How to Future-Proof Your Workforce by Developing Your High-Potential Employees

High-potential (HiPo) employees are considered “high-potential” because they consistently deliver high-quality results, are driven to achieve more and are extremely motivated to grow.

How can you maximize your HiPo employees’ engagement, performance and impact? The answer lies in leadership development. When you develop leadership skills in HiPo employees, you help them expand their influence and channel their drive into reaching organizational goals.

Looking Ahead: The Importance of Developing Leadership Skills in High-Potential Employees

Developing leadership skills in HiPo employees is crucial to preparing them for leadership and driving long-term success as organizations face technological transformations and evolving work environments.

When you invest in developing crucial, in-demand leadership skills like adaptability, emotional intelligence, communication and collaboration, you equip HiPo employees to sustain performance, no matter what changes or transformations your organization undergoes. These skills also help HiPo employees guide other team members through changes and create an environment that drives innovation, preparing your organization for sustainable success in the future.

Why Should You Invest in Leadership Development?

Although all employees have the potential to develop new skills, HiPo team members show an exceptional motivation to grow. You can capitalize on that motivation by providing the right training and support.

Through high-quality leadership development, your organization can:

• Retain high-caliber talent: Prioritizing leadership development shows HiPo employees you care about their success and will help them achieve it. It makes them feel valued and appreciated when you invest in their growth, which can boost morale and encourage them to stay with your organization.
• Improve employee satisfaction: Leadership development teaches HiPo employees how to effectively coach, guide and support team members. They learn how to build trust and nurture a sense of purpose in the tasks at hand, leading to greater satisfaction across the team. Meanwhile, HiPo employees themselves experience increased satisfaction when they feel empowered to perform at their best and when they see the positive impact they make on others.
• Boost performance: Leadership development can teach HiPo employees how to identify skills gaps in themselves and others. They can then focus on growing the skills they’ve identified and encouraging others to do the same to boost performance. This can lead to higher-quality results team-wide.
• Navigate change gracefully: Good leaders are ready to navigate change, whether it’s expected or unexpected. Leadership development teaches HiPo employees how to adapt to change and empower other team members to do so as well. Adaptability helps HiPo employees and other team members handle change with confidence, minimizes stress and ensures a smoother transition for the organization overall.

4 Key Strategies for Developing Your HiPo Employees’ Leadership Skills

Investing in developing leadership skills in your high-potential employees can set you on the path to future-proofing your workforce. By equipping HiPo employees with vital, future-ready leadership skills like adaptability and emotional intelligence, you prepare them to seize opportunities today and tackle the challenges of tomorrow. They’ll be ready to lead your team effectively through the inevitable changes down the road, setting your organization up for sustainable success.

Explore some of the best methods for turning your top talent into powerful leaders and start putting them into action today.

1. Start Leadership Training Early

Many leaders prove themselves as such early in their careers. As soon as you recognize the high potential of one of your employees, get them on the fast track to leadership by enrolling them in a leadership development program early. Equipping your team members with essential leadership skills can, over time, instill confidence and capability in them so that when the time comes, they can lead effectively.

2. Nurture Accountability and Ownership

Great leaders hold themselves accountable for their work. Accountability is an essential leadership skill because it helps build trust, and employees are more likely to follow someone they trust. Part of being accountable is admitting one’s mistakes, which requires honesty and transparency; values that signal trustworthiness.

It’s also important for leaders to set a positive example and show others that they are willing to examine and learn from those mistakes, then make a proactive change. When employees feel inspired to learn from their mistakes and get back on track, it contributes to an organization’s overall resiliency.

Lastly, organizations should encourage HiPO employees to take ownership of their development, which will accelerate their time to autonomy. Encourage them to self-reflect and communicate skills gaps they’ve identified. From there, you can collaborate with them and determine which leadership skills would be most valuable for them to focus on developing.

3. Provide Hands-on Experience

Although leadership development courses will help HiPo employees build new skills, they must also get practical, hands-on training. Give them chances to take what they learn from their leadership training and apply it in the real world. Real-world experiences enable them to build confidence in their new leadership skills and deepen their understanding of what it means to be an effective leader.

Let them collaborate on larger projects, take part in strategic planning or find other ways to push them out of their comfort zone. Then, watch them thrive.

4. Develop Personalized Progression Paths

As your HiPo employees work on developing leadership skills, keep them motivated by showing them where they can end up. Progression paths are an excellent way to give them a map of their future and show them what areas they can improve on to prepare them for what’s next. A personalized progression path can help them set goals that align with company ideals and feel as though their development is valued and rewarded.

Create Your Company’s Next Generation of Leaders With CLS

Most organizations introduce employees to leadership development programs as they transition into management roles, but there’s a lot of value in equipping HiPo employees with the skills to join the “leadership conversation” as soon as possible. Leadership development prepares HiPo employees to immediately expand their influence and contribute to the organization at a higher level.

The path to developing your high-potential employees and top performers starts with The Center for Leadership Studies’ award-winning training programs.

Our Situational Performance Ownership™ program was designed to teach employees a leadership “language” so they can communicate their own performance needs and take ownership of their performance and career development. They can use the skills they learn in this course for the rest of their career to foster agility and growth within themselves and across your organization.

Sign your high-potential employees up for a workshop today or connect with CLS and learn about our group and private training opportunities.