Number 3 — High Potentials win by creating winners
Running Towards the Fire — and Four Other Habits of Hi-Po’s
Number 3 — High Potentials win by creating winners
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A term thrown around in companies is Hi-Po; these are the people deemed by leadership to have high potential (Hi-Po). Hi-Pos regularly end up on accelerated leadership paths and are given opportunities in new and exciting areas.
It often seems like an unachievable goal for many to reach Hi-Po status. Still, there are some identifiable habits that you can institute to grow yourself or your team and create a different future.
The first is running towards the fire.
The way to get noticed in a company, to stand out from the other people doing an exceptional job, is to be the one to run towards the fire.
See the fire and run towards it anyway
The firefighters, or any of the first responders and our militaries, are geared to run towards the emergency, towards the danger. We are not often faced with these kinds of emergencies in a normal workplace, but there are still metaphorical fires to fight.
This metaphor applies to difficult situations and troubled projects. These are the fires of the normal workplace, and they still require a significant response.
The way to get noticed in a company, to stand out from the other people doing an exceptional job, is to be the one to run towards the fire.
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High potential employees will earn a reputation as problem-solvers, at being good at their job but willing to go above and beyond to help. They choose to run towards the fire. To take on the burden of helping a troubled project succeed and to use their skills to help a team overcome their challenges.
When they see the organisation struggling with something, they do not go and check their job description. Instead, they strap on a metaphorical helmet and flame-retardant jacket and volunteer to help the team.
If you help the organisation succeed, by stepping into the ‘danger’, you will soon get a reputation as a problem-solver and a team player, and you will start your journey onto the Hi-Po list.
The next habit of Hi-Po employees is they tend to bias towards action.
The distinguishable people in the organisation will spend their energy providing direction and decisions for those that bias towards waiting.
Take a bias towards action
In this modern, data-heavy world, there is a lot of information available. Naturally, a high-performing person will make sure to understand the data available to them. However, a high-potential person will not be crippled by trying to understand that information. Instead, they will absorb the information then act.
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This bias towards action, to doing over considering, is a key distinguisher in Hi-Po people. It is a balancing act for them. As not considering the information available is also foolish. But when it gets to a point where the value of more information and analysis is limited, they will act.
Sometimes they will get it wrong, sometimes they will move in the wrong direction, but most of the time, they won’t. The Hi-Po will handle those moments where they moved in the wrong direction as learning opportunities to inform their next decision better. Their next moment of action.
The distinguishable people in the organisation will spend their energy providing direction and decisions for those that bias towards waiting. They will ask the question — is there something I can do right now that will bring value?
That internal monologue runs on repeat. The Hi-Po focus is on acting to bring value. Their action will inspire others, and it is through that, they will gain visibility and brand as having high potential.
The next habit of Hi-Po people is to raise the tide.
They firmly believe in the mantra that a rising tide lifts all boats. By helping them improve, the company improves, and everyone wins.
They win by creating winners
High potential people are not obsessed with plaudits and recognition. They are more worried about the organisation succeeding. To be part of an organisation that is succeeding, they realise that many people have to do well, not just them.
This acknowledgement leads a Hi-Po to try and get others to succeed with them. To create winners. They realise that it is not a win-lose world. To succeed does not mean that others have to lose, and if other people win, they do not have to lose. So, they focus on helping other people win.
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The thing is, they do not do it by sacrificing their own careers. They do it by elevating those they interact with. They do not help people win; they create winners.
Achieving this requires not just helping people succeed using their skills, but teaching/mentoring or coaching them to get better at solving their own problems. Harnessing and optimising their skills to make them better. It takes more energy but creates more winners.
They firmly believe in the mantra that a rising tide lifts all boats. By helping them improve, the company improves, and everyone wins.
The next key habit of high-potential employees is recognising the right lily-pads.
So, when they are on a big lily-pad at the edge of the pond, they may not have a sense of which direction is best for them to go. They often have to make the jump to the next lilypad to see what other options are out there.
Seize the right opportunities
If you are a high-performer, you will often be given opportunities that others may not. If you are given opportunities, what is it that makes it the right opportunity?
One of the skills of high-potential employees is to have a sense of the right opportunities. To know when to say ‘yes’ and when to say ‘no’ or ‘not yet’.
In fact, one of the key things about being on a high-potential list is that it is not a one and done approach. You cannot get on that list and be guaranteed your place forever. Some people opt-out, choosing to consolidate and simplify rather than advance and complicate. But others are removed, and one of the regular reasons for that removal is failing at a new job or opportunity.
High-potential employees need to have active sensors for the right opportunities.
My favourite analogy for this is about a frog on a lily-pad. Frogs are pretty shortsighted. Their vision is for prioritising nearby danger and food. So, when they are on a big lily-pad at the edge of the pond, they may not have a sense of which direction is best for them to go. They often have to make the jump to the next lilypad to see what other options are out there.
Photo by Wouter van der Velde on Unsplash
This is the same for high-potential employees. Sometimes you have to jump to the next lilypad to see what the next opportunity might be. Trying to plan out your career and match years to positions is largely a fruitless activity.
It is better to harness your sensors and choose the right next thing. The key to this is having sensors for intangibles and a good sounding board. I have created a personal advisory board (a group of infrequent and informal mentors) that I can talk through these types of opportunities.
With these two things in place, high-potential employees increase the probability of making the right decision.
The final key habit for high-potential employees is to take a people-focus.
They make regular investments in the people around them. They subscribe to people.
They subscribe to people
High-potential employees realise that as they grow within the organisation, they will need teams to grow with them. Because of that, they subscribe to a people focus. They understand the importance of emotional intelligence and creating a real connection with people around them.
A subscription is a mechanism that businesses use to create a repeatable revenue stream. It requires someone to make a regular investment. It is a beautiful term for describing the relationship dynamic of high-potential people. They make regular investments in the people around them. They subscribe to people.
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High-potential people will tend to big-talk. They realise that small-talk achieves small outcomes, but big-talk achieves big outcomes. They have good second questions, you know, the one you ask after ‘How are you?’.
The best second questions are big questions. They are non-standard and force the responder to pause and think. Some of my favourites are ‘What are you most excited about right now?’, or ‘What is something you were doing recently where you lost track of time?’.
In asking these types of questions, they learn more about them as a person, leading to deeper connections. It is an investment that increases trust and vulnerability and creates an opportunity for more conversations in the future.
This will quickly build a rapport with people in the teams, and it provides a platform for creating a tribe that can galvanise to work on a problem together. It provides an insight into how those people can be supported to becoming winners as well.
An investment in people is rarely a waste of time.
High-potential people are deliberate in these habits. They realise the power of running towards the problem, they have a bias towards action, they create winners and seize the right opportunities. And, they realise that a subscription to people is a fantastic investment.
Harness these habits, and you may end up surprising yourself. Encourage them in your team, and you will foster a high-performing culture of future leaders.
These are the powerful key habits of high-performing people, and if you focus on these, as well as doing a good job, you may end up earning yourself or members of your team that Hi-Po status.
Inspired by life. Leadership, Growth, Personal Development. Engineer and Sports Enthusiast. Top Writer in Leadership. Editor of Sparks Publication. leonpurton.com
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By Leon Purton on July 6, 2021.
Exported from Medium on December 22, 2023.
