Make sure you have good leaders tomorrow

IT is not always easy to identify future company leaders at the outset of their careers. According to research from Corporate Executive Board, which helps companies develop solutions to improve performance, only 15% of any organisation’s highachieving staff will succeed in more senior, critical positions later in their careers.

But, as Clare Moncrieff, principal executive adviser at CEB, says: “A good trainer knows that the fastest two-year-old in the paddock is not guaranteed to be a big prize-winner on the track.”

How, then, do managers identify those employees destined for greatness?

Moncrieff has the following advice:

Not all high-achieving employees can make it to the top, so you need to have programmes that identify your rising stars. Without such a programme, your potential stars will be lost and you will have missed the chance to nurture them;

To be a good leader, you have to be able to triumph many times and rise above failure. Do not confuse flash-in-the-pan stars with those who will consistently achieve better than expected;

Do not assume these leaders will come from the usual places.

They often have unconventional backgrounds, so your human resources team must scour the organisation for them. Do not rely solely on subjective manager nominations, rather make sure there are more objective assessments and evaluations in place to find your future leaders; and

Be patient — the process takes time. Research shows that more than half of your highperforming employees will drop out of any programme. Use any assessments and feedback to make improvements to the programme. — Margaret Harris