High Potential Staff: Retaining, Developing and Engaging
Organisations across all sectors depend on their ability to identify, build, keep and motivate their future leaders. The path of high potential staff up and across the ranks of the business may be likely, but it is rarely prescriptive.
The challenges for current leaders, together with their HR partners, are clear.
- What exposure to the working parts of the business is necessary to equip high potential staff with the rounded, grounded understanding they need - as future leaders?
- What self awareness, assessment, development, training and support do they need – as they progress through the organisation?
- What experiences should the organisation provide to engage, retain and educate them, alongside the jobs they are currently doing?
- Should high potential staff be grouped collegially, enabling participation in a multi-dimensional learning programme?
At JSB, we have worked closely with a variety of clients in helping them to build and develop learning and development retention programmes for high potential staff. Clients include:
Global professional services firm – working with more than 40 fee-earners and support staff internationally
International marketing services organisation – working with high potential middle managers and executives in the USA, the UK and Asia
Investment bank – working locally with high potential front, middle and back office staff in across a variety of locations
IT and print services firm – UK based sales and service managers engaged in year long mini-MBA style programme
The solutions we develop depend on a variety of criteria. These include:
- Where is the organisation strategically: what contribution from high potential staff does it need now, and in the future?
- What is the available pool from which to select candidates – and what will the impact be for peers who are not successful in joining?
- What development opportunities are currently available for staff, and how should further work with high potential staff align or be distinct from it?
- What kind of evaluation is appropriate – through out the lifecycle of the programme?
Whilst we have, for some organisations, collaborated with managers to develop one-off or stand-alone events for high potential employees (training or broader based development), most of our work involves building longer term programmes that include:
- Self-assessment, profiling or 360/peer evaluation
- Development of strategic skills and understanding – in the context of business needs
- Personal and interpersonal skills training and development Client and customer acquisition and retention: 'hunting', 'farming' and associated communication, negotiation and presentation skills
- Essential business, financial and project management training
- Management and leadership development
- Action learning, group facilitation, coaching and mentoring
- Project working (focusing on challenges to business, geared towards developing recommendations for agreement and implementation)