Our previous article in this series [on February 9] focused on the concept of teaching high potential talent leadership skills to strengthen your organisation's ability to navigate the next decade of disruptive trends.
While most organisations are already focusing on building a disruption-proof skill set within their executive- and director-level populations, they can also benefit from developing less experienced high potential professionals. This is because they are more likely to be younger, less committed to current practices, and more immersed in approaching disruptive trends. Therefore, they can become valuable counterpoints in your senior strategic discussions, and champions for organisational change. However, in order for them to be successful, your high potentials must be trained in the leadership and influencing skills in which your executives are already conversant. Additionally, they must be given the opportunity to build a track record of success and enough authority to credibly influence the decisions of others.
Even though high potentials by definition demonstrate the capacity for greater responsibility, their success is by no means guaranteed. Speaking from first- and second-hand personal experience, I can tell you that catapulting even the most promising talent into positions of significant leadership and responsibility is likely to create serious organisational turbulence. Furthermore, there is a real risk of failure which can not only damage a project or a department but also the future career and value which your high potential talent could bring to the business.
We highlight four best practice ways in which organisations can nurture their high potential talent to create the champions of change and disruption they'll need to propel their businesses into the future.
Establishing a Successful Mentoring Program
Mentoring is a strong option for talent development as these relationships can also serve to inform senior executive mentors on new technology trends and the thoughts high potential talent may have on how the organisation can take advantage of these trends. The primary purpose of the mentorship will be for senior executives to be paired one on one with high potential talent for regular (at least monthly) meetings. During these meetings they will advise, guide and champion more junior talent in navigating your organisation and identifying small pockets where the value of new innovative ideas can be unlocked to achieve quick wins.
The trick to creating successful mentoring programs has less to do with the initial plan and kick-off and much more to do with sustaining motivation and energy long enough to see results. There are several critical factors to achieving this. First, efforts should be made to foster authentic personal relationships among mentors and those they mentor. Next, it's important to maintain a structured process and communications that will be both informative and remind participants to stick with the program. Finally, a purpose beyond just general "development" should be provided to orient and energise the conversations. Due to the diversity of success factors in mentorship programs, consulting with professionals who have conducted successful programs in the past is the best way to ensure your success.
Building Agile and Design-Thinking Capabilities
Another way to develop your high potential talent is to train them in the methodologies of agile, design thinking which are very effective tools for capitalising on disruption, even if you don't have a full vision of the end-goal in mind. By assigning talent to utilise their new disruptive skill set to support, but not lead, important initiatives with senior teams, they will gain exposure and experience without exposing the business to the undue risk.
Designing a Robust Leadership Development Program:
Leadership programs are a great way to accelerate the development of a select pool of high potential talent. By bringing all these professionals together, asking them to focus on leadership development and giving them access to senior leaders and networking opportunities, organisations ultimately spend less money and effort per future leader while replicating the benefits of more extensive coaching and development programs.
Investing in Executive Coaching
The final and most effective way to develop high-potential talent is executive coaching. This best practice has been around for decades and research has proven time and time again that it is one of, if not the most effective way to develop talent. While it is often the most expensive option, it also generates the biggest impact. For example the Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Center Coaching Process has a 95% success rate of generating measurable leadership improvements. In this process, high potential talent is guided by a coach to seek continuous feedback from their peers, leaders and direct reports. The coaches' role is to create an environment where this feedback can be comfortably given and received as well as to provide advice and guidance to the coachee. Because, as Marshall Goldsmith famously said, "leadership is less about ‘know how' and more about ‘show how'" and receiving performance-relevant feedback is the best way to improve these capabilities.
Are You Investing Enough In Talent Development?
Considering how important staying ahead of the myriad of emerging disruptive trends will be to your business, executives should really challenge their reservations towards investing serious capital in talent development. After all, despite all the hype around artificial intelligence, the geniuses in Silicon Valley still haven't invented an A.I. app that will guide your business through uncertainty. Until they do, you're still going to need innovative professionals to foresee future threats and opportunities. They'll need the leadership ability to marshal resources and energise teams towards addressing, overcoming and capitalising on these changes. If you want to still be competitive in three years' time, we strongly suggest that you begin developing your future disruptive, savvy talent now.
Justin Paul, Fortune 500 HR leader & consultant has helped executives in over 20 countries build their leadership capability. Currently CEO, Latchmere Performance Solutions Ltd, Justin@Latchmereconsulting.com
Series Editor: Christopher F. Bruton is Executive Director of Dataconsult Ltd, chris@dataconsult.co.th. Dataconsult's Thailand Regional Forum provides seminars and extensive documentation to update business on future trends in Thailand and in the Mekong Region.
