ELI Group's Blog

Talent Planning

Many of our clients are creating and/or maintaining sophisticated talent planning systems.  A critical element in solid talent planning efforts is the organizational understanding of the language used in the talent planning process.  For example, most organizations use the terms high potential and readiness to depict different lenses through which they see talent.  Often, we see confusion on how these terms are different and how to use the accompanying tools.  The term – high potential – is typically used to define those employees who have the ability to impact the organization in an increasingly valuable way.  Those employees bring ability and attitude to perform exceptionally well in current role as well as grow into a variety of other roles in the organization.  On the other hand, the term – readiness – is used to imply the ability to step into a particular job and perform. 

Where confusion lies in how the two terms integrate.  For example, a key employee may be high potential but not ready now for another assignment.  Another employee who may be listed as ready now for a position, may or may not be high potential.   High potential is defining the individual employee as someone who has much to offer the organization now and in the future.  Readiness is indicating fit for a specific role – skills, knowledge and abilities for that position.

When thinking about ourselves as leaders, it is useful to differentiate between those two categories.  Some of you may be high potential but not ready for the next level or different type of role.  You need more time in current role to gain all that the role has to offer in terms of development. The distinction is also useful when examining your staff.  Who are your high potentials who will provide increasing value to the organization through a variety of roles?  How should they be developed?  Who are your key employees that are ready to move into a specific role when needed?  What do they need to be successful in that transition?