Is Your Organization Unintentionally

Sabotaging Your High Potential Talent?

A presentation by

Karan Ferrell-Rhodes, CEO & Lead HIPO Strategist

KARAN FERRELL-RHODES

High-Potential Leader Development Strategist

HIPO Programs Expert

HIPO Coach

Author

Speaker

“Maestro of HIPO Readiness”

I

HIPOs!

After Today’s Workshop, You Will . . . . . .

▪ Gain additional insight on the world of high potential leaders

▪ Better understand 6 common forms of “High-Potential Sabotage”

▪ Build your acumen on successful strategies for HIPO development

BECOME MORE ENLIGHTENED

WHAT TO AVOID & WHAT TO DO

EMPOWER YOURORGANIZATION

BECOME MORE ENLIGHTENED

Gain additional insight on the world

of high potential leaders

“[Your Firm] has come a long way in attracting this year’s graduates, many of whom feel that the world class development program and experiences will be the best start to their careers “

“[Your Name] is set to blaze trails as they lead a cadre of talented leaders…the future is looking bright….

All in all, [Your Company] is just a hot bed of talent, as shown by this appointment of [Your Company] Executive, [Your Name] to CEO

June 25, 2021

April 8, 2018

February 4, 2019

IMAGINE…

What Is A High-Potential Leader? (HIPO)

• Your future/next generation leaders (multiple career stages)

• Proven high performer

• Possess ACA criteria• Aspiration: The motivation and desire for recognition,

advancement, and future rewards

• Ability: The intellectual, technical, and emotional skills to handle

increasingly complex challenges

• Commitment: The level of personal connection and commitment

the employee feels toward the organization and its mission

• Be capable of advancing at least two levels in the

organization

• Other?

Common Characteristics

of HIPOs:

• Are self-confident

• Deeply fear failure

• Highly imaginative

• Love “Hands-on” participation

• Prefer inclusive experiences

• Value stories of both failure and success

• Are sometimes cynical of “the past”

• Are excited about what the future can hold

• Hate labels (ex. entitled, self-absorbed)

Top 20%

Middle60%

Bottom 20%

“HI-PRO”/ POTENTIAL

HIPOHigh Performing

Professionals(“on the bubble”)

TRUE “HIPO”High Potential Professionals

(“on the short-list”)

Common Segmentation of Talent Pools

In The Workplace

HIPO POOL/ WATCH LIST

Talent Pipeline

78% in the Top 10%?

The Facts Don’t Lie: What Keeps CEOs Up At Night

• Challenges developing and retaining next-gen leaders has been

#1 for last 4 years (The Conference Board- 2016 CEO Challenge Report)

• 95% of Fortune 1000 execs are concerned about talent and leader

shortages

• 75% of companies worldwide are not confident in their ability to

effectively staff leadership positions over the next 5 years (Corporate Leadership Council)

• Only 27% of CEOs consider themselves prepared to tackle their

HIPO challenges

The Facts Don’t Lie – The Gaps & Risks

• 40 million baby boomers are preparing for retirement; only 17

million GenXers are available to backfill their leadership roles (Hewitt Associates)

• 97% of companies reported acute or moderate gaps in their pool of

“ready now” leaders (Corporate Leadership Council)

• It costs an organization an average of $800K to lose a HIPO who is

compensated in the $50K-$100K range. (“Top Grading” by Dr. Bradford Smart)

The Facts Don’t Lie – Common HR Pain Points

• Trying to determine right mix of development options

• Lack of bandwidth to effectively run/evolve HIPO programs

• Limited budget & resources

• Pressure to meet expectations of executive leaders

• Managing different generations within HIPO population

• Motivating accountability of direct managers of HIPOs

Interesting

Data on HIPOs

According to the Corporate Executive Board’s research on High-Potentials:

- HIPOs are 91% more valuable to the organization than non-HIPOs

- HIPOs add value up to 3.5 times their compensation

However . . . . . . . . - 73% of HIPO programs show little to no ROI

- 69% of HIPO programs fail to build a strong succession pipeline

- 64% of HIPOs are dissatisfied with their development experiences

- 1 in 4 HIPOs plan to leave their employer in the next 12-18 months

According to recent research from Cornell University:

- Fewer than 15% of companies have strong HIPO programs

- Only 15% of organizations have qualified successors for key positions

- 25% of organizations said they fail to keep top performers greater than 3 years

HIPOs today are different:

- They are corporate “free agents” & lifelong nomads, frequently moving from company to company

- Their loyalty is to who can provide the best opportunity which aligns with their values

- The title of “leader” is no longer a status symbol

- They strive for real-time interaction; connect with everything everywhere

HIPOs Want to Be CLEAR

Career Paths

Learning Objectives

Expectations

Accountabilities

Rewards

You’ve Got Limited Time!

AVERAGE TENURE OF NEW HIRE

Hire Date Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

RAMP IN

NEW JOB

IDENTIFIED

AS HIPO

PARTICIPATE IN ACCELERATED

DEVELOPMENT

Critical Decision Point

GROUP DISCUSSION

▪ What is your most urgent challenge or threat that your organization

is facing regarding identifying, developing, and/or retaining your

high potential talent?

▪ How have you been solving it until now?

WHAT TO AVOID &

WHAT TO DO

Better Understand 6 Common Forms of

“High-Potential Sabotage”

What Is

High-Potential

Sabotage?

1. Not Having A Solid End-to-End HIPO Strategy

2. Misidentifying Who Are Your True HIPOs

3. Turning Off The Faucet of Development Too Soon

6 Common Forms of HIPO Sabotage

6 Common Forms of HIPO Sabotage

4. Lack of Focus on Micro-Leadership Tied to Business Results

5. Lack of Cross-Industry & Global Experiences

6. Lack of Right Visibility Opportunities to Executive Stakeholders

POLLWhich of the 6 Common forms of HIPO sabotage do YOU feel has the

highest risk to developing and retaining a company’s top talent?

1. Not Having A Solid End-to-End HIPO Strategy

2. Misidentifying Who Are Your True HIPOs

3. Turning Off The Faucet of Development Too Soon

4. Lack of Focus on Micro-Leadership Tied to Business Results

5. Lack of Cross-Industry & Global Experiences

6. Lack of Right Visibility Opportunities to Executive Stakeholders

EMPOWER YOURORGANIZATION

Build your acumen on successful

strategies for HIPO development

HIPO DNA: Helping HIPOs to “Be Different”

HIPOs are most successful when they are able to use their talents to:

Differentiate Their Value

Newly Innovate

Act & Impact

7 Competencies

Essential to HIPO

Development

Differentiation Training

A 4 step high performance framework which guides HIPOs “how” to demonstrate and differentiate their leadership capability, using the 7 competencies essential to HIPO Leader Development

• Helps HIPOs better understand what aspects uniquely differentiate them from their peers

• Helps HIPOs better connect how to use their innate talents to accelerate their development in a way that more astutely impacts the business

• Helps direct managers and key stakeholders better support the needs of each HIPO

Differentiation Framework: The E.P.I.C. Method

E P I C

5 Drivers of

HIPO

Development

On-the-Job Experience

Participants thoughtfully reflect on key learnings in current job or stretch projects and apply learnings to new situations

Leadership Engagement

Leaders who are subject matter experts share their successes and failures and interact directly with participants

Professional Network

Participants work closely with each other to support their development and build and strengthen relationships

Manager Relationship

Managers are fully engaged in providing appropriate on-the-job challenges and supporting development assignments

High Quality Development Plan

Participants clearly define their priorities for desired future growth and receive strong developmental feedback

Additional Effective Development Strategies

• Cross-generational & cross-functional affinity groups

• Business simulations & leadership labs

• Facilitated networking & relationship building

• Facilitated action learning projects with ongoing feedback

opportunities (ex. peer coaching groups, interactive cases)

• Exposure to executive-level meetings

• Gaming- let them play and have fun!

• Reflection and articulating learning journey story

Reflections of the Day

What are

you taking

away?

Final Thoughts

As a strategic supporter for the world’s next generation of

leaders, I BELIEVE . . . .- The role of a leader is to create an environment where great things can happen

- By providing learning environments where smart, passionate people can demonstrate

their leadership capability will allow them to shine and will give them the power to

change the world

- Leader development should be an asset for organizations . . . . not a problem

- Our value is to be the link to help realize the visions of both gifted leaders and the

organizations they serve

BECOME MORE ENLIGHTENED

EMPOWER YOURORGANIZATION

WHAT TO AVOID & WHAT TO DO

KARAN FERRELL-RHODES

High-Potential Leader Development Strategist

HIPO Programs Expert

HIPO Coach

Author

Speaker

“Maestro of HIPO Readiness”

Let’s Stay Connected

karan@shockinglydifferent.com

linkedin.com/in/karanrhodes

@ShockinglyD

facebook.com/shockinglydifferent

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