Developing a leadership pipeline is a challenge for most organisations.  You need to think through how to develop your high-potential employees.  Perhaps this post can help.

An insight from my own experience

Let me start by sharing some of my own experience.

You may be surprised to hear that I consider myself fortunate that I was made redundant from my first proper job.

It was actually a voluntary redundancy.  It was my choice to leave.  It was from an excellent company.  I worked for P&G at the time.  And, most importantly – because they are an excellent company – my redundancy package included outplacement support in the form of a coach.

Now bear in mind that I wasn’t the mature, measured individual you know today (joke!)  It was 20 years ago.  And at the age of 27, the kindest way to describe me was confident and self-assured.  The more accurate description was probably cocky and arrogant.

The economy was very different in the 1990s and I’d had it easy.  I’d got a good degree from University and I’d had my pick of graduate jobs with blue-chip companies when I accepted a job in product research for P&G.  So, a few years later, when I decided I was more interested in people than washing powders, I fully expected to just be able to do what I wanted.

Coaching helps employees to think commercially

Thank goodness I had my coach to save me from my naivety.  He explained to me:

“You care about your career.  Organisations care about their businesses.  You’ve got to find the way to connect what you want to what the organisation wants.”

I’ll be honest.  I remember even now the sudden realisation that developing my career in the way I wanted wasn’t going to be as easy as maybe I’d thought.  I had to stop thinking just about me and what I wanted and start thinking commercially about what organisations need.

And that’s the support that your future leaders need.  They need support to think through what they want from their career.  But they also need help thinking through what the organisation needs for the future.  And as leaders, they need to identify how they can help the organisation meet its goals while at the same time satisfying their own ambitions.

That’s what a coach needs to do if you’ve hired them to work with your high-potential employees.

How to develop your high potential employees

My story had a happy ending.  Four months later I started my new job as a Training Manager and I’ve proactively managed my career ever since.  But it’s always saddened me that I only got that invaluable coaching support because I chose to leave the organisation, rather than to help me stay in it.

And that’s why I’m so passionate about the role coaching can play in helping you to answer the question of how to develop your high potential employees within your organisation.

Take Action

If you’re interested in the coaching services we provide for high-potential employees, please check out www.antoinetteoglethorpe.com/leadership-coaching or just get in touch.