By Donna Howes, CHRP

In recruitment it’s often said that all employers compete for the same candidate—someone who is talented, motivated, committed to your shared success, and willing to stay around for a while!

While research has shown that companies tend to think of their high-potential employees as representing between three and five per cent of new hires, the reality is that the majority of new employees expect to be offered the same opportunities as any valued addition to the team—including the chance to showcase their talents, be recognized and rewarded for achievements, and most definitely, and be provided meaningful opportunities for career advancement.

In that case, what if the real question behind rock-star recruitment decisions was not how to find the illusive three to five per cent of top performers—but to create them. What if the key to finding and keeping potential has much more to do with growing it as opposed to competing against other companies for it?

Find the Right ‘Who’    
In order to thrive, organizations must “identify candidates with the highest potential, get them in your corner and on your team, and help them grow,” according to Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, author of It’s Not the How or the What but the Who: Succeed by Surrounding Yourself with the Best.

Spotting potential starts long before you schedule the interview—it begins when you determine which screening criteria to use.  A growing number of thought leaders suggest that by weighting hiring preferences toward current skillsets and past experience, organizations risk increased turnover.

Conversely, linking talent spotting to a candidate’s values and characteristics becomes a predictor of their future success in a position and increases retention rates—especially for high-potentials. This makes sense because while performance gets an employee noticed and promoted early in their career, behaviour is what keeps them on the radar as a high-potential.

In recruitment, the language you use and the meaning and weight you give to character will determine whether a true partnership is being formed, or a more traditional employer-employee psychological contract; the later is much less likely to help retain top talent.

If the art of great ‘who’ decisions is the difference between success and failure when making crucial hiring decisions, then savvy employers first need to identify talent, motivation, desire to succeed, and commitment—then hire for the potential to grow these skills, values and attitudes into the perfect fit for their organization.

In doing so, organizations stand to grow even further potential from within.

BC Hydro Builds Coaching Culture
Building on strengths provides the fastest route to success, and the capability that best predicts future success is the ability and opportunity to learn. This awareness has taken hold in a growing number of organizations which are committed to growing their potential from within, and have embedded coaching into their culture as a strategic business driver and critical talent management tool to attract and retain high potential employees.

According to BC Hydro, one of B.C.’s top employers with more than 5,000 employees throughout the province, growing internal capacity through coaching fosters empowerment, enhanced employee skills, satisfaction, success, attraction and retention. “Since 2005, BC Hydro has incorporated coaching skills training as part of our leadership and professional development programs,” says Michelle Robindell, CHRP, ACC and senior human resources advisor.

In 2012, an internal coaching program was piloted with 14 coaches. Demand grew rapidly and there are now 68 trained internal coaches—leaders from across the organization who are committed to building a coaching culture and supporting managers and employees in being as effective as possible.

Coaching Defines Employers of Choice
Growing that potential throughout an organization is key for employers and employees alike. “Employees are the cornerstone of our organization,” says September Dixon, VP of human resources at Sunshine Coast Credit Union. “These are the people who make our vision a reality, and as part of our strategy to attract and retain top talent, we’ve incorporated coaching into the workplace at all levels.”

Serving more than 15,000 members along the Sunshine Coast, Dixon credits coaching with helping to create a collaborative work environment where employees know they are valued and seek opportunities to challenge their professional growth.  Since last spring—when the Credit Union received a CoachingWise designation—Sunshine Coast has promoted its commitment to coaching through job ad postings, and been told having a coaching culture is highly desirable to candidates.

“CoachingWise offers credibility and can help set us apart as an Employer of Choice,” Dixon confirms. “It’s confirmation that we are using coaching as a tool to bring out the full potential in our employees.”

Coaching Culture with a Side of Empowerment
In 2008, JOEY Restaurants embraced building a coaching culture and trained top leaders and executives to become internal coaches and trainers skilled in developing other leaders’ coaching skills. The goal was to shift the company’s focus toward developing a “leader as coach” model.

“Our new chefs and general managers are often in their mid to late 20’s,” says Kathryn Oliver, manager of training and development. “We needed to accelerate the rate at which we could produce leaders, and coaching was a tool we felt could help us achieve this.”

JOEY measures the return-on-investment in coaching through a significant growth of the company’s revenues, profits and market penetration, along with reduced management turnover rates. With approximately 4,000 employees at 30 locations, JOEY thrives in the competitive restaurant and hospitality sector, attracting candidates eager to contribute their innovative ideas.

Growing Advanced People Practices
Based on the success of their similar approaches and the diversity of the organizations discussed above, the true power of high-potential employees needs to be re-examined internally. One proven way to find and keep high-potential employees—and in an abundance greater than three to five per cent—is to grow them through advanced people practices. This has the merit of benefiting the entire organization’s culture, while living up to the promises you made while getting that potential through the front door.

Donna Howes, CHRP is principal of Humanity at Work, a coaching and organizational development firm devoted to creating proud and productive workplaces.

(PeopleTalk Winter 2015)