This document summarizes research on the physiology of high potential and talented people. It discusses characteristics like strategic thinking, self-awareness, integrity, and resilience that are common among leaders. It also describes research involving over 379 interviewees across many organizations to understand talent requirements. Key findings include that behaviors, skills, strengths, and values are important for understanding talent, and organizations should tailor their approaches to these factors based on each company's unique culture and needs.

1. The Physiology of High Potential and
Talented People
What are the critical components for success?
Dr Amanda Potter
13th January 2015
www.thetalentgene.com

2. Welcome
.
www.thetalentgene.com
www.zircon-mc.co.uk

3. Introductions
Please introduce yourself to the person next to
you:
Name
Role
Organisation
What are the things that make someone high
potential?
www.thetalentgene.com

4. 379 interviewees contributed to three years of
research, some of the organisations included:
Allied Health Care Group Ltd. Halfords PRS for Music
Power Alstom HSBC Coventry Building Society
American Express IG Group Travis Perkins
British Gas / Centrica Inchcape Shipping Services SEGRO
CACHE Invensys Siemens
CSR Plc Iron Mountain Sportingbet
E.ON Jardine Matheson Swanswell
Eversheds KPMG Thomson Reuters
Eversholt Rail Group Land Lease 3™
Genzyme Nationwide Building Society Trader Media Group
Global Payments BAE Venture Finance
Greater Manchester Fire Service PHCG Wolseley UK
VW Financial Services Fujitsu News UK
Anglo American Barclays Travis Perkins
Pearson English MOD BP
Royal London Sodexo M&G
Travis Perkins Hovis HS2
The Research

5. The Aim
Understand the Physiology of High Potential and
Talented People, in order to:
Create Talent Strategies that fully reflect the talent
requirements of the future organisation
Create a tailored yet valid Talent assessment and
development processes
Calculate workplace performance and potential and
to provide benchmarking data and Talent Analytics
www.thetalentgene.com

6. Many organisations do not start with a clear
definition of Talent or a clear Talent Strategy
The Reason

7. Talent Strategies are not consistently applied or
communicated across the whole organisation
and as a result the Talent Strategy is not
embedded in employees’ mind-set
Only 20% of organisations openly
communicate their Talent Strategy

8. Talent Strategies are responsive to external
market conditions, but they do not show how
they are different from their competitors
78% are
responsive to
market
conditions
28% use TM
to show how
they are
different to
their
competitors
28%
72%
0%
50%
100%
Yes No
Does your talent model show you are
different from your competitors?

9. Only 5% of organisations measure the ROI of
their talent practices
Organisations focus on talent has increased over
the past three years and they need to increase
their focus over the next three years to remain
competitive and drive ROI

10. 98% of organisations are using competency/
behavioural/capability models as the starting
point and over 80% are linked to the strategy of
the organisation

11. Skills and Expertise are back!

12. Organisations encourage individuals to play to
their strengths
73% are moving towards a strengths based
approach to talent
72% encourage their leaders to identify their
own strengths

13. However some strengths and behaviours are
dynamically opposed
Organisations encourage their Leaders
to be “Pragmatic” and “Innovative”.
People who are “Pragmatic” are
sensible and realistic and make the
most of their time. They draw upon
previous experiences; and carefully
consider the consequences of their
actions
People who are “Innovative” are
creative, conceptual thinkers,
considering new and novel ways of
working. Whereas “Pragmatic”
individuals prefer to retain a more
sensible or practical approach

14. However some strengths and behaviours are
dynamically opposed
Organisations encourage their
Leaders to be “Authentic” and
unique
They would also like
employees to be “Compliant”
and act in line with the
organisational norms and
values

15. Organisations are increasingly interested in the
cultural fit of potential Talent
76% of FTSE 100 and 85% Fortune Global 500 publish
their corporate values online
56% are measuring values and cultural fit as part of
their talent model and recruitment strategy

16. Behaviours, Skills and Expertise, Strengths and Values
are critical to understanding the Physiology of Talent
98% of the FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 Global
organisations use behavioural competency/capability
models for assessment
27% moved from competencies to capabilities in the
last three years
Measures of Skills and Expertise are now seen as
critical to success
73% of organisations are moving towards a Strengths
based approach
76% of FTSE 100 and 85% Fortune Global 500 publish
their corporate values online
56% are measuring Values, Tenets and Cultural Fit as
part of their talent model and recruitment strategy
In Summary

17. 17
The Physiology
of Talent

18. The Physiology of High
Potential and Talented
People

19. High Potential Characteristics
of Leaders and Executives
Creates
Followership
Strategic Thinking Self-Aware Integrity
Encourages
Diversity
Creates Successful
Networks
Future Focused Authentic
Change Focused
Situational
Leadership
Inspiring Ambitious
Demonstrates
Resilience
Communicates with
Impact
Decisive Expedient
Overcomes Conflict Solves Problems Courageous Trusting

20. Inspirational Leadership
Have you heard of the term Inspirational Leadership before?
80.27%
19.73%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
90.00%
Yes No

21. Executive Presence
Have you heard of the term Executive Presence before?
60.47%
39.53%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
Yes No

22. Inspirational Leadership
How many Inspirational Leaders have you met over the
past 10 years?
19.18%
58.22%
19.86%
1.37% 1.37%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
0 to 1 2 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 30 31 to 50

23. Executive Presence
How many leaders have you known in the past 10 years who
had Executive Presence?
17.83%
31.78%
23.26%
12.40%
2.33%
4.65% 4.65%
3.10%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
0 to 1 2 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 100

24. Inspirational Leadership
What percentage of leaders in your organisation are
inspirational?*
32.85%
32.12%
24.09%
3.65%
2.92%
3.65%
0.73%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
0 to 1 2 to 10 11 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60
*All organisations have 1000 or more employees

25. Executive Presence
What percentage of leaders in your organisation have
Executive Presence?*
*All organisations have 1000 or more employees
28.91%
27.34%
25.00%
6.25%
3.91%
5.47%
3.13%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
0 to 1 2 to 10 11 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60

26. What are the primary strengths for each
of the following Leaders?
17 of the 34 Strengths are shown on the following
page
Gandhi
Usain Bolt Richard Branson
Nelson Mandela

27. 27

28. The primary strengths include:
GandhiUsain Bolt Richard Branson Nelson Mandela
HarmoniserAchiever Future Focused Courageous

29. Top 5 potential strengths of Leaders
and Executives
Self-Aware
Future Focused
Inspiring
Decisive
Courageous

30. Conclusions

31. The BEST Fit
Your talent system therefore needs to assess the core
Behaviours – Encourages Diversity, Manages Performance
Expertise – Safety Focused, Customer Focused
Strengths – Decisive, Innovative
Tenets – Structured, Collaborative

32. Your organisation is unique
Imposing a standardised BEST model will detract from
that uniqueness
We therefore suggest that it must have its own
Organisation Blueprint of Behaviours, Expertise, Strengths
and Tenets (or BEST Tags)
Tailor your talent management to match the organisation
BEST Blueprint
Assess & Measure what is
Important to You

33. Measure what you do:
Comparative
benchmark data that
can be cut along
multiple comparative
filters
Internal data that
provides averages for
any level or part of
your population
Analytics that cut
across data streams
The Importance of Measurement,
Data & Analytics

34. The High Potential Indicator is designed to assess the elements of the
Talent Gene talent model and the critical BEST tags defined in the
Organisation Blueprint. Completed by line managers and senior
stakeholders, the indicator is used to identify whether or not their
Individual Contributors, Managers, Leaders and Executives have got
the required talent in order to be successful
Can be used to validate potential
Measures each element of the talent model
Mapped to the Organisation Blueprint
Completed by individuals, line managers and senior stakeholders
Designed at four levels: Individual Contributors, Managers, Leaders
and Executives
Technology enabled
Feeds into succession planning and 9 box potential ratings
Identify your High Potentials

35. Make sure your
Talent Strategies are:
Fundamental to the delivery of the long term strategy
At the heart of Leader’s activities
Futuristic and applied
Transparent and understood
Consistent, objective and clearly and openly communicated
Aligned to all selection and development processes
Scientifically defined, designed and understood
Proactively planned and applied
Evaluated to ensure validity, ROI and create shareholder
return

36. Contact Details
info@thetalentgene.com
+44 (0)1737 555 862
+44 (0) 7740 684 184
www.thetalentgene.com

37. Appendix
The Physiology of High Potential and Talented People
The Talent GeneTM Suite of Products

38. Tailored Talent Products

39. The High Potential Indicator is designed to assess the elements of the
Talent Gene talent model and the critical BEST tags defined in the
Organisation Blueprint. Completed by line managers and senior
stakeholders, the indicator is used to identify whether or not their
Individual Contributors, Managers, Leaders and Executives have got
the required talent in order to be successful
Can be used to validate potential
Measures each element of the talent model
Mapped to the Organisation Blueprint
Completed by individuals, line managers and senior stakeholders
Designed at four levels: Individual Contributors, Managers, Leaders
and Executives
Technology enabled
Feeds into succession planning and 9 box

40. The Talent Gene™ Holistic Interview is a combination of four types of
interview; the traditional competency interview, the high potential
interview, the aspirational and motivational interview. By using a blend
of interview questions, you can assess the individual’s core Behaviours,
Expertise, Strengths and Tenets through different lenses
Can be used to assess performance and potential
Mapped to the Organisation Blueprint
Conducted by trained interviewers
Designed at four levels: Individual Contributors, Managers, Leaders
and Executives
Interview templates and rating scales an be printed or completed
and scored electronically
Feeds into succession planning and 9 box

41. The Talent Gene™ Q Interview assesses the Emotional and Social
Intelligence of the individual. The interview is designed to assess the
core elements of Emotional and Social Intelligence and uncovers the
individual’s core beliefs, emotional awareness and the way they
interact and engage with others
Measures the Intelligence element of the talent model
Examines both trait based and state based emotional Intelligence
Can be used to assess Emotional and Social Intelligence
Conducted by trained interviewers
Designed at four levels: Individual Contributors to Executives
Interview templates and rating scales are technology enabled
Feeds into succession planning and 9 box

42. The Talent Gene™ Holistic 360 is a robust multi-rater tool designed to
assess the critical BEST tags defined in the Organisation Blueprint.
Completed by a range of stakeholders, including the line manager,
senior stakeholders, peers, direct reports and potentially customers;
the indicator is used to identify whether or not their Individual
Contributors, Managers, Leaders and Executives have got the required
talent in order to be successful
Can be used to validate performance
Examines how motivated and talented an individual is
Mapped to the Organisation Blueprint
Can be used in 180 or 360 form
Designed at four levels
Technology enabled
Feeds into succession planning and 9 box

43. Talent Gene Unique Strengths is an online questionnaire designed to
identify the core and distinctive strengths of an individual. Unique
Strengths asks the individual to rate themselves against all of the 34
Talent Gene™ Strengths in order to identify the core five strengths
that energise them at work
Can be used to identify an individual’s core or unique strengths
Measures the Strengths element of the talent model
Mapped to the Organisation Blueprint
Online questionnaire completed by the individual
Computer generated interpretive report
Technology enabled
Feeds into the assessment of talent

44. Culture Fit is an online questionnaire designed to identify the core
values of an individual. Culture Fit is tailored to the BEST Tags defined
in the Organisation Blueprint and is a bespoke tool. The questionnaire
is modified to measure the values of the organisation and therefore
assesses up to 12 of the 24 Talent Gene™ Tenets. Culture Fit asks the
individual to rate themselves against all of the 24 Talent Gene™ Tenets
in order to identify the core values and their level of fit with the
organisational values
Can be used to identify an individual’s core values or tenets
Measures the Tenet element of the talent model
Mapped to the Organisation Blueprint
Online questionnaire completed by the individual
Computer generated interpretive report
Technology enabled
Feeds into the assessment of talent

45. Decision Analysis is an online questionnaire that measures the risk
taking, decision and judgement behaviours of an individual. The online
questionnaire is suitable for screening candidates for recruitment to
assess organisational suitability and fit. The questionnaire measures 10
factors of decision making and has been mapped to the 98 Talent
Gene™ Behaviours, Expertise, Strengths and Tenets
Can be used to identify an individuals approach to decision making
and risk
Mapped to the 98 Tags
Online questionnaire completed by the individual
Computer generated interpretive report
Technology enabled
Feeds into the assessment of talent

46. The Talent Gene™ product suite includes four Talent ID Card exercises
that are great for self-development and learning. The four packs
include Behaviour, Expertise, Strength and/or Tenet picture cards. Each
pack consists of and a set of step by step instructions for identifying
their core BEST Tags. The purpose of the exercise is to enable the
individual to clarify what they enjoy and feel they are good at, so that
they can better understand themselves in relation to the Organisation
Blueprint
Four packs of cards that summarise each of the 98 BEST Tags
Used to identify and individual’s core Behaviours, Expertise,
Strengths and Tenets
Measures the BEST element of the talent model
Mapped to the Organisation Blueprint
Available through our website, as an app
Computer generated interpretive report
Feeds into the assessment of talent

48. The Talent GeneTM Learning & Development Guide provides the
employee with constructive ideas to support the learning journey,
incorporating learning styles and self-assessment tools. It provides
development and learning suggestions for each of the 98 BEST Tags
Mapped to the Organisation Blueprint
Mapped to the talent model
Online library of learning and development activities to be
completed by the individual
Computer generated and technology enabled
Feeds into development planning

50. Example Talent Pool and Succession Plan Output
The Talent GeneTM