Read This Before You Promote Your Top Performer

Imagine you have a super star sales rep who has delivered for you and your company time and again. He often is your top performer. Then one day your sales manager leaves your company for a better opportunity, and the first person you think of is your top performer as replacement.

Or how about the creative marketer who has helped you build some of your larger client’s portfolios?  And, once again you think of her first when you need to back fill a leadership position.

These scenarios are often when I, as a leadership coach, get a call from a business owner. Unfortunately, they call after the damage has been done. What’s happened? These newly minted managers were put into positions unprepared or unfit to move into a leadership position.

You may recognize one of these scenarios and if you do, I’m sure it isn’t a pleasant memory. What should you have done before promoting your high performer?  You need to assess their potential not just their performance. While performance is measured on past performance, potential is predicting future behavior. Their ability and competencies needed to handle the responsibilities of a manager and leader do not equal the abilities of a subject matter expert.

According to the Corporate Executive Board, only 1 in 7 high performers demonstrate the traits of high potentials. High potentials not only are high performers, but they show a high capacity to grow and succeed more quickly and effectively than their high performing peers. They also demonstrate the behaviors and competencies which support their companies’ values and culture.

Defining Potential in Top Performers

So how do you start to define potential?  Many of the small business owners I have worked with generally have a good idea in their head of what potential leaders would be demonstrating in their actions and behaviors that predict future success as a leader. Research has shown high potentials have three attributes distinguishing them from the talent pool of high performers: aspiration, capability, and engagement.

1. Aspiration- High potentials have the drive and motivation to rise to more responsibility and authority

There are five motivational factors highly correlated to the drive for advancement- immersion, activity, power, interest, and autonomy.

Immersion- do they seek out positions requiring a personal commitment greater than the average company commitment?

Activity- do they prefer environments which are fast paced and multi-tasking?

Political Power- do they desire opportunities to influence and shape decisions and how things are executed?

Interest- do they look for positions and assignments providing variety, intellectual stimulation, and a challenge?

Autonomy- are they attracted to roles allowing them some autonomy in how they execute their responsibilities and deliver results?

2. Capability of High Potentials

Capability is those skills needed for future success as well as behaviors supporting your company’s leadership competencies such as learning agility, adapting to change, and self-management.

3. High Potential Engagement

Engagement is the level of commitment an employee has, and it is measured by four elements.

The four elements to engagement are:

1. Emotional Commitment- the employee values and enjoys the company. He/she believes in the mission, vision, and long-term success of the company.
2. Rational Commitment- the employee believes it is in their best interest to stay employed by the company.
3. Discretionary Effort- the employee consistently goes the extra mile for the company.
4. Intent to Stay- the employee has a high level of commitment to stay with the company.

The question you are probably asking yourself is- “How do I measure these four aspects of engagement?”  My recommendation is to start with having a career conversation with your high performer.

Employees who score high in all three attributes of aspiration, capability, and engagement have the highest potential to rise into key leadership positions while employees high in one or two attributes can be very valuable team members but may not have as high a potential to take on higher levels of responsibility.

For smaller companies, I recommend adopting an abbreviated version to identifying potential. They should focus on two criteria for potential. 1. Potential to advance in the same functional area either through scope of work or at a higher level in the organization 2. Potential to take on different organizational roles in different departments.

So the next time you want to promote your high performer into a leadership position, pause and assess their potential. Ask yourself:

Does my high performer have the aspiration and motivation, the leadership competencies, and the engagement to be successful in a leadership role? Remember that performance does not equate to potential.