This document provides an overview of identifying, engaging, and retaining high potential employees. It discusses the increasing talent shortage and engagement problem faced by organizations. It defines high potentials as those with the ability, motivation, and values to succeed in senior roles. The document summarizes research finding that values, culture, and compensation are key drivers of employee commitment and intent to stay. It also provides examples of how organizations can develop a dedicated value proposition to retain high potentials by aligning their desired work attributes with the actual work experience.

1. © 2013 Halogen Software Inc. Confidential – Not to be used, copied or redistributed without Halogen’s prior written permission.

2. Cracking the code on high potential:
Finding, engaging, and retaining your best
Henryk Krajewski, Ph.D.
President
Anderson Leadership Group
@buildvalue
© 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.

3. Topic list
I.
Emphasizing the talent shortage and
engagement problem
II. Understanding High Potentials/High Performers
and how to find/select them
III. Engaging High Potentials: A Research Report
IV. How to Retain and Engage High Potentials
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4. © 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.

5. © 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.

6. An increasing cynicism…Why?
6.300
6.100
5.900
Productivity
5.700
5.500
5.300
5.100
Hourly Compensation
4.900
4.700
**Shaded areas represent recessions
© 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.
2010:2
2007:3
2004:4
2002:1
1999:2
1996:3
1993:4
1991:1
1988:2
1985:3
1982:4
1980:1
1977:2
1974:3
1971:4
1969:1
1966:2
1963:3
1960:4
1958:1
1955:2
1952:3
1949:4
1947:1
4.500

7. CRACKING THE CODE ON HIGH POTENTIALS
I. EMPHASIZING THE TALENT
SHORTAGE/ENGAGEMENT PROBLEM
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8. Why you care…
% more productivity
Superior performers vs.
Average performers
Type of Job
Low Skill
+19%
High Skill
+32%
Professionals and Managers
+48%
Schmidt and Hunter, 1998
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9. Number of Employees
True Performance Distribution
Normal
Curve
Performance
O’Boyle & Aguinis, 2012, N = 633,000
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1% of Output
from the Top
1%

10. True Performance Distribution
Number of Employees
Pareto Curve
Normal
Curve
Performance
O’Boyle & Aguinis, 2012, N = 633,000
© 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.
10% of
Output from
the Top 1%

11. Demographic and Economic Shifts are
Accelerating a “Talent Mismatch”
Source: Business Week, based on data from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics as of 09-09
.
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12. Bill Clinton at the DNC, September, 2012
“But already there are already 3
million jobs open and unfilled in
America…mostly because workers
don’t have the skills to do them.
The old economy is not coming
back, we’ve got to build a new
one!”
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13. New Rules for a New Generation…
The US Labor
Department estimates
that today's worker will
have held 10-14 jobs by
the age of 38!
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14. CRACKING THE CODE ON HIGH POTENTIALS
II. UNDERSTANDING HIGH
POTENTIALS AND HIGH PERFORMERS
AND HOW TO ASSESS THEM
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15. High Potential vs. High Performance?
• Do all high performers have potential?
• Are all high potentials high performers?
• Are all low potentials low performers?
• Can low performers have high potential?
• Can high performers have low potential?
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16. Spotlight on High Potentials: A Definition
Ability
The High Potential Employee:
Commitment
& Values
Motivation
Is someone with the ability,
motivation, values and
commitment to rise and
succeed in a more senior,
critical positions.
Source: Adapted from Corporate Leadership Council Realizing the Full Potential
of Rising Talent Volume I: A Quantitative Analysis of the Identification and
Development of High-Potential Employees, 2005.
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17. Spotlight on High Potentials: A Definition
Ability
• Thinking strategically
• Dealing with complexity
• Emotional intelligence
Ability
Commitment
& Values
Commitment and Values
• Passion for and model of
values and culture
• Personal engagement in client
success
• Discretionary effort
Motivation
Motivation
• Desires advancement in
complexity of responsibilities
• Conscientious and always
seeking to improve oneself
Source: Adapted from Corporate Leadership Council Realizing the Full Potential
of Rising Talent Volume I: A Quantitative Analysis of the Identification and
Development of High-Potential Employees, 2005.
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18. Assessing Potential, Readiness and Risk
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19. Poll Question:
Which do you think is the best single predictor of future
performance?
• Personality testing/Leadership style
• Structured interviews
• IQ/critical thinking
• Emotional Intelligence
• Letters of Recommendation
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20. The hard truth about mental ability
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21. What adds to mental ability?
Maintenance Curve
100
Maintenance Phase: Personality
80
• Personality tests
60
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion (affiliation,
boldness, dominance, etc.)
• Integrity/Dutifulness
Performance
40
20
Learning Phase: IQ
0
T1
T2
• Past-behavior interviews
• Commitment/aspiration
• Values/value fit
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T3
T4
T5

22. What about EQ?
• Mayer (MSCEIT; 1999; 2003) sets EQ as an ability
• Four dimensions:
I. Perceiving and identifying emotions
II. Using emotional feedback in decision-making processes
III. Reasoning about, and understanding, fine distinctions and
emotional development
IV. Managing and controlling emotions in both the self and
others
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23. Simple science
IQ
EQ
Personality
Structured Interview
Future Performance
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24. Rolling up the data: The Nine Box Grid
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25. Talent pool gap analysis
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26. Best practice
1. Teach managers about potential
2. HR should ‘reality check’ managers’ ratings
3. Do a deep dive to validate potential and
correctly “stream” candidates
4. Assess fit and competence over time using
talent pools
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27. CRACKING THE CODE ON HIGH POTENTIALS
III. ENGAGING HIGH POTENTIALS: A
RESEARCH REPORT
© 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.

28. What do High Potentials Really Want?
Scope:
• 45 companies across
the globe
• 5,314 “high potential”
respondents
Purpose:
• Define the attributes
that are most
important to top talent
• Discover which of these
attributes drives
engagement
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29. Analysis Overview
“Desired Attribute” Categories
•
•
•
•
•
•
Leadership
IMPACT ON
Values
Culture
Comp/Benefits/Development
Work Environment
Brand Attributes
Engagement
Outcomes
• Commitment
• Intent to Stay
Defined from over 30,000 individual data points
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30. Drivers of Engagement Outcomes:
Results
Intent to Stay
• Comp/Benefits/Dev
• Values
• Culture
Commitment
•
Values: honesty and
integrity
•
Brand: Company
known for #1 in
market and best
talent
•
Culture: A sense of
belonging and
camaraderie
• Leadership
• Work Environment
• Brand attributes
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31. Forbes’ Best Companies to Work For
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32. CRACKING THE CODE ON HIGH POTENTIALS
IV. HOW TO RETAIN AND ENGAGE
HIGH POTENTIALS
© 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.

33. Poll Question:
Does your organization have a dedicated high potential
“value proposition” initiative?
• Yes
• No
• Currently planning on this topic
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34. The DIY High Potential Value Proposition
High Potential View
Leadership/Executive View
Desired work attributes
Work attributes
to realize strategy
Gap
Gap
Gap
Perceived work attributes
Perceived work attributes of
employees’ experience
Gap
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35. AN EXAMPLE…
The Deal
Work Attributes
HiPo’s Got…
HiPo’s Gave…
BRAND: Living with Built-in time to reflect on
a Commitment to
problems and solutions that
Excellence
matter to real people
Accept personal accountability
to be measured on what they
create and how useful it is
VALUES: Working
in a ethicsconscious way
Ethical decision-making by
management – transparent
guidelines
Demonstrate that they will keep
commitments to the company
and its clients
CULTURE:
Belonging to a
Winning Team
A firm that attracts top talent
and recognizes merit
Updating and retooling their
skills as market needs require
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36. Job Characteristics Model (Hackman, &
Oldham, 1976)
• Skill variety – using a number of different talents in a number of different
activities
• Task identity – completion of a whole task from beginning to end with a
visible outcome vs. only a piece of the work
• Task significance – tasks that have a significant and identifiable impact
on the lives or work of other people
• Autonomy – a sense of control and discretion over how one executes
one’s work
• Individualized feedback loops – individualized consideration with a
consistent flow of information to allow one to adjust, amend, and learn.
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37. The Replay: Three Signs of a Miserable
Job
• Anonymity: managers have little interest in them as people with
unique lives, aspirations, and interests.
• Irrelevance: When workers cannot see how their job makes a
difference. "Every employee needs to know that the work they do
impacts someone's life -- a customer, a coworker, even a
supervisor -- in one way or another."
• Immeasurement: The inability of employees to assess for
themselves their contributions or success.
Adapted from Three Signs of a Miserable Job, Lencioni, P. (2007).
© 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.

38. The Replay: DRIVE
• Autonomy: This is our “default setting;” being autonomous and
self-directed.
• Mastery: The bar for Mastery is ever evolving – it’s impossible to
fully realize, which makes it simultaneously frustrating and alluring.
• Purpose: The most deeply motivated people hitch their desires to
a cause greater and more enduring than themselves.
Adapted from Drive, Pink, D. (2010).
© 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.

39. Job Characteristics Model (1976)
• Skill variety – using a number of different talents in a number of different
activities
• Task identity – completion of a whole task from beginning to end with a
visible outcome vs. only a piece of the work
• Task significance – tasks that have a significant and identifiable impact
on the lives or work of other people
• Autonomy – a sense of control and discretion over how one executes
one’s work
• Individualized feedback loops – individualized consideration with a
consistent flow of information to allow one to adjust, amend, and learn.
© 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.

40. How to Ruin HiPOs: Bad Managers
Magnitude Difference in Potential
3
2
1
0
2 Bad
1 bad
Equal # 1 Good
2 Good
Net Change in
Potential
-1
-2
-3
Source: Adapted from Corporate Leadership Council Realizing the Full Potential of Rising Talent
Volume I: A Quantitative Analysis of the Identification and Development of High-Potential
Employees, 2005.
© 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.

41. What do great managers look like?
Key MANAGER Characteristics that lead to
realized potential
• Leading through complex change
• Strategic thinking
• Coaching and development mentality
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42. Manager Tools: Development Plans and
Coaching
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43. Manager Tools: Development Plans and
Coaching
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44. Take-aways and actions…
•
Recognize the mandate – don’t look away!
•
Understand high potential and educate your managers.
•
Develop formal “HiPo” validation process using deeper level
assessments.
•
Use simple, practical online tools to capture and powerfully illustrate
your workforce at a glance.
•
Monitor and track HiPo’s in different talent pools and regularly assess
their fit for promotion.
•
Create an explicit “HiPo value proposition” to attract and retain talent.
•
Use the JCM (1976) as a checklist to ensure the right work environment
for your high potentials.
•
Find and develop manager specialists that you rely on to develop key
talent.
© 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.

45. Questions?
Thank You!
For more information:
Henryk Krajewski, Ph.D., President, The Anderson Leadership Group
henryk@talgar.com
@buildvalue
Connie Costigan, Director of Marketing and Communications, Halogen Software
ccostigan@halogensoftware.com
© 2013 Halogen Software. All rights reserved. All contents are confidential.