paper - high potentials & assessment strategy - confidential
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Jason Associates' Methodology in high potentials and assessment strategy.TRANSCRIPT
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.
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“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:
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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
How can High-Potentials support Business Growth
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
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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
How can High-Potentials support Business Growth
There are four main assessments that should be performed in
the organization:
STEP 3Assessment Execution
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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).
How can High-Potentials support Business Growth
After performing the Assessment, Jason Associates interprets
and analyzes the results:
STEP 4Results Analysis
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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.
How can High-Potentials support Business Growth
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
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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 High-Potentials support Business Growth
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.
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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;
How can High-Potentials support Business Growth
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:
www.jasonassociates.com
T: +351 213182930
Av. Liberdade, nº299 – 4º
1250-142 Lisboa
Portugal
www.jasonassociates.com
How can High-Potentials support Business Growth