The high-potential blind spot

Why identifying high-potential talent can be challenging

More than 60% of leaders and HR professionals say HiPo identification happens within employees’ first few years in the workforce.

Identifying potential early can be valuable. It allows organisations to start investing in development sooner and support employees as they grow into more complex roles.

But early-career employees often have limited experience, and their skills and career paths are still evolving. This makes long-term potential harder to assess.

Traditional signals such as performance ratings or manager recommendations can be useful, but they mainly reflect how someone performs in their current role. They do not always reveal who has the capacity to grow into more complex leadership roles.

In this Insight Report, you’ll learn how to:

• Distinguish between high performers and true high-potential employees
• Understand where traditional HiPo identification methods create blind spots
• Reduce the risks of relying on subjective or incomplete signals
• Use structured assessments to strengthen HiPo decisions
• Combine multiple methods to make more confident talent decisions

Download The High-Potential Blind Spot to learn how organisations can strengthen their approach to identifying and developing future leaders.