{"id":8123,"date":"2020-10-12T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T10:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sage-people-scraping-gb.local\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:08:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:08:43","slug":"how-to-identify-develop-high-potential-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/how-to-identify-develop-high-potential-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"How to successfully identify and develop high potential employees"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPeople & Leadership<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHow to successfully identify and develop high potential employees\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\tJessica Leyshon<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

High potential employees are 91% more valuable<\/a> to a business than non-high potential workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These prized individuals can raise the performance bar of other workers; simply adding a star performer to a team alone boosts the effectiveness of other team members by 5% to 15%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet many businesses struggle with how to effectively identify, develop and retain high-potential talent in their organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies mistakenly misinterpret high performance for high potential, while others don\u2019t address it in an analytical reliable way, relying solely on managers\u2019 instincts or observations about who has future leadership potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve scoured the latest research and studies on high potential employees to answer five questions that frequently come up when businesses first start considering a high potential strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Request a free, live demo of Sage People and discover how it can help your organisation attract the best people, retain your key talent and increase productivity<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

1. What do you want employees to have high potential for?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important for businesses to establish what it is that they want employees to have high potential for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A common error for businesses is defining high potential as the ability of an individual to advance up the ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, someone who can climb the career ladder to become a leader doesn\u2019t always translate into someone who makes a crucial contribution to the rest of the organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hogan Assessments<\/a>, a leader on personality assessments for business, defines high potential as “the ability to build and lead teams that can consistently outperform the competition”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Bersin by Deloitte describes a high potential employee as one who has “the potential, ability, and aspiration to hold successive leadership positions in an organisation”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exact detail of what your business wants to uncover high potential employees to do will vary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in essence, you\u2019re looking to uncover the ability in someone to be an effective senior manager who drives performance and has the desire to move to the top within your organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. How should businesses identify high potential employees?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, <\/em>an international authority in psychological profiling and talent management, outlines these tips<\/a> for how businesses can identify true high potential employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n