't agree more with your bottom line. You really nailed it with the line: "when we talk about hi-pos we’re usually talking about a fairly small, select group of people that are themselves selected by another small, select group."

That's why I believe so strongly in expanding your group of selectors, thereby also expanding your group of selectees to some you may never have expected.

Through our strategic recognition programs (peer-to-peer option a must for this to work properly) we offer a way to find your hidden hi-pos based largely on how often they are recognized by their peers. It's surprising to some how often someone in, for example, an administrative role is uncovered as the go-to person for many people whenever the crunch is on.

How else would your find such hidden hi-po talent unless they are raised up by the sheer appreciation of those they work with?

[Laura Schroeder]

Thank you, Derek. And good point about expanding the group of people doing the selection.