Tweetchat on challenges in HIPO development: Maneuvering the Potholes
HIPOs are indeed talent of the future, with the change in
business landscape there is need for assertive leadership. Therefore,
identifying and nurturing HIPOS is crucial. Here is the insightful Tweetchat on
HIPOs.
Companies are striving today to build
competencies through leadership development programs. Hi-PO programs are one
such key initiative taken up by companies to inbuilt future leaders and fulfil
future talent gaps.
As per the CEB research, published
in People Matters- HIPOs are 91% more valuable than non-HIPOs. Hi-Po has
long been a buzzword in the HR community, but it seems like we are still
struggling with the most basic challenges of identifying Hi-Po employees, and
designing Hi-Po Development Programs.
Focusing on challenges in HIPO
development, People Matters organized a tweetchat which witnessed a potpourri
of thoughts and ideas from varied professionals in the HR world.
2.
Listening to the voice within
In an exclusive interview with People
Matters, Ashish Vidyarthi, a national award winning actor, thinker, speaker and
the founder of Avid Miner talks about the common threads of life and work
hinged on incremental learning.
Ashish
Vidyarthi is a National Award winning actor and has been trained in acting at
the National School of Drama (NSD). Over the last twenty two years, he has
worked in more than two hundred films across eleven languages. Vidyarthi
founded Avid Miner, a platform for engaging in unique conversations with people
and organizations — conversations that are born out of real life experiences
and interactions. The following interview excerpt reflects Ashish’s
learnings that he derived from his experiences, and how these help
professionals in their quest for self-fulfillment. Q: You have been an actor
for the last 24 years and now you are doing something that is totally
different. Looking back at your career, what were the instances that led you to
establish Avid Miner, and to start these leadership conversations? A: From
my life experiences, I have concluded that people usually have well-defined
perceptions about each other; and if they find somebody doing ...
3.
Developing HiPo Programs: Averting the Red Flags
Some common mistakes can be avoided
while developing a HiPo Development Program.
HiPo Development Programs are essential to
establish a leadership pipeline, and ensure that the organisation continues to
thrive in the future. Such programs spot and develop employees with potential
for a larger role, and thereby bring in the element of sustainability in the
organisation, and that of stability in the individual’s career. However, more
often than not, such programs are not done right. The challenge is three-fold:
organisations fail to identify the right talent, engage them in the right
manner and then fail to retain them. The result: drop-out rates are dangerously
high.
There are, however some easy pitfalls one can avoid
while designing and executing a HiPo Development Program:
Expectation setting: It is critical that you
have adjusted your expectations to the reality and know for a fact the end
result of such a program.
Screening: Relying only on managers
and team leaders to identify HiPo employees is a subjective and rather biased
methodology. The program must have a sufficiently high barrier to include the
very best of the best, but must be inclusive for everybody to be considered.
Design the learning: Shipping off a bunch of
employees to an exotic hotel for a two-week intensive training, and expecting
them to come out as a senior leader is a misplaced intervention. The idea is to
push HiPo employees to realise and hone their capability, and train them to be
a natural part of the company’s future – not to overburden them with
information, jargon and strategies. The design of the training intervention
must be flexible to allow for everyone to learn and grow together, and must
focus on actual application-based learning and mentoring, as opposed to
classroom learning.
Measuring & Evaluation: Setting the baseline
performance, measuring the progress, placing the employee in their future
leadership competencies are all steps that must extensively use well-documented
data and information. Psychological tests, 360 rating, group discussions, knowledge
assessment tests are some tools that can be used to track the progress of an
individual in different parameters.
Sustainability: Ensuring the longevity
of the program is one of the hardest challenges for HR professionals, as
interest levels drop with time. Either the management fails to see the benefit
of the program, or the participant doesn’t feel valued enough to continue; the
challenge to engage the participants throughout the program is a tough nut to
crack.
One
thing is clear: there is no cookie-cutter approach to developing HiPo leaders,
and organisations need to spend time, energy and resources in developing one
that meets their unique requirements.