How to Handle Employees Who Think They're Hi-Pos, But Aren't

Imagine an attorney who’s considered enormously valuable to her company because she has a long history there. She “knows where every skeleton is buried” as well as how to approach more complex matters with a speed and efficiency that’s only achieved over time and through experience.She has a few behavioral quirks, though, which make her less desirable to run the legal department, including working at night to avoid the distraction of clients and colleagues and a disheveled  appearance. So when the company needs someone to head up the department, it hires a boss to oversee her and the rest of the team.The problem, says Roy Cohen, the career coach hired to work with this attorney, was that she wanted a promotion and refused to treat her new manager as a boss. Cohen’s challenge was to help her see that she didn't really want the promotion -- she just needed to work through the rejection of not being the boss.“We also spent considerable time on figuring out how she could be better assimilated, not see her new boss as the enemy, demonstrate her value to him, and be taken more seriously for her legal knowledge and as a work colleague,” he says.High-performing employees who are not high-potential can pose a challenge for organizations. These employees may be excellent performers where they are, but may not be successful at the next level of leadership because of shortcomings in their abilities, motivation or engagement.Offering opportunities for these employees to fail without losing face can push them through to the next level. Mentoring or coaching may also get them to the next level, Cohen says. “Before a manager assumes that an employee is not prepared to graduate to the next level, examine first whether there are any pre-existing biases or barriers to facilitate success.”But if these employees truly have maxed out their leadership potential, they can still be relied on as steady performers and team anchors.

What to Do with High-Potential Low-Performers

Conversely, some high-potential employees may not necessarily turn out to be high performers when they have a chance to work at the next level. Ira Wolfe, president of Success Performance Solutions, gives the example of “Alex,” a COO/CFO and “heir apparent” of a successful automobile dealership -- he was hard-working and the top of his college class from a good school, although he never completed his MBA. After the CEO’s sudden death, Alex was promoted quickly.“Unfortunately his performance as the top executive fell far short of expectations,” Wolfe says. “Typical of many high-potentials, the bar was set high for Alex.  After he was recognized as a ‘high potential,’ expectations for his future and the success of the company were high.  But instead of attempting to continue to grow and develop his talent, he began to protect his image and meet others' expectations.”Alex took fewer risks and avoided situations when he might make a mistake, says Wolfe. “He went from setting stretch goals for himself and the company to goals he could meet without much challenge. He started to play it safe.”These employees often come with a “fixed mindset” in that they know they’re talented, because they’ve been identified as high performers, but they stop taking risks at some point, Wolfe says. “They reach a point -- such as a performance goal they’ve set -- and then they stop growing. More importantly, they stop taking on challenges that they feel they might fail in. They fail because they stop taking risks -- they live up to their potential but don’t want to exceed it.”Cohen says that ongoing feedback is critical in such a situation.  It gives the employee a chance to make adjustments in performance and prove his or her potential. “Just because an employee may not be ready now to advance it is unfair to assume they will never reach that point.”Cohen also stresses that even if employees have reached the end of their leadership potential, their experience and abilities can still have value. “Valued employees who are not necessarily suited for increasing leadership responsibility should never be made to feel that they are either inadequate or incompetent,” he says. Use training or lateral moves to find a place for them.Need help developing your hi-po 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, Louisiana. 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.