High-Potential Programs Can Help Some Employees And Hurt Others. Here’s How We Can Design A Fairer System
Companies invest in high potential programs with the goal of developing their star employees into future leaders. As exciting as these programs seem, poorly designed versions of them might cause more harm than good. While there is no secret recipe for a high potential program, here are three ideas to keep in mind when designing your company’s program to ensure it is effective and fair:
1. Companies that invest in high potential programs financially outperform their competitors.1
High potential programs sit in talent management, a practice that focuses on identifying and developing the ‘A players’— those who have the highest leadership potential and are of great interest to companies — with the potential to fill future leadership roles.2 This segmentation of the workforce allows companies to achieve their business objectives and motivates those labeled as high potential A players to strive and thrive. After tracking 300 organizations across 31 countries over 7 years, researchers found that investment in high potential programs correlated with better financial performance.1
These programs are not faultless, however. Regardless of intention, high potential programs can alienate the B players who make 80-85% of the workforce,3 leading to demotivation, a decrease in productivity and engagement,4 and even at times, higher turnover.5
References
1. Bush, J., Skiba, T., Liu, W., & Li, A. (2016). The Financial Impact of Strategic Development and High Potential Programs. Journal of Organizational Psychology, 16(2). Retrieved from https://articlegateway.com/index.php/JOP/article/view/1794.
2. Silzer, R., & Church, A. H. (2009). The pearls and perils of identifying potential. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 2(4), 377-412.
3. Malik, A. R., & Singh, P. (2014). ‘High potential’ programs: Let’s hear it for ‘B’ players. Human Resource Management Review, 24 (4), 330-346. doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2014.06.00
4. Saks, A.M. & Gruman, J.A. (2014). What do we really know about employee engagement? Human Resource Development Quarterly. 25 (2), 155-182.
5. Plessis, L. D. (2010). The Relationship between Perceived Talent Management Practices, Perceived Organizational Support (POS), Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS) and Intention to Quit amongst Generation Y Employees in the Recruitment Sector, University Of Pretoria.
6. Schmidt, F. L, & Hunter, J. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 262-274.
About the Authors
Zad El-Makkaoui
Zad El-Makkaoui is an Organizational Psychologist, consultant, and people strategist. She is an associate at an organizational development consulting firm called gothamCulture. Her research interests include organizational change and the Future of Work. Zad has a MA in Social-Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a BA in Psychology from the American University of Beirut. She is a certified Team Diagnostic Survey Advanced Practitioner and is a CIPD-certified L&D Associate.
Natasha Ouslis
Natasha is a behavior change consultant, writer, and researcher. She started her own workplace behavioral science consulting firm after working as a consultant at fast-growing behavioral economics companies including BEworks. Natasha is also finishing her PhD in organizational psychology at Western University, specializing in team conflict and collaboration, where she completed her Master of Science in the same field. She has a monthly column on workplace behavioral design in the Habit Weekly newsletter and is a Director and science translator at the nonprofit ScienceForWork.
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