Make Your Team Your Unfair Advantage

Summary

• When assessing leadership potential, focus on an individual's rate of progress rather than their current rate of performance. Great performers who don't improve are unlikely to grow further.

• Look for individuals who demonstrate fast growth within the company, even if they are not currently at the top. For instance, someone who advances from salesperson to sales manager by jumping four steps in a year shows high growth potential.

• Favoring employees with a high rate of growth ensures that the organization doesn't underperform. Promote individuals who consistently exceed their capacity and exhibit rapid personal and professional development.

• It’s crucial to identify and nurture those who, although they might seem a step or two behind now, showcase a rapid growth trajectory, positioning them to potentially excel in leadership roles.

Video

How To Take Action

I would suggest implementing a strategy focusing on employee growth potential rather than just current performance. When assessing your team, pay close attention to those showing fast progress, even if they're not the top performers right now. For instance, if a salesperson becomes a sales manager quickly—say, in a year after several role jumps—consider them for leadership roles. This shows a strong growth trajectory.

A good way of doing this is by setting up regular check-ins where you track employees' development over time. During these sessions, focus on how they've improved rather than just where they currently stand. This helps in spotting those with a high potential for growth, who could excel in leadership roles eventually.

Also, consider giving responsibilities that stretch these employees' abilities. This supports their growth path and helps you see how they handle new challenges. Encouraging them to take on new roles or projects can be a practical step.

Nurture these promising individuals by providing mentorship or training opportunities. This doesn't have to be costly—leveraging online resources or paired learning within your team can be effective and economical.

Keep a journal or spreadsheet to track each individual's progress. Over time, you'll develop a clearer picture of who consistently exceeds their capacity and thrives on new challenges. This will ensure your business consistently advantages from having high-growth-potential leaders steering the team.

Full Transcript

to spot a high potential leader you look for rate of progress not rate of performance and so you actually want to look at how quickly somebody's growing in a company not their current performance because somebody who has great performance but has not shown improvement over a year is unlikely to improve in the future whereas somebody who's actually at a sales manager but they've started as a salesperson and they've been able to go and jump four steps ahead in just a year that person has a higher growth trajectory than this person but the reality is you actually want to find the people who they might be a step or two behind but their rate of growth is really freaking fast if you consistently over promote people who do not have that growth trajectory then your organization will quickly underperform and so you want to look for people who continue to break through that capacity time and time again