"High potential talents" are the key to the future development of enterprises

“High-potential talents” are the key to the future development of enterprises

Foreword:

As competition among enterprises becomes increasingly fierce, more and more entrepreneurs realize that The key to enterprise competition is the competition for talents, especially the possession and retention of core talents. So, for enterprises, who are the potential talents? Different companies and different industries define core talents differently, and the same company may not necessarily define the same core talents in the same development stage. How to identify potential talents? Should we focus on the current performance of these employees or on their future potential? After we understand who potential talents are, we are faced with the problem of how to cultivate these potential talents and how to retain these talents.

Driven by this general environment, corporate human resources departments are facing huge challenges - serious brain drain, and employees have more and more choices. So how do we develop and retain our talent? Ms. Bai Yan concluded by saying: The company only builds a platform to help you become a useful talent, but the knowledge and skills are in your own hands and you need to master them in the future.

Talent development must be reviewed regularly and key performance indicators tracked and evaluated. This will strengthen the importance that managers at all levels of the company attach to talent training and implement it effectively, preventing managers from being too busy achieving short-term business goals and neglecting the long-term talent echelon building.

But what is a "high potential talent"? This is a very important question for both leaders who want to select talents and young elites who want to become leaders. The traditional Chinese culture of "having both moral integrity and talent" seems reasonable, but in modern society, not only is "morality" difficult to measure, but "talent" also varies depending on the position, making it difficult to measure. So, are there any common methods to measure a person's leadership potential and determine whether he or she is a high-potential talent?

First, let’s talk about the definition of “high potential talent.” Different companies may have different definitions, and some do not even formally distinguish between high-potential talents and ordinary employees. However, our research shows that companies often use the following criteria to select the best 3% to 5% of talents: High-potential talents are used in various Performance in situations and environments is always significantly better than that of colleagues. While achieving outstanding performance, their conduct is exemplary and reflects the company's culture and values. Additionally, they demonstrate an exceptional ability to grow, develop, and succeed in their corporate career paths—faster and stronger than their colleagues. These talents are often called "tomorrow's stars" by employers!

Employees have different qualifications. Some people are better than others. I believe no one will have any objection to this. What everyone disagrees about is whether special treatment should be given to high-potential talents. Opponents believe that everyone has their own characteristics and strengths, so everyone should enjoy equal development opportunities. Investing too much energy and resources on a few people may cause the company to ignore the potential contributions of the majority of people. But no matter what, most companies still consciously select high-potential talents. Especially when resources are limited, companies do invest more attention and energy in talent they believe has the ability to lead the company into the future.

Global research from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) also shows that this is one of the biggest lessons companies can learn when cultivating high-potential talents to become the next generation of leaders. For many companies in China, ensuring that high-potential talents have sufficient leadership experience before they are ready to take on key management positions remains a big challenge. In a business environment like China, outstanding employees usually have promotion opportunities every 12 to 18 months. Companies realize that many talents have not gained enough experience and lessons before entering the middle and senior management teams - and these experiences and lessons are crucial to developing a leader's ability to think strategically and manage complex changes.

Most companies hope to identify talents with the potential to take on important positions in the early stages of their employees' careers. These employees who have the potential to advance two or more levels are considered "high potential." The company will also invest more resources to develop these high-potential talents. However, according to business research firm ConferenceBoard, 67% of companies use different methods to select high-potential employees, and only 15% of them are satisfied with their selection methods. Most metrics used to assess potential are imprecise, and some are even worse than luck alone.

In today's economic downturn and limited resources, companies will undoubtedly invest more energy in talents they believe have the ability to lead the company. Therefore, the importance of this work is at present. Increases rather than decreases. The challenge before managers is how to measure the standards of high-potential talents? Each company has a different definition of high-potential talents, but this group generally has four major characteristics:

The first is strategic vision. Typically, a person with this vision puts organizational interests ahead of departmental or personal interests, is willing to listen to other people's perspectives, and collaborates with colleagues in a friendly manner.

The second most important characteristic is curiosity. When the organization or strategy changes, they can quickly embrace new ideas and new ideas, and are willing to invest energy and passion in learning new knowledge.

These people are not afraid of change and are more open-minded.

The third characteristic is empathy, also known as perspective taking, which means that employees can feel the thoughts of others from the perspective of colleagues or leaders and gain the same experience. This is the hardest and most important of all qualities to develop. It determines how flexible a person is and whether he or she can truly appreciate or adopt other people's perspectives. Talents with this quality can devote themselves wholeheartedly to any new culture or work challenge. The last characteristic is maturity. The trials and tribulations experienced in the past can make people mature quickly. The more accumulated in life, the more calmly they can perform when facing new problems.

The fourth is emotional intelligence. Daniel is the person who coined the term "emotional intelligence". Goleman's "What Makes a Leader" published in Harvard Business Review studied the contribution rate of professional skills, IQ and EQ to a person's outstanding performance and found that the contribution of EQ is at least twice that of other factors. . Moreover, the higher you are in a company, the more important the role of emotional intelligence becomes. Among leaders in high positions, 90% of the difference in performance between the best and mediocre leaders is due to emotional intelligence factors.

According to the standards of emotional intelligence, "high-potential talents" tend to be self-aware, relatively honest to others and themselves, and have a pragmatic and undemanding attitude. They are good at controlling their emotions, often reflect on themselves, think deeply, and continue to grow. They pursue a sense of achievement, are passionate about their work, are willing to learn and are motivated. They have empathy, are good at communicating with others, and can develop talents and unite teams. They are good at socializing and can help people manage teams and mobilize network resources.

Although these characteristics may seem unremarkable, according to the author's research, most management teams fall into some misunderstandings when cultivating the next generation of successors. A clear example is that nearly 40% of the high-potential talents in the eyes of managers are incompetent after changing positions within the organization. Among them, one of the most common mistakes made by managers is to equate employees' current high performance with their future high potential. In order to avoid some misunderstandings in cultivating and managing potential talents, let's first take a look at several cases of potential talent management in multinational companies:

1. Microsoft, looking for "smart" people, is not limited to computer majors

"Microsoft has been looking for the smart people it needs, and the meaning of smart people is very special." Microsoft He has his own way of testing people's "smartness". For example, Microsoft recruiters will give you the four numbers "3388" ??to see if you can get 24 in the shortest time through addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. There are also some questions that are even more "tricky and weird". For example, the examiner will ask you " How many gas stations are there in the United States?" etc. Of course, these questions are not a test of your memory and common sense. In fact, there are no standard answers. The key is to test your ability to analyze problems and how to find an entry point.

2. Favor "frustrated people" and people with adventurous spirit

Bill, the "King of Microsoft". Gates believes that when a person is worried about his livelihood, he will unleash his potential and think creatively. Therefore, once Gates discovers an outstanding talent in the industry who has lost his job due to the failure of his company, he will hire him to work at Microsoft at the right time. Microsoft also favors people with an adventurous spirit. It is not easy to become a member of Microsoft. You must have a strong interest in software, rich imagination and a spirit of risk-taking. Microsoft would rather risk failure and choose someone who has failed before than hire someone who has failed. A person who is cautious in everything but achieves nothing.

2. Lenovo

The selection criteria are self-motivation and strong understanding. Liu Chuanzhi, chairman of the board of directors of Lenovo Group, has two criteria for selecting candidates: The first is whether they are motivated. "It is very important whether young people can be trained and have strong ambitions. If a company really wants to do well, it must have a group of people like this. They are people who really turn their careers into careers for the sake of the country and the nation. Those who are purely looking for jobs People, there is no big development in Lenovo.”

The second thing is whether the understanding is strong or not. "What can hinder the development of understanding? Is one's own overestimation of oneself. Understanding is nothing more than being good at summarizing, but if you think too highly of yourself, it is easy to ignore the experience of others and fail to understand the wonderful things of others. Such people are very There are many people who have certain abilities, but they are just smart, but they do not reach the level of wisdom. Some people have strong personalities that cannot be broken by external forces, but this person has no future. ”

3. German SAP

SAP values ??a person’s quality and potential, because in SAP’s view, technology and knowledge can be acquired through practice, while the quality and moral character of personnel are innate , and is not necessarily related to the level of academic qualifications. What affects a person's work performance is not just academic qualifications and skills, but also work attitude, professionalism, and loyalty to the company. The impact on the individual employee's work performance and the entire company is often more important. Therefore, when SAP recruits employees, it does not care about their existing degrees and diplomas, but more about how much new knowledge they can absorb and how much they can improve. As long as there is this space, after entering SAP, after training, learning and specific corporate culture With the influence of others, growth is possible.

Employees are the company's most important assets, and "high-potential talents" are the key to the company's future development. However, many companies often have no rules for cultivating "high-potential talents". They either have unclear measurement standards for "high-potential talents", or let those who are practical and reliable employees have low morale due to failure, or they have formulated Development programs remove potential managers from day-to-day operations. The result is that those "high potentials" either leave or are scrapped. How does the company manage these "high potential talents"?

Let’s start with Luke’s story. Luke is a software engineer who is extremely talented and won many awards and recognitions soon after his work. His superiors were confident in his potential and made him the head of the development team responsible for developing a product extension aimed at an entirely new consumer group. Luke gladly accepted the order, but failed to realize that technical ability alone was not enough to complete the task. After several missed deadlines, management gave him a high-level "expert" position to save face, and appointed another technically sound person with project management experience to replace Luke. At this point, Luke was no longer considered a high potential talent. His career as a technical expert was still impressive, but he was not continuing to develop as a corporate leader. Through the case, Teacher Tan Xiaofang summarized the following points for reference by colleagues in the industry - First, talent training must be coordinated with the company's strategy. Potential depends on context, so a high-potential talent management plan should match the company's strategy. For example, if a company's strategy is to grow in emerging markets, its focus should be on a more global talent pool and on people who can flexibly adapt to unfamiliar environments. Instead, if a company aims to be a low-cost leader, it should target people who are highly disciplined and results-oriented.

Secondly, carefully select reserve talents. The selection of talents can use a combination of nomination and objective evaluation. In addition to internal assessment, the company can also listen to the opinions of external partners. Many companies are reluctant to publish lists of "high potential talents" mainly because the selection process is too subjective or unfair and therefore unconvincing. Research shows that letting employees know they have been selected as a high-potential talent can significantly increase their willingness to stay with the company, as well as their productivity.

Finally, in addition to formal training courses, the training of high-potential talents should also include independent learning and other training forms. The most effective tool is rotation experience. Rotation experience can include larger management scale, larger work scope, transfer from front line to administration or from administration to front line, cross-disciplinary transfer, new projects, turnaround, change management projects, overseas assignments, etc. Changing levels, organizational units, work locations, industries, and environments all help managers grow.

Many companies consider inclusion in a pool of "high potential talent" to be an important reward in itself. However, companies with best practices not only consider the benefits of participating in specific development programs, but also consider the compensation of "high potential talents". Of course, financial incentives should not be excessive and must be consistent with the goal of creating long-term advantages for the company. Because for external incentives such as money to be effective, they must be combined with internal motivation factors such as the desire for achievement and recognition.

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