8 Developmental Events You Should Help Every High-Potential Employee Experience

During a NPR commentary titled “Great Quarterbacks Are Hard to Predict,” Sports Illustrated Senior Contributing Writer Frank Deford explained why even the most sophisticated measurements and predictive tests can’t identity what makes a great quarterback great.

“We think we're so smart,” said Deford. “But we can't predict quarterbacks any better than we can predict the economy, earthquakes or Iraq. Measure arm strength, technique, I.Q. None of it really matters because the intrinsic command qualities somehow do not reveal themselves except over time, under fire.”

As Deford said, no one really knows what makes a great quarterback great in advance; it’s something that can only be proved on the field. The same is true for your high-potential employees; you don’t know their capacity to be great leaders until you put them in a real-life situation that requires them act as leaders. And developmental events are the games where you put your key players to the test.

Why You Must Put Your High-Potential Employees on the Field

As an executive, you want to put your high-potentials in situations that challenge them and teach them in ways books and lectures can’t. Putting your high-potential employees in situations that boost their development will also give you better clarity around what separates one high-achieving employee from another.

For example, two employees enter your organization with a 3.9 grade point average from the same university and both may be performing well at the individual contributor level, but you’re going to want to look beyond their measurable qualities to see which employee will be able to perform and contribute at the next level and be successful as a  leader. Providing them with developmental events will help you draw this distinction.

Putting your high-achieving employees out on the field will also help you gauge their learning agility -- their ability to take on challenges they’ve never faced before and to figure out solutions, garner resources and build relationships. Learning agility is the ability to learn from experiences and it is the number one predictor of promotability.

How to Put Your High-Potential Employees on the Field

As I said before, the only way to help your high-potential employees develop their business acumen and give yourself a chance to observe their abilities is to put them in positions outside their areas of expertise and watch how they handle the challenge.

Here are eight types of development events you should help every high-potential employee experience:

1. Managing a transition, change or crisis.

2. Launching a new product or introducing a new initiative into the organization.

3. Implementing a new technology or leading the transition to a new software system.

4. Taking on a corporate, international or global-level assignment.

5. Delivering a presentation to a high-level client or the organization’s board of directors.

6. Leading a team of direct reports.

7. Leading a cross-functional team with responsibility, but not direct authority.

8. Being responsible for developing a strategy, driving a strategic vision and making decisions in the face of ambiguity.

Need help developing your high-potential employees? Consider sending them to The Success Labs Management Incubator.

Success Labs is a full-service, strategic organizational and leadership development company located in Baton Rouge, La. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.