paper - high potentials & assessment strategy - confidential

HOW HIGH POTENTIAL CAN SUPPORT

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS GROWTH

How high potential can support sustainable business growth

In an era where we’re all searching for talents, can we really identify them in

our organizations? What are their characteristics? Do they really add value

from day one? The answer is: yes. Increasingly through the last years, more

importance has been given to the intrinsic characteristics of a person, rather

than his or her professional experience. Twenty years ago no one thought

about cultural fit, sense of purpose, etc. Now, in 2009, it seems to be an

essential part of our lives.

Certain objectives have never changed, like higher profits. But can higher

profits be achieved with methods such as cost cutting or organizational

restructure? Possibly, but it is not enough, nor sustainable in the long run.

Identifying your high potentials and developing them can boost your

employee motivation and retention, increase performance, and ultimately

create higher profits.

With current business conditions being challenging, it is paramount that

employee turnover is low and that your high potentials are identified and

placed in the correct place for growth. Only like this, and in these conditions,

will your business succeed in the long-term.

How can High-Potentials support Business Growth2

“We have good employees, but do we have the right

talents in the right place? If yes, how should they be

managed for personal growth and business

performance?”

3How can High-Potentials support Business Growth

HAVE YOU IDENTIFIED YOUR HIGH POTENTIALS?

IDENTIFICATION - DEVELOPMENT - RETENTION

Discovering who are your high potentials may be

challenging, but definitely worthwhile.

High potentials are not necessarily the ones that contribute

the most today, but the ones who with full potential will

contribute the most tomorrow. They feel a sense of

belonging, and relate to the mission statement and values

like no other. We need these people to succeed, they drive

our business and set the example. They are not afraid of

new challenges, rather, they face it head on as a new and

enriching experience. Most of all they’re learning agile.

Learning agility is made up of four quadrants: People,

Results, Mental and Change Agility. A high potential

possesses a combination of these four factors by being

relational, objective-oriented, challenger and a change-

manager. Not everyone can be a high potential, it is an

innate characteristic which is then fed by your up bringing.

Culminating in self-knowledge and professional equilibrium.

Furthermore, we cannot survive only with high potentials,

we need operational and high performers for our day to day

lives, and to ensure business continuum. On the other hand,

high potentials will always give their best to the

organization, they are truth-seekers and enjoy complex

problems. They are eager to learn about themselves and

others, and show willingness to learn from feedback and

experience. They are adaptable, resilient and philosophical.

Genuine communicators and indisputable helpers. These are

the people you should look out for in your organization.

Once you’ve identified them, they need the right place to

grow. In the long term, it’s a sure success strategy.

4

“To deal with change, organizations need to find and nurture

those who are easily dealt with it. Identifying those who can

learn to do something differently requires a different

measurement strategy from those often employed, one that

looks at the characteristics of the learning agility.”

TALENT MATRIX

Talent Matrix

High potentials may offer little performance or

contribution to the organization right now, but

alongside the successors, they’re the only ones

who can reach full performance and potential in

the long term.

High Potencial

Low performers

Successor

Operational

Strategic

High

Permanence

Performance

-

+

Po

ten

tia

l

How can High-Potentials support Business Growth

STEP 1

Identify Objectives

STEP 3Assessment Execution

STEP 4Results Analysis

STEP 5Reports, Recommendations and Feedback

STEP 6

Action Plan Implementation

Development Program

STEP 6Measure Return on Investment

Assessment Approach

The best and quickest process to identify High Potential individuals is to perform an Assessment within your

organization. But the objective of an Assessment is broader and more involving: it can help you know your employee

universe better, to understand the functional relations between them, to help your people know themselves and

each other, or even to understand if the perceived culture is the one you desired.

The process can be graphically described as follows:

5

Identify High

Potentials

Promote Self and Interpersonal

knowledge

Reveal Informal Organizational

Structure

Cultural Belief Audit

Map Talent

Feedback to Employees

Recommendations to Management

Talent Matrix

High Potential Impact on Business

Higher Profit

Productivity Increase

STEP 2Assessment Strategy Definition

Depending on the selected objectives, adapt Assessment Methodology and define KPI’s to measure its success

Develop Self-Assessment

Independent Assessment

Competences Analysis

360ºAssessment

MBTI

Expectations Analysis

Cultural Fit

Career and Mobility

Plans

Succession Plan

Talent Retention

Plan

Communication Policy

Customer Satisfaction Increase

Recruitment Costs Decrease

Innovation


Before you start to implement an Assessment

methodology, it’s important that you first identify what

your “pain points” are and what you want to obtain with

the assessment process. You might want to identify

your High Potentials, but you might also want to know

your employees better, in terms of expectations or

competencies, you might want to know their informal

relations better or to boost your innovation level.

The main issue you should have in mind is: how is this

objective related to my strategy and how will it

contribute to increase my profits?

For example, you might want to know who your high

potentials are, not only to perform an individual

development program and to move them to positions

where they have a bigger impact on business, but also

to increase talent retention and reduce your hiring

costs.

STEP 1Identify Objectives

6

Depending on the selected objectives, it is necessary to

adjust the assessment methodology and identify what

KPI’s will be used to measure the success of the process.

These KPI’s should be aligned with the strategic and

operational plan of the organization and with the

objectives you set for the process: productivity,

customer service satisfaction, innovation, etc.

For example, if the main objective is to know your

employees in terms of interpersonal competencies and

develop them, the 360º assessment is an extremely

powerful tool that should be used to assess skill gaps

and therefore redefine a personal development

program.

Assessment communication strategy is also extremely

important as it should manage output expectations of

each employee, adequately inform about the objectives

and the way the process will be conducted.

STEP 2Assessment Strategy Definition


There are four main assessments that should be performed in

the organization:

STEP 3Assessment Execution

7

1 . Self-assessment: each employee performs a self-assessment,

answering a questionnaire that intends to identify his main

interpersonal competences, strong points, development areas,

expectations, etc. This self-assessment can be done out of the

office in a quiet and private place, as it is an on-line tool. It

allows people to seriously reflect about themselves and take

actions about it.

3. 360º Assessment: the same self-assessment questionnaire

is submitted to his superiors, peers, subordinates and/or key-

relations in the organization. The 360º perspective on the

variables represent an important tool to understand each

participant’s perception of the assessed employee on their

competencies, strengths and weaknesses. It can also measure

gaps that allow us to understand the assessed employee level

of integration in the organizational culture and relations

environment.

2. Independent Assessment: an independent entity performs

an individual assessment with each employee, with the

objective of taking a first “picture”. Face-to-face assessments

take normally about two to three hours to complete,

depending on the objective and person. Jason Associates’

approach accelerates a trustful relation which allows us to

better understand the participant’s profile, not only on a

professional level but also at a personal level. Cultural

characteristics of the organization, opinions and ideas are

also discussed in this assessment.

4.MBTI: the MBTI test should be performed to complement

the previous information. It is a physiological evaluation test

that measures the attitudes of an individual

(extroversion/introversion), his perceiving functions

(sensing/intuition), his decision making process

(thinking/feeling) and his lifestyle (judgment/perception).


After performing the Assessment, Jason Associates interprets

and analyzes the results:

STEP 4Results Analysis

8

Employees should be positioned in the Talent Matrix: it is

important not only to identify who are the High Potentials, but

also to place all assessed employees in the Talent Matrix,

since each quadrant has different procedures for career plan,

development programs and retention schemes.

A Competencies Analysis should be performed, identifying the

gaps between the Self-assessment, the 360º assessment and

the independent assessment, and what are the sources of the

gaps. It might be a question of poor self-knowledge, a

question of lack of transparency or even a deficient

understanding of the exposed behaviors. Whatever the gap is,

reasons must be identified.

High Potentials role’s impact on business should be analyzed:

since High Potentials are eager to learn, they need the right

place to grow and therefore to contribute more.

One of the main cause of failure in the career plan or the

development programs implementation is the lack of fit with

ambitions and expectations of people. Therefore, after the

assessment process, there should be a clear understanding of

the aspirations of the assessed employees.

There should be a comprehensible understanding of what is

the perceived Culture. If there is a gap between this and the

intended Culture for the organization, and if exists, what is the

reason for this gap.

Never forget, result analysis should be aligned to initial

defined objectives.

Although result outputs are prepared to who’s taking

decisions in the process, there are some outputs that are

specifically created to the participants of the assessment. For

instance, feedback reports are prepared and presented in a

feedback session with the employee, where gaps are

discussed and people have the opportunity to discuss and

reflect about the results.

STEP 5Reports, Recommendations and Feedback

Individual Assessment Reports are prepared, as well other

important outputs: Talent Matrix, Individual and global

recommendations on who to manage and develop the

identified high-potentials, what are the most critical issues to

address, risks and opportunities, etc.

Once again, the results should be well communicated to

participants and in some cases to all the company.


The next step is to implement the recommended actions. Never forget, each individual has his/her own needs and expectations.

They aspire different things and have different talents. You should adjust your actions to their profile.

STEP 6Action Plan Implementation

9

Development ProgramCareer and Mobility

PlansSuccession

PlanTalent Retention Plan Communication Policy

Map align interpersonal

competencies and

expectations with

innovative development

approaches:

1. Rate development

programs with higher

impact on business and

people growth;

2. Put in place adequate

mentoring and coaching

programs.

Career and Mobility Plans

demand hard planning to

Human Resources. Start

out by understanding the

following:

1. Intended talent

movements in the Talent

Matrix;

2. Employees’ aspirations

and mobility (next role

desired, direction of

advancement, time

framing);

3. Rating roles by their

critical observation

/contribution to the

organization;

4. The link to the

development program, in

order to assure that the

gaps in individual

capabilities are overcome,

and that the employee is

being developed for the

specified future roles.

The Succession Plan must

guarantee that:

1. The organization has

the right successors for

critical and non critical

roles;

2. The identified High

Potentials are in

accelerated development

programs for succession.

One of the main benefits

of a clear and exhaustive

succession plan is the

transparency and visibility

it offers. This binds

employees closer to the

organization, having a

direct contribution to

retention.

In the war for talent, there

is the need to perform a

detailed and effective

Talent Plan, that ensures

that employees are

appreciated and

developed. This means

regular and frequent

reviews / feedback on

their performance and

updated development

plans. Talent retention as

a direct impact on

recruitment, induction,

training and development

costs. Take a look at Jason

Associates engagement

programs.

The best way to ensure

employee motivation,

retention and alignment is

a good communication

policy. One that ensures

that the organization’s

strategy and objectives

are correctly understood

and that the desired

behaviors and intended

culture are embedded. By

communicating and

setting objectives, each

employee understands his

part of the plan, his role in

the strategy.

After implementing the recommended actions it is necessary to evaluate its success. This is done by measuring the KPI’s

defined in the beginning of the process, which can include:

STEP 6Measure Return on Investment

Productivity Increase

Customer Satisfaction Increase

Recruitment Costs Decrease

Innovation

By increasing the retention levels within the organization and by developing the right professionals in

the right directions, there is an obvious increase in productivity.

The development of employees links directly to customer satisfaction. Also, a transparent succession

plan allows the company to build relationships with customers, aligned with the predicted succession,

therefore reducing substitution difficulties and costs.

Through a successful retention plan, the rotation and the substitution hiring costs are reduced. Also

the induction, training and development costs will be lower.

One characteristic of the organizations with successful development and career plans is the increase

in employees' contribution to innovation. First because they feel they’re motivated to innovate (they

feel their ideas are appreciated and rewarded) and second because they’re better prepared to do so.


HOW CAN JASON ASSOCIATES HELP YOU

Regardless of what your strategies are, the identification and subsequent follow-up of High Potential is an

excellent solution for business growth. It helps your organization’s sustainable development, innovation,

productivity and most importantly Talent Retention.

10

Jason Associates can help your organization define and

implement an Assessment Strategy, with the possible

objectives:

High Potential identification through assessment

methodology;

Design and Implement end-to-end High-Potentials

development programs;

Design and implement specific Career and Mobility

Plans for high-potentials;

Design and implement Retention Programs for high-

potentials

Measure high-potentials initiatives’ success;

Independently if your are identifying High Potentials or

not, we suggest you to take the following key-success

factors into consideration:

Guarantee opportunities are given for High Potentials

development;

Make them autonomous and independent;

Offer special projects and challenging situations;

Promote a context where they can feel they’re valued;


JASON ASSOCIATES

Jason Associates is a Strategic Talent Management

consulting firm that combines deep knowledge of

people’s behaviors with expertise in talent attraction,

talent development, talent retention and

organizational transformation. Jason Associates work

closely with organization key-people of the

organization to participate in the challenges of building

and managing talent, and accelerating organizational

performance.

11

For further information, please contact Jason

Associates at:

[email protected]

www.jasonassociates.com

T: +351 213182930

Av. Liberdade, nº299 – 4º

1250-142 Lisboa

Portugal

www.jasonassociates.com
