Every day we get up, look at the newspaper, turn on the TV, and what do we see? Negativity everywhere…that quite possibly the world is crashing in because of the economy. I can only hope that’s not happening everywhere, because many of my clients are doing well, working hard and not accepting defeat – mostly because they refuse to, and that they have high potential (HIPO) people who are driving them forward. Do you have high potential people in the right spots to drive your business? Here’s a few tips to help you gain better insight to your people and how to get those high potential people in your organization and making a difference:
1. Have a plan. HIPO people want to know the leader has direction, goals and insight to where the organization is going. It doesn’t have to be long or complicated, but it should deliver the mission, goals and where you are “sailing the ship”.
2. Know your people. Do you really know if you have the right people in the right spot? Sometimes I find that really great people are put into the wrong jobs – and then they cannot perform. If you haven’t assessed your talent to know this, now is the time to do it. You can have the most positive employee working in an area where the fit isn’t great, and you’ll just get fewer and fewer returns on your investments. Keeping great employees will help build bench strength and reap rewards back to your organization and its customers.
3. Replacing employees. Ok, this is really important. When you replace a position, consider what it is you really need – do you know what skills, knowledge and abilities are going to be necessary? If you don’t you could be hiring based on gut feelings, emotions, or non-quantitative basis. Conduct a job analysis, determine what is needed, then find out about your candidate.
4. Find out about your candidate. Many employers are in a hurry and shouldn’t be – taking the time to follow an in depth process is critical to getting HIPO’s for your organization. Start with the interview, application process, 2nd interview, assessment of capabilities, job fit analysis, background checks and THEN you may be ready to make an offer. Why go to these lengths? Well, for a $20,000+ investment, doing due diligence only makes sense.
5. Reward and recognize HIPO’s. Once you get your high performing employees, you need to think about how you can best keep them motivated to provide utmost productivity and performance. How can this be done??? Ask them! Take time to create goals, plans and determine what is most critically important to your HIPO. Then see how they fit with the team and focus on building relationships and finding ways to develop the HIPO to help keep them productive and engaged…..
There is a method to getting HIPO’s throughout your organization – and that is to follow this same methodology with other employees. If you want to commit to having a great organization, then great people will be your greatest asset!
Amy Newbanks Letke Founder & CEO Integrity HR, Inc.
