Is there a difference between a high potential collaborator and a high performance one? Yes! And a confusing one where the other can lead to very poor internal promotion decisions. It can also give an organization the advantage of having high-potential employees on their team. It's like not knowing garlic from onion, sofa from armchair or Chandler from Joey, they are not the same!
It is very easy to identify a person with high performance because they excel in any of their tasks. But, what will happen if we only have high performers as a reference? Well, unfortunately, it will happen the day they reach a level in which they are not so competent. Because no one except you, who is the perfect grandson according to your grandmother, is good at everything and cannot be a continuous high performer.
So, yes, not differentiating high performance with high potential is one of the reasons why talent management fails and our team's motivation is lost along the way. We can help you detect these two types of collaborators right now:
Characteristics of High Performers
As we said, high performers stand out in most organizations. They consistently exceed their goals, tackle difficult projects, and are excellent at their job. But does this imply that they have potential? No. They may not have the potential, not even the desire to be on another project or to be promoted to another position to tackle more advanced work or take responsibility for leading a team of people.
These are the most common characteristics of high performers:
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Perseverance and discipline
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Clear goals, strategies and tactics
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Productivity
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Organization
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Layout
Characteristics of High Potentials
High-potential employees are one of the most valuable assets to your business. So much so that high-potential employees contribute 91% more value to the organization than non-concities and put in 21% more effort than their peers.
High-potential people grow fast, aspire to a higher-level position, continually train, and are key contributors to succession planning.
Companies have between 3% to 5% of people with potential. And while they demonstrate good aptitude and will be able to do a lot more for the organization in the long run, these people often fly under the radar. Furthermore, there are many organizations that still do not know how to detect the potential of their team and, as a result, managers continue to focus solely on performance.
And knowing the performance is great! But if we want to manage talent and help it flow, the focus cannot be only on performance. Does Usagi Tsukino (a nice high school student who loves video games like any girl her age) ring a bell? Of course not, but what if I tell you Sailor Moon? Surely now you do recognize our powerful heroine! Well, we're talking about something like that.
It is essential to succeed in current tasks using the necessary skills, but it is also important to develop and foster the ideal profile of extraordinary skills for key roles that will take our organization to the next level.
It is very important to involve these people in decision-making, establish clear objectives and align their aspirations with the needs of the organization. Sailor Moon needs new missions!
These are some of the characteristics of high-potential people:
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Initiative
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Commitment
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Aspiration
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Hungry for knowledge
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Search for positive and negative feedback
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A certain dose of non-conformity and a great desire to excel
Of course, evaluating the performance and potential of our team, we will already have a long way to go. But later you will ask yourself, how do I identify these profiles, manage them and take care of them by promoting initiatives from Human Resources? With two words that sound like magic: Nine Box. They sound almost as good as "bonuses for everyone!" and do it with Hrider it's as easy as selecting two reviews and voila!
No need for amulets or black cats or crescent moons, just a few clicks away!