How to hang on to your potentials

Emerging best practices in managing your company’s future leaders by claudio fernandez-Araoz, Boris Groysberg, and

Nitin Nohria.

Previous Article(Are you high potential)

• Getting on high potential list is extremely desirable, but can demand sacrifice.

• The consequence of failing off the rolls after having been given the honour can be substantial and permanent.

Global study(survey)

• In a global study conducted:

• Only 15 % of companies in Asia and north America believe that they have enough qualified successors for key positions.

• The rate is much better i.e. 30 % in Europe.

• It was observed that in the emerging markets the supply of experienced managers is the most limited.

How to hang on to high potential

• One popular battle strategy is to institute programs aimed at “high potential”- the people that companies believe may become their future leaders.

• Sometimes the chosen few don’t stick around or don't live up to expectations.

• This leads the programs fail to maintain momentum, leaving companies unsure they have paid off and fuelling work cynicism.

Cont...

• Exceptions are always there, such as companies like GE, Unilever, PepsiCo. And shell have long been known for the careful attention to talent management.

Joint Research Project 2007

• launched a joint research project with the executive search from Egon Zehnder International.

• Conducted a large scale cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of how companies asses and manage their rising stars.

• Interviewed 70 companies having program for high potential.

Research findings

• A set of cutting edge practices was identified.

• Some were from unexpected places like:– Argentine manufacturer of steel tubes that become an

international leader despite the regional and industry turbulence and a Turkish bank that has gone global.

• Some were broad such as:– The direct involvement of a pharmaceutical-device maker’s

senior management team in the development of that company's 600 most promising leaders.

Cont...

• High-potential programs field is so new and so dynamic that these practices haven't been time-tested.

• Still they can provide valuable ideas and inspirations to companies looking to strengthen their talent pipelines.

Important findings of research:

• The effective management of the next generation encompasses three set of activities:

1- The establishment of clear strategic priorities:• These shape the way companies groom high potential

leaders.

2- The careful selection of high potential candidates:• Also to communicating who they are to others in the

organization.

3- The management of talent itself:• How high potentials are developed, rewarded and retained.

Cont...

• There is no cookie-cutter method for creating a successful program

• just as you can’t lift any other people management process directly from another company; you can not assume that a high potential program that works somewhere else will work for you.

• Your strategy and your culture influence the nature of the programme that will be most effective.

What’s Potential?

Dictionary Meaning

Having or showing the capacity to develop into something in the

future.

Potential indicates weather someone will be able to succeed in a bigger role in the future.

Its person ability to grow and to handle responsibilities of greater scale and scope.

Greater Scale

&

Greater Scope