In terms of potential, there are various methodologies and processes that Organizations adapt according to their needs, management style, ideosyncrasy, and the personnel evaluation processes carried out from the Human Resources area.
But there is always the question, What is a high potential employee like? He is a person who is successful in his work, with possibilities of promotion and who, with security, can hold a higher level position in the Organization.
Now we think, and how do we get people to their best? Well, for this it is necessary that the Organization is very clear, what it considers that it is necessary to value in people, to know if it has potential and if it can improve in its current situation. Because it is useless to choose an evaluation model or such (because it is the current trend), it is necessary to know those aspects inherent to the job and to people, which can facilitate their path to personal and professional success.
It would be useless, just emphasizing the professional aspects, is a very common mistake, only evaluating knowledge and skills, but without knowing what people think, need and hope to find or achieve through work. We must remember that "money is not everything", high performance is not always a guarantee of potential and there may be committed people but without capacity. In short, the possible combinations that affect the potential are varied.
For this reason, it is important to take several aspects into account to assess potential: People's capacity, and this is expressed in their abilities, mental capacity, technical and interrelated abilities. Their commitment, expressed in their emotional and rational interest in the Organization, their desire to belong to it and to maintain themselves over time.
Another not less important aspect are the expectations of the employee, those that are generated before entering the Company and its evolution once progress is made in time, since new needs are created, to improve wages, to recognize the work, to be taken into account, and above all to feel comfortable with what is done and where it is done.
Once these aspects are defined, we can have a more or less clear idea of some of the factors to take into account when we want to evaluate the potential of employees, although they are not the only ones. Each organization, depending on the group that it wishes to evaluate, defines other important aspects for the higher positions in which it is thinking that people who can identify with greater potential can be promoted, so in this way it is about having covered the greatest number of variables important of a profile.
The mechanisms and tools used for this purpose range from the traditional competency questionnaires, assessment center exercises, technical questionnaires and marketing surveys to the internal client, all of them framed in a feedback process, with the worker, where he himself can comment on the results and how you see your current and future situation, after presenting the results and possible recommended action plans.
Feedback and achieving a commitment and interest of workers is essential, so they are aware of their strengths, areas to improve and the means that the Organization makes available to achieve the intended objectives; just as you will also know what to do on your part so that everything is as expected.
Once the development-oriented action plan has been defined, it is important to monitor each phase of the plan, be it the training provided, the coaching that has been defined, or the personal tutorials, everything must be interconnected and must Always keep in mind how the process is progressing and / or setbacks. A good management system should allow you to have this information always at hand and in real time, you cannot work with untimely information and reports with different results according to each person in charge of the process.
The success of identifying the potential, apart from residing in a good Strategic Development Plan, is in good management and for this, HR professionals must rise to the challenge and organizations, put the necessary resources so that the results they are, because they say: "The absence of a plan is better than a bad Plan" in the end the results are seen in the personnel with a high prognosis of success at the level above their current position, or in low performance and productivity.
