Assessing HiPos on Your Team: What You Need to Know

As a leader, you’ve probably faced the challenge of how to identify which of your team members have the potential to take on more complex roles down the line. It’s not just about who’s doing a great job right now—it’s about spotting those who can thrive in roles that demand more responsibility, strategic thinking, and the ability to lead through uncertainty.

Let’s talk about what “potential” really means, how to assess it effectively, and how to avoid some common pitfalls along the way.

What Does “Potential” Really Mean?

When we talk about high-potential employees (HiPos), we’re not just talking about your top performers. Sure, performance is important, but potential is what will take someone from being great in their current role to being a leader who can handle the unknowns of tomorrow. Korn Ferry’s framework defines potential through four key lenses: Engagement, Learning Agility, Leadership Traits, and Motivation.

But here’s where it gets tricky—potential is not the same as being promotable. I’ve seen many leaders make the mistake of promoting someone based on how well they’re doing in their current job, thinking that means they’re ready for the next big step. But potential is really about who can grow into those next level leadership roles, not just who can handle the next rung on the ladder.

Beyond strong performance, true HiPos usually have a few other key qualities. They’ve had experiences that shaped their development, they learn and grow from those experiences, they’re self-aware, they naturally exhibit leadership traits, they’re driven to lead, they think logically and strategically, and they don’t have habits that might derail them (Sevy et al., 2013).

Learning Agility is especially important. It’s about more than just picking things up quickly—it’s about how well someone can adapt to new and challenging situations by applying what they’ve learned in the past. Research shows that people who are highly agile learners tend to move up the ranks faster and do better once they’re promoted (Dai, Tang, & Feil, 2014; Swisher et al., 2013).

Why Learning Agility Matters

Think about it this way—learning agility is like a leader’s superpower. It’s what helps them take lessons from one situation and apply them effectively in another, often very different, context. Studies have shown that this kind of adaptability is one of the strongest indicators of who will succeed in more senior roles (De Meuse, Dai, & Hallenbeck, 2010).

For example, imagine your organization is going through a major change—maybe you’re restructuring, adopting new technology, or responding to a market shift. The HiPos who are strong in learning agility won’t just cope with these changes; they’ll be the ones leading the charge, helping to navigate the uncertainty and driving the organization forward.

The Peter Principle: A Common Pitfall

Now, let’s get real about something I’m sure you’ve seen before. You promote someone because they’re doing a fantastic job in their current role. But after the promotion, things start to fall apart. They struggle, the team dynamics shift, and suddenly, you’re dealing with issues you didn’t see coming. This is what’s known as the Peter Principle.

The Peter Principle suggests that people tend to be promoted to their "level of incompetence." In other words, they’re moved up based on their performance in their current job, without considering whether they have the potential to succeed in a more complex role. It’s one of the biggest risks when misidentifying HiPos.

I’ve seen this happen when leaders assume that because someone is a star in their current role, they’ll automatically be a great manager or leader. But if they don’t have the necessary leadership traits, learning agility, or drive, they may flounder. And this doesn’t just impact the individual—it can disrupt the entire team, lower morale, and lead to costly turnover.

The cost? You lose a great employee, and you may need to find a way to address the leadership gap you’ve inadvertently created.

How to Assess HiPos on Your Team

So, how do you avoid these pitfalls and make sure you’re identifying the right people for those next-level roles? Here’s what I recommend:

1. Get Feedback from All Angles: Use 360-degree feedback to get a full picture of someone’s potential. This includes input from their peers, direct reports, and supervisors. You might be surprised at the insights you can gain when you get a broader perspective.

2. Look for Agility in Action: Assessments that test for learning agility are key. Look for ways to understand how someone has handled unexpected challenges in the past. Behavioral interviews and simulations can help you see how they deal with real-world complexities.

3. Psychometric Tools Are Your Friend: These tools can give you a deeper understanding of an individual’s leadership traits, cognitive abilities, and personality—all of which are critical in assessing whether someone can handle the demands of future roles.

4. Use Stretch Assignments: One of the best ways to assess potential is to give employees stretch assignments—tasks or projects that go beyond their current role or expertise. These assignments expose them to next-level activities, and you can see firsthand how they handle ambiguity, how curious they get, whether they ask powerful questions, and most importantly, how they learn from their experiences. Do they fail forward and apply what they’ve learned to new situations? This kind of real-world testing is invaluable in identifying who’s ready for more responsibility.

5. Keep the Conversation Going: Potential isn’t static. Someone who shows promise today might need new challenges tomorrow to keep growing. Regular check-ins and reassessments are key to keeping your HiPo strategy dynamic and aligned with both the individual’s growth and the organization’s needs.

Mitigating Bias in HiPo Assessments

Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: bias. Assessing potential is forward-looking and can be more subjective than evaluating past performance. This makes it ripe for bias, whether it’s favoring those who look like previous leaders or those who share similar backgrounds and experiences.

Here’s how to keep things objective and fair:

1. Standardize the Process: Use consistent criteria and tools across the board. Whether you’re assessing learning agility, leadership traits, or motivation, make sure the metrics are clear and applied uniformly.

2. Diverse Assessment Panels: Involve a diverse group of assessors in the process. Different perspectives can help mitigate individual biases and lead to more balanced evaluations.

3. Training on Bias Awareness: Ensure that everyone involved in the assessment process understands common biases, such as confirmation bias, affinity bias, and the halo effect. Regular training can help assessors recognize and counteract these biases.

4. Data-Driven Decisions: Whenever possible, base decisions on objective data rather than gut feelings. Psychometric assessments, performance metrics, and other quantifiable data can provide a more impartial view of potential.

5. Review and Reflect: Periodically review your HiPo identification process to check for patterns of bias. Are certain groups consistently overlooked? Are your criteria inadvertently favoring certain traits? Regular audits can help you catch and correct these issues.

Final Thoughts

As a leader, identifying and developing HiPos is one of the most impactful things you can do for your organization’s future. It’s not just about who can get the job done today; it’s about finding those who will lead your organization through whatever comes next. By focusing on learning agility, using a mix of assessments and feedback, incorporating stretch assignments, and actively mitigating bias, you can build a leadership pipeline that’s ready for anything.

And remember, avoiding the pitfalls of the Peter Principle starts with understanding that potential isn’t just about current performance—it’s about who has the capacity to grow into something more. So, the next time you’re looking at your team, ask yourself: Who’s not just ready for the next step, but the next leap?

References

• Dai, G., Tang, K. Y., & Feil, S. (2014). Learning agility and performance potential: The pathways to promotion and success. The Korn Ferry Institute.
• De Meuse, K. P., Dai, G., & Hallenbeck, G. S. (2010). Learning agility: A construct whose time has come. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 62(2), 119.
• Korn Ferry. (2013). Misidentification of High Potentials: The Reality and the Remedy. Retrieved from https://www.kornferry.com/content/dam/kornferry/docs/article-migration/KF-Misidentification.pdf
• Lombardo, M. M., & Eichinger, R. W. (2000). High potentials as high learners. Human Resource Management, 39(4), 321-329.
• Sevy, B., Swisher, V., Hallenbeck, G., & Vicere, A. (2013). Learning agility: A key predictor of executive success. The Korn Ferry Institute.