How To Identify High Potential Employees - What are the considerations?

There are a variety of opinion and philosophy as to how to identify those that are geared to high potential within an organization.  The U.S. Navy has adopted a goal to be one of the top 50 employers and considers recruitment and retention as critical in meeting this goal.  Apparently, some strong sentiment indicates that it is not always so evident as in identifying those that are high performers.    Some attributes of high potentials and held universally as valuable are those that lead and manage teams by creating a sense of loyalty and community.  In some quarters, this is called building leadership based upon trust.   Can you really have any leadership qualities if you never develop trust?  This is an important question for HR recruiters and for considering retention issues in all organizations.

Read more about high potentials and high performers in these links:

Thinks and solves problems creatively versus advocacy.  Is open to feedback and constructive criticism.

Tenure Approach:  promoting those with seniority and having the knowledge that goes along with working for an organization for years.

High Potential, High Risk:  traits that indicate high leadership potential can also derail a career

Director level employees develop skills in change management

Typically those that advance two leadership levels within 4 to 8 years.