Secrets for Identifying Your High Potential Leaders

I was a participant in a coaching workshop the other day where the facilitators, while encouraging skill-development and coaching, kept referring to High Potential Leaders. You know, the HIPO folks, those with ability, engagement, and aspiration to rise up and succeed in more senior, critical positions.

Are you targeting your HIPO people for growth and development? We certainly hope so.

You may be asking, “How can we spot and measure high potential? Do these HIPO employees look and act differently?”

Here are a few characteristics that you may observe:

• Require little direction.
• Produce high-quality work.
• Seek leadership responsibilities.
• Take initiative.
• Are invested in company goals.
• Have positive relationships.
• Are highly adaptable.
• Exhibit a competitive attitude.

But wait! Is it possible that every one of your leaders could be part of the HIPO club?

Having trained thousands of aspiring leaders in our Basics of Supervision and other leadership classes, Cascade’s Leadership and Coaching Teams have been approaching every new leader as a HIPO. If a leader has made it this far, we are going to look to find greatness in them all. Sure, there are some differentiating factors, but our philosophy has been to help people find their strengths and keep a focus for development in that strength zone. Ok, sure, shore up in areas where skills are not fully developed, but dig in, really dig in, where you get the greatest return, where your leader is already demonstrating strength.

This approach for many is counterintuitive. Our natural tendency is often to focus on the weaknesses that need remedy. We often find ourselves approaching leadership development as “fixing things.” But we actually get the best return on investment when we support development in those areas where leaders are already demonstrating strength.

This strength-based leadership concept was highlighted during a lunch I was enjoying with the General Manager of a large resort here in Oregon. By any measure, this was a successful manager; a manager who had developed and maintained a highly effective leadership team. The friendly lunchtime conversation turned to how our high-school aged children were faring (I guess we develop our kids too). He described three sons he was quite proud of and shared with me that he had set aside tutoring funds for each one. I immediately thought that this would mean he was spending money on a tutor to help each student improve in their areas of weakness.

Further conversation revealed, however, that just the opposite was true. One son, gifted in math, was receiving tutoring in advanced calculus. Another son, who excelled in English, was getting a tutor for advance composition. You get the idea: invest where they are already excelling. I have to admit that, probably like most of us, I had been focusing on the C’s on my kids’ report cards, rather than the A’s. Some suggest we are hard-wired this way, to see what is wrong, what needs fixing, and invest there. Are we doing this with our leadership team and failing to see high potential in everyone? Or, at least, seeing high potential in a few more?

Demonstrate high expectation for all your emerging leaders so that they will find their own unique style of greatness and show that you are going to support them in their journey.

Please come join us on July 18th for a free Lunch and Learn with our Coaching Team for How Coaching Impacts Retention, Growth and Employee Effectiveness. We will explore some of these themes and how you might improve your workplace coaching relationships.