Is it worth implementing High Potential programs in organizations? And what mistakes should be avoided?

I will share with you one of my experiences from an international corporation, where I worked as a HR Director. Imagine that during the busiest business period, the company loses three key experts. They were: – The Chief Financial Controller responsible for the company’s budget, – The Regional Sales Manager with the best sales results in Poland, respected by all salespeople, and – The Online Marketing Manager. These individuals received other job offers from the market and decided to accept them despite attempts to retain them and renegotiate their current conditions… Was it easy to replace them in this situation? How long did the recruitment process for the vacancies take? How much time did the onboarding process take? Were the new employees as effective? As you can guess, it wasn’t easy. The recruitment process took over 3 months for all these positions, and then more than 6 months had to pass before the new employees acquired a sufficient level of knowledge about the organization, processes, and industry for everything to function properly again. At that point, I began to wonder what I, as HR Director, could have done to prevent such a situation. Of course, there is always some level of turnover, but is it not worth taking special care of key managers and experts?

How to retain valuable employees?

The situation in the labor market, especially in the areas of modern technologies, which is currently an employee’s market, forces us to reflect and answer the above questions. Are there effective ways to attract and, most importantly, retain valuable employees? I am convinced that one of the ways is to implement High Potential programs in the organization, which will give talented employees the opportunity to develop and be a clear signal that the company cares about them. However, are there any risks associated with implementing such a program? How to counteract them? In this article, I have collected my experiences from three different implementations of talent programs in organizations employing over 1000 employees.

Who is a TALENT?

Before we move on to specific examples, it is worth defining who is a talent. The shortest definition I have encountered describes talent as „a person who stands out from the crowd.” However, it is worth specifying this definition, especially when communicating with individuals involved in the decision-making process regarding talent selection and considering the various selection criteria.

For the needs of one organization where I was implementing the „Talent Academy,” we jointly agreed that a talented person is both effective over a long period of time and has high potential. What does this mean in practice? Effectiveness, meaning sustainable business results, can be relatively easily measured by comparing, for example, the results of the last two annual evaluations or analyzing the success of implemented projects. However, how to assess potential and what is it?

The most accurate and realistic definition we found for potential was using the term „Learning Agility.”

To help the managerial staff involved in the project identify high-potential individuals in their teams, we specified that these are employees who, according to the definition of „Learning Agility,” demonstrate the ability and willingness to learn from experiences and apply the acquired knowledge effectively in new conditions. The supervisor of the potential talent would answer questions related to each of the five components of „Learning Agility”:

Mental Agility – the ability to work with concepts and ideas
Is your employee curious? Do they try to get to the heart of the matter and understand the causes of the situation? Do they feel comfortable in a complex and changing environment? Do they constructively question the status quo? Do they try to find solutions for difficult and complex issues?

People Agility – the ability to build relationships and collaborate with people
Does this team member communicate easily with colleagues? Do they easily take on different roles in the team? Do they have an open mind? Can they handle conflicts constructively? Do they understand others? Do they strive to help others develop? Do they accept diversity?

Change Agility – acceptance of undefined situations and the ability to lead changes
Does the candidate for talent seek and introduce new solutions? Do they test new proposals? Can they handle skepticism and resistance to change? Do they easily accept unidentified situations?

Results Agility – the ability to seek solutions and achieve results despite adversity
Does your employee’s charisma, attitude, and way of working increase the efficiency of others? Do they easily adapt to new challenges? Do they gather high-potential individuals around them, questioning standard methods of operation?

Self-awareness – self-awareness
Does the person you consider a talent assess themselves correctly? Do they see their strengths and weaknesses? Do they have self-awareness of their limitations as well as their strengths? Do they have humility?

After answering the above questions and checking the business results/effectiveness from the last two years, the individual could be placed in one of nine categories/fields in the matrix created by combining these two dimensions.

Ultimately, the Talent Program included individuals from the „High Achiever,” „Asset,” and „High Adapter” categories.

In some talent projects that I implemented, the most crucial role in the selection of talents was played by their supervisors and the HR Manager/HRBP, who coordinated and consulted the entire process. However, this could be associated with certain risks that I observed. It happened that during employee evaluations, which are one of the determinants of effectiveness, one supervisor evaluated all their subordinates more strictly, while another did the opposite. We also observe a common error in assessment known as the „central tendency error,” where the result is neither too high nor too low, as the manager evaluates cautiously or does not put enough effort into the process.

How can we objectively identify and select talents in the organization? How can we properly "calibrate" this process?

In the following part of the article, I answer these questions.

What should you pay attention to when implementing talent programs? How can you avoid mistakes and minimize risks when implementing a „High Potential program”?

Sponsorship of top management

One of the key success factors is strong sponsorship from top management. If the project sponsor is not someone from the Board level and HR alone is the business owner, there is a risk of lack of business engagement, lack of interest in the results, and weak support (e.g., blocking participation in development activities by direct supervisors). It is worth involving Board Members at every stage of the talent project. Thanks to a clear division of roles and the sponsor’s participation in important project „events” or celebrations of successes, we can guarantee the business’s interest in the project’s results.

Responsibility for development on the Talent's side

Another success factor is making Talents aware that they are responsible for their own development. It is extremely important to establish rules in the program and conclude a contract with participants. It should primarily be up to them to care about their own competency development and successfully complete the tasks they have undertaken in the program (e.g., their own projects). By clearly addressing such responsibility for the program’s outcome, we reduce the likelihood of a decline in engagement during the program, which often lasts several months. From experience, I know that if the program is long, the participant’s motivation may decline. Therefore, it is worth considering sensible „dosage” and proper planning of development activities. Remember that talent has daily responsibilities at work, so it is also worth thinking about short training forms, e.g., 2-hour webinars. One should also consider the specifics of a given industry (e.g., higher business intensity before holidays) and not plan too many training sessions during this period. A good solution is to avoid overload at the beginning, at the expense of the second part of the program. It is also worth expecting increasing independence from talents, gradually moving from training activities to self-development through gaining experiences (participation in projects and the mentoring process). This way, we also minimize the risk of entitlement attitudes – „I am a Talent, so train me and promote me quickly.”

Project management

One of the important success factors is managing the talent program according to project management methodology. Therefore, it is essential to: appoint a sponsor, a business owner, a project manager, create a project team, define roles, analyze risks and create a plan to manage them, prepare and monitor the project schedule, and create and implement a consistent communication plan. The consequences of neglecting the above-mentioned project management approach are serious. Without a communication plan, clear roles: project manager, sponsor, and team members, programs lack agility, especially when risks materialize. This also makes it difficult to give significance to the program in the organization and ensure a return on such an investment.

Taking care of building a community

And lastly, from my perspective, a significant success factor in implementing a talent program is ensuring the creation of a talent community. Simply participating in activities together does not build a talent community, and without it, identification with the program decreases or turns into a „mutual admiration society.” Therefore, the solution is regular and appropriately moderated meetings and communication channels by the HR/project manager. Regular events and active support, as well as personal interest from all Board Members, are important. In one of the projects, creating talent groups focused on a business project they conceived was very effective. This facilitated the exchange of ideas and experiences and allowed a real talent community to form.

How to ensure objectivity and transparency in the Talent selection process?

From my perspective, it is worth first defining a specific target group (for example, experts and mid-level managers from a specific level within the organization) to address the program and invite everyone to participate through open communication. I am not in favor of keeping talent programs confidential. Therefore, in my opinion, it should not be a „top-secret” process of pointing out specific individuals. In such situations, there may be suspicions of favoritism by the Board and senior management towards selected individuals. That is why, in my opinion, everyone in the chosen target group can apply for the talent program.

On the other hand, based on my experience and statistical data, talented individuals typically make up about 5-7% of a given population. Additionally, talent programs should be perceived as exceptional and elite. It is also important to be aware that conducting such a multi-month development program is not cheap and consumes a significant budget. Therefore, to narrow down the number of people at the very beginning, it is worth using selection criteria that will be openly communicated to the target group from the start.

These could include, for example, a certain length of service, a specific SOOP score in the last two years, a declaration of mobility and willingness to participate in international exchange programs, knowledge of English at a certain level, etc.

It is also important that the individual applying for the talent program puts some effort into completing an application in which they describe their motivation for participating in the program. This topic should also be explored during direct interviews with talent candidates.

In one organization where I implemented such a program, each HRBP conducting the interview had a prepared set of questions (a structured interview) to best compare candidates (similar to internal recruitment processes).

From experience, I know that the most important thing is to use specific and transparent tools provided by an external company – the same for everyone. For example, appropriately selected skills tests tailored to the industry can be used. I used a set of SHL tests (verbal, numerical, and inductive) as one of the key elements of talent recruitment.

However, the most objective and transparent tool for identifying a talent group, in my opinion, is the Development Center. It should be conducted by external assessors.

What are the advantages of DC? First of all, the participation of an external company and assessors involved in observing exercises performed by the talents ensures the objectivity of the evaluation. We can also ensure the transparency of criteria through standardization based on selected key competencies (usually chosen from the competency model existing in the organization). In practice, a set of exercises is proposed, and each competency is observed during at least two exercises. Each participant is observed by at least two assessors, and then their evaluations are compared and discussed.

If the group of talent candidates includes both experts and managers, separate sessions should be conducted for these two groups, assessing slightly different competencies. Each DC participant receives an individual report after the session, with descriptions and developmental recommendations. Additionally, there is coaching feedback, where the candidate also receives development recommendations and finds out if they were accepted into the talent group.

We're starting the program

When our talents are selected, they begin their several-month-long development program. What should we pay attention to when creating such a program?

It is definitely worth considering how adults learn – in accordance with the 70/20/10 rule. Research shows that 70% of our skills are acquired through practice and our own experiences, i.e., actions taken during work on a given task or leading a project. Therefore, it is essential to plan an element of self-work in the talent development program – preferably in a project group, where a new idea to improve business operations is created and developed from scratch. Thanks to this approach, we will also see a return on our investment in the talent program in the form of a new product/service or a process that improves customer service. Personally, I was truly impressed with the innovation and creativity demonstrated by talents in the projects I implemented.

The second important element of adult learning (20%) is observing others and learning from them. Mentoring programs work exceptionally well here. Of course, the organization and the mentors themselves need to be adequately prepared for this. A group of mentors – individuals who volunteer for this role – must be trained, and then the talents should be given the opportunity to choose their mentor. A good practice during the mentoring process, which usually lasts several months (from 5 to 9 sessions), is also so-called three-way meetings involving the mentor, mentee, and HR representative. Tools that assess natural communication styles (e.g., Extended DISC) or thinking and action styles (FRIS) can also be helpful. Individual work with such reports, plus a meeting with a certified advisor in the given tool, can provide the talent with valuable feedback in the development process. These types of tools have also worked excellently for me in project groups (during team coaching sessions). This way, team members more easily chose their natural roles within the team, being more aware of their potential (e.g., project leader, analyst, executor, etc.).

Of course, we should not forget about traditional training, language courses, webinars, e-learning, or simply a good book that the mentor recommends to the talent. Although this constitutes only 10% of adult learning, it is still an aspect worth remembering when designing a development project for talents.

At the end of the project, it is worth evaluating it and also accounting for the tasks completed by the participants. In most projects, these elements included:
– The mentor prepares a final development report after the process and discusses it at the three-way meeting,
– Talents from the various project groups present the implementation effects of their ideas to the Board,
– Re-conducting the Development Center (DC) and measuring the increase in competencies.

I strongly encourage you to thoughtfully implement talent programs in your organizations. If you would like to learn more about specific „case studies” and tailored solutions from the financial, insurance, or logistics sectors, I invite you to the training sessions I conduct, both in open forms and designed for specific organizations.

The author of the article is Beata Molska – business psychologist, long-time HR Director, Managing Director of HR Accelerate, business trainer, coach, MBA graduate from the Leon Koźmiński Academy, Interim HR Manager.