{"id":48734,"date":"2020-11-20T08:41:55","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T13:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/?post_type=articles&p=48734"},"modified":"2025-05-08T07:07:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T11:07:04","slug":"20-questions-to-ask-about-high-potential-development","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/20-questions-to-ask-about-high-potential-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Confuse High Potentials With High Professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Take a Fresh Look at Your Approach to Top Talent<\/h2>\n

High-potential talent is rare and valuable. These emerging leaders and thinkers are the change-makers and problem-solvers that your business and customers desperately need. But many common systems and policies aimed at developing high-potentials are outdated, impersonal, and may even backfire.<\/p>\n

Your organization\u2019s ability to develop, retain, and engage skilled, valuable employees is critical to managing change and operating through continual uncertainty. And the people we call \u201ctalent\u201d or \u201cthe leadership pipeline\u201d bring their perspectives, preferences, and experiences to the process, too.<\/p>\n

Employers need to understand and appreciate what\u2019s going on with their top talent if they expect to still have<\/em> that talent 2, 5, and 10 years down the road. Pay attention to \u201cthe view from inside the pipe\u201d to increase engagement and retention of high-potential talent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Consider whether your top talent wants to be formally recognized as high-potential talent, what they expect in terms of investment in their growth and development, how they feel about their status as high potentials, and whether or not they expect to be involved in developing others.<\/p>\n

From there, you may want to evaluate the policies and processes that affect your high potentials to identify what\u2019s working well and what changes could be made to better align your talent management efforts with the view from the pipe. Make sure your leaders understand the difference between high-potential, versus high-professional, talent.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the Difference Between \u201cHigh Potential\u201d and \u201cHigh Professional\u201d?<\/h2>\n

Be careful not to confuse your high potentials with your high professionals, also known as high performers. This is a risk \u201cespecially in organizations that tend to put a premium on technical skills,\u201d says CCL\u2019s George Hallenbeck.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth high potentials and high professionals are high learners and high performers who can deliver a lot of value to an organization,\u201d says Hallenbeck, \u201cBut high potentials tend to be broad and adaptable in their learning and skills, while high professionals have narrow but deep subject matter expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Your high potentials have tremendous learning agility, which is why it\u2019s often said that\u00a0great leaders are great learners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Quote<\/a><\/p>\n

Questions to Help You Assess Your High-Potential Development Programs<\/h2>\n

A Talent Diagnostic<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re ready to take a fresh look at your organization\u2019s approach to high-potential talent, start by conducting a talent diagnostic for your organization, department, or function. These 20 questions will help you match the talent you have with the needs of the organization.<\/p>\n

Your answers \u2014 or the issues they bring up \u2014 can help you set direction as you seek to identify, develop, and retain key talent.<\/p>\n

1. Assess<\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. How do we accurately identify high potentials?<\/li>\n
  2. How do we determine who might be a high potential?<\/li>\n
  3. How do we avoid false positives?<\/li>\n
  4. What is it exactly that we are trying to measure when assessing potential?<\/li>\n
  5. How many different ways do we measure potential?<\/li>\n
  6. How often do we measure it?<\/li>\n
  7. We\u2019ve measured what we wanted to \u2014 now what?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    2. Challenge<\/h4>\n
      \n
    1. How do we develop high potentials?<\/li>\n
    2. Do we develop high potentials differently than others? If so, how?<\/li>\n
    3. What are we developing them for?<\/li>\n
    4. Do we develop their strengths, their needs, or both?<\/li>\n
    5. How much challenge do we expose them to?<\/li>\n
    6. Are some development experiences better than others?<\/li>\n
    7. How do we evaluate the success of development efforts?<\/li>\n
    8. Do we allocate more resources to developing high potentials than others?<\/li>\n
    9. A high potential has successfully completed a developmental experience \u2014 now what?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      3. Support<\/h4>\n
        \n
      1. Who\u2019s responsible for a high potential\u2019s development?<\/li>\n
      2. Do we take a sink-or-swim approach with high potentials?<\/li>\n
      3. What happens if a high potential fails?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Question No. 20 should be asked over and over again \u2014 by you and by each high-potential employee. It\u2019s the clarifying question that can re-focus and re-energize an employee\u2019s development. It\u2019s the question that can help you figure out which experiences and relationships are essential. It\u2019s the underlying point of development.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Potential for what?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          \u201cPotential for what?<\/em> is one of the most important questions you can pose when considering high potentials,\u201d says Hallenbeck.<\/p>\n

          \u201cPotential comes in many forms and, therefore, can go in as many directions. Knowing the leadership development journey you intend to take your talent on is a critical component to success.\u201d<\/p>\n

          In closing, as you think about what matters most in high-potential development, also consider:<\/p>\n