Interview with: Mark Bocianski, Global Head of Talent Management & Learning, Western Union. Mark Bocianski is the Chairperson at the marcus evans Corporate Learning & Talent Development Summit 2018, taking place April 29 - May 1.

1. Interview with: Mark Bocianski,
Global Head of Talent Management
& Learning, Western Union
“Many organizations struggle to spot
high potential employees because they
do not have a consistent process across
the enterprise to spot talent. Leaders
use different criteria so they do not look
at talent the same way,” says Mark
Bocianski, global head of talent
management & learning, Western
Union.
Mark Bocianski is the Chairperson at the
marcus evans Corporate Learning &
Talent Development Summit 2018,
taking place April 29 - May 1.
Why are organizations not always
able to spot shining stars?
They do not have the systems required
to capture information about potential
talent so they cannot follow up when
the time comes. They neglect to look at
talent at the acquisition stage. They hire
good people, the indications that they
have great potential might be there, but
they do not pay much attention to them
until their career has progressed.
Leaders must start earlier as anyone in
the organization can potentially be very
talented.
How would you define high
potential? Which characteristics
would you highlight?
The price of entry is strong perform-
ance. Many mistake high performance
for high potential, but you still need to
be a performer. Employees must have
an intellectual curiosity, look at
opportunities and problems from a
solution perspective, be willing to listen,
do what it takes, learn quickly,
understand context, and not be afraid of
challenges. Some of these characteris-
tics surface early on while others take
longer. High potentials are typically
ready to progress to new opportunities
quickly as they master their first roles
quickly.
How do you unlock and develop
potential?
We must give people opportunities to
learn and grow, to take on different
challenges through job or project
assignments. Experience plays a key
role in developing potential to its fullest.
This is where organizations often fail
because they identify high potentials
and put them through a program. It is
more important to provide experiences
and exposure to leaders. The best
learning takes place when people can
work with managers several levels more
senior, so they can experience how
decision-making and problem-solving
occurs.
How can organizations nurture
potential?
By having a consistent set of criteria,
and understanding that managers and
leaders are responsible for developing
people as they are organizational
assets. There is the need to think about
high potential employees a little
differently because it is not about what
they need today but what they will need
in the future. There must be a longer
term view of potential. Nurturing is
about thinking of the future, providing
experiences and continuous feedback,
especially for employees with potential.
How should this be managed
organizationally?
The organizational philosophy needs to
be that talent is a company asset and
not the property of the manager. The
manager plays a key role in nurturing
potential in people who will move on.
From a systems perspective, whatever
the criteria of potential is, they have to
articulate it to everyone and build a
system that captures potential at the
right levels. Capturing it consistently
and holding leaders accountable is
where organizations often fail. When
someone is “potential” one year but not
the next, it is important to ask what has
changed. The organization may have
put them into the wrong role or failed to
provide adequate support, so they did
not perform as well. Is it the organiza-
tion’s fault and how it views or defines
potential? Or is the person no longer
high potential? The organization must
capture the fact that someone has
potential and hold leaders accountable
to actually developing it.
Experience
plays a
key role in
developing
potential to
its fullest
How to Harness
Employee Potential

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About the Corporate Learning & Talent Development Summit 2018
The Corporate Learning & Talent Development Summit is the premium forum bringing
elite buyers and sellers together. The Summit offers solution providers, talent
management, learning and development and HR executives from America’s leading
corporations an intimate environment for a focused discussion of key new drivers
shaping the industry. Taking place at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, Palm Beach,
Florida, April 29 - May 1, the Summit includes presentations on leadership
development, employee engagement, creating the environment to maximize
potential, succession planning and change management.
www.cltdsummit.com
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