Disproportionately this new generation of leaders will come from the pool of
people within an organisation, often referred to as, “high potentials.” But
there’s the rub. By what criteria do we decide whether somebody is a high
potential suited for a leadership position?
Face it, not everyone is a high-potential. Some have reached
their potential and others are quite comfortable where they are. They are good,
if not great, performers who are satisfied with their accomplishments and
focused on doing what they do best.
So what are the criteria by which you evaluate whether
someone can be a high-potential leader?
Here are five
suggested criteria:
1. Knowledge
They know their business. Simply put, high-potential leaders
are those individuals who have displayed a certain amount of accumulated
expertise. This expertise may be technical or it may be based in networks, but
it’s invaluable for an organisation. More importantly, they understand how
their activities, their sector, and their realm of knowledge, is related to the
wider organisational agenda.
2. Reputation
They have legitimacy in the eyes of others. Others in the
organisation must appreciate the relevance of the knowledge base that a
high-potential possesses. It’s a simple reality that having expertise or a
skill base isn’t enough to make one a high-potential leader. High-potential
leaders must also have the ability to garner the professional respect of
others.
3. Ambition
They have a strong career mindset. We want our high
potentials to be ambitious—but we want them to be ambitious in a very focused
way. And the best way to get a sense of their ambition is to evaluate their
commitment to their career progression. High potentials need to be committed to
accumulating new responsibilities, new successes, acquiring additional
knowledge, and, for better or worse, achieving additional recognition.
4. Partnering
They understand the importance of working with others. While
a strong career mindset is important, high-potentials must also have a deep
appreciation of partnership. A high-potential leader’s partnering ability
shouldn’t be a politically correct exercise, but rather a pragmatic, tactical
skill that will allow them to make better, more informed decisions.
Lone-rangers and lone-wolves may be creative and ambitious, but they may not be
suitable for the next leadership rung in the organisational ladder.
5. Courage
They are bounded risk takers. High-potential leaders must
understand that no matter how good they think a decision may be—they are making
it under conditions of uncertainty. No matter how much information you have, no
matter how many cost-benefit analyses you have done, no matter how many market
surveys you have completed, a high-potential leader will know all information
is limited. They’ll know that some decisions are inevitable, but they’ll also
have the courage to take risks.
Identifying high-potential leaders requires an appreciation
of what it is we want from our leaders. We want our leaders to know their
business, and therefore knowledge is critical. We want others to accept their
expertise, and therefore reputation is critical. We want them to be personally
driven, and therefore ambition is essential. We want them to understand that
nothing can be done alone, and therefore partnering is critical. And finally,
we want them to know that nothing is guaranteed, and therefore courage is
fundamental.
These five criteria, when identified appropriately—be it
through skill matrixes, interviews, delineated questionnaires or peer
review–will go a long way toward identifying high-potential leaders.
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