Identifying high potentials early: case study

Purpose Driven by a shortage of leadership capacity, companies are seeking to identify leadership talent earlier. Some companies are introducing programs to identify leadership potential among university students and then hire “high potentials” directly into management designate roles. The purpose o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of management development Vol. 37; no. 9/10; pp. 684 - 696
Main Author Kotlyar, Igor
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bradford Emerald Publishing Limited 07.11.2018
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Subjects
Achievement Need
Archives & records
Career advancement
Case studies
Cognitive ability
Councils
Data Analysis
Employee development
Employees
Employment
Employment interviews
Job performance
Leadership
Leadership Training
Managers
Personality
Personality traits
Recruitment
Skills
Leadership development
High-potential employee
Leadership potential
Leadership talent
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Summary:Purpose Driven by a shortage of leadership capacity, companies are seeking to identify leadership talent earlier. Some companies are introducing programs to identify leadership potential among university students and then hire “high potentials” directly into management designate roles. The purpose of this paper is to explore one such early-stage leadership development program. Currently, little information is available about these initiatives. Design/methodology/approach Case study based on interviews with 18 managers and director of HR and archival employee records. Findings This case study provides a detailed description of an early-stage leadership identification and development program. This program has been developed to identify leadership talent among senior university students prior to hiring and onboarding, provide support, training and development and fast-track them into leadership positions. The study provides insight into the challenges and effectiveness of an early-stage leadership program and offers some practical implications. Originality/value To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to document a leadership development program that identifies “high potentials” among university students for the purpose of developing them into company leaders.
ISSN:0262-1711
1758-7492
DOI:10.1108/JMD-12-2017-0404