HBR on High Potentials

During my holiday in Austria, I'm catching up with this summer's HBR issues, which are mainly focused on change mgmt. For some articles, I will post my 'cut-and-paste' summary along with some personal comments.

What I liked about the HIPO article, is that it tells more about  determinants of High Performance than those of High Potentials (the latter being more about a company's policy to keep secret lists on who to present the next golden carrot)

Harvard Business Review on "High Potentials"
 Context: Many smart, competent, driven, hard-working and trustworthy individuals in a company. They are satisfied, but wondering how to get where they really want to go.

1) Deliver strong results – credibly

Competence is baseline, but also foster confidence and trust.

Example used: take work the upper plate of manager, be open on the learning curve, and resolve issues towards colleagues and direct reports.

2) Master new types of expertise

Start managing a small group of people, move on to exercise influence in spite of limited formal responsibility. Face the challenge of Letting go as much as Adding on. Don’t aspire to be the best engineer and the best design team lead at the same time. Technical skills don’t suffice.

Personal Note: Some of my colleagues are indeed defining added value (and complexity) through the narrow lens of their own technical abilities, and ignoring the importance of aspects such communication, self management, and capability to structure and prioritize. This is the result of a hiring policy with a strong bias to attract highly qualified university degrees - who are subsequently expected to perform operational tasks.

3) Behavior counts

Outstanding skill never diminish in importance, but move to the background, are no longer sufficient as you are expected to excel in roles with a broader reach. From ‘Fit and affiliation’ to ‘Role model and teacher’.

Note: “EQ over IQ” – the maxim goes.

Example used: To succeed to turn around a loss-generating product division where two high visibility managers failed. By fostering cooperative relationships and teamwork. By engaging people in candid conversations, by listening and getting to the core of the problem quickly. By showing good motivational skills, demonstration strategic vision and detecting patterns.

But above all, the autor claims, high performance / high potentials are driven by the following intangible factors,

4) A drive to excel.

“Good, even very good is not good enough. Not by any stretch”. It is about willing to go the extra mile, making sacrifices, and while being true to your values.

Personal note: It is all about “deliberate practice” , the proverbial 1% inspiration / 99% transpiration ratio.

5) A catalytic learning capability.

The capacity to scan for new ideas, the cognitive capability to absorb them and the common sense to translate it into productive action for customers and organisations.

Personal Note: The prerequisites to demonstrate this ability are manifold. Understanding business processes, technology, organisational dynamics, and the capacity to structure initiatives and deliver value.

6) An enterprising spirit

To leave the comfort zone and take calculated risks to take on challenging new assignments, roles or positions. The excitement and opportunity outweighs the risks.

7) Dynamic sensors

The above three could be a recipe for disaster if not for the capacity to sense trouble.

Example used: Impulsiveness or blind motivation may you end up in assignments with little payoff or with too big a risk. Well-tuned radar to put a higher premium on quality (judgement). Besides judgement, high potential have dynamic sensors that enable them to have a feel for timing, the ability to quickly read situations, and to know when to pursue and when to pull back. To be at the right place at the right time. Listening to others, observing reactions and maintaining broad network of relationships are measures.

Not each of these factors are equally actionable. Being self-reflective, proactive and seeking guidance are cited as obvious examples.

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