A couple of weeks ago, I attended a seminar on Talent Review with Doris Sims Spies, represented in Europe by Ingrid De Backer. The seminar offered a ton of interesting tools and insights to make a talent review process run smoothly. One of the things Doris stressed was that managers need to have a career discussion with their employees before going into the talent review meeting, arguing that employees want to be part of the career discussion. This makes sense, of course, people want to have something to say about their careers. But, do all employees have a clear career vision to discuss in the career conversation with their managers? And what if they don’t? I found myself asking the question: “Can you be a high potential if you don’t have a clear career vision?”
I think the answer is yes and no, which will become clear as you read this blog.
Imagine that you are a dedicated people manager. You want both the organization and your employees to thrive and be happy. You have understood that careers have become a negotiation between you and each employee and so you prepare career discussions with your employees well. You have your perspective on the potential of some of your stronger employees and you see possible career paths for them. You realize you need to discuss your views and observations with them, so you can give the right input on the career vision of your employees in the next talent review meeting and make qualitative decisions, right?
I think you will agree that some of your employees have a good idea on where they want to go professionally, but more often than you would like, you encounter employees for whom the career vision is rather blurry. In an effort to dig a little deeper into what makes them tick, you realize that answers do not come after a one-hour meeting on the topic. The truth is that it takes time, professional experiences and reflection upon them to craft a personal career vision and mission. Any professional career coach will tell you that doing this exercise with individuals takes multiple sessions spread out over a couple of months.
I think organizations would benefit from facilitating the development of a clear career vision within individuals, allowing individuals to develop this vision independently from the organizational perspective on the career of that individual. I think this is true for all employees, including those you consider to be high potentials.
These are my arguments:
If you are an HR professional, you might find these questions triggering:
In conclusion, to respond to the question, whether high potentials must have a clear career vision. Yes, I think part of the being a high potential is about thinking consciously about the career and being connected to the notion that a career vision is more than focusing on achieving objective career success. And also no, I think an employee can be considered a high potential and not yet have a clear view on the career. In those cases, it is useful for a manager to rattle the fundamentals of the career vision of these employees a little. If the career vision is not sound yet, maybe the person should be offered some time to reflect a little more before being pushed forward in high leadership positions or be prepared for a specific role that closes future doors.
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