Amazing snowflakes or high potentials

Don’t you just love it when you come across someone who is truly inspiring?

I was fortunate to meet someone like this recently. His open attitude was shaped by a philosophy that “People are amazing” and the conviction that this applies to each and every person he meets. After listening to several inspiring stories about how this attitude had shaped his life, I learned that it was sparked by his mother, who had always said that “People are like snowflakes – no two are alike!”

Now I don’t know about you but that’s an image that resonates with me. It’s something I think about whenever I see snow – in life or in films. I find it mind-boggling to think that every single white blob is actually a beautiful, perfectly- formed, geometric miracle and totally unique. No two are alike. It seems so hard to believe and you start to think, “It’s impossible! How can that be true? Have they examined every single snowflake to prove it?”  Yet there are many more examples of this phenomenon. You only have to think of the fact that that there are 7 billion people on this earth and each and every one has a unique fingerprint and a unique retina, to get a glimpse of how remarkable life is.

And of course if our fingerprints and eyeballs are all totally unique doesn’t it follow quite naturally that our whole being has to be too?

It is amazing. And therefore it makes every single one of us amazing.  

Unfortunately we all too often lose sight of this. We try to lump people into homogenous categories in the same way that a snow-plough speeds along the road blowing the snow into mounds. That is the way of management.

There are, however, hints that things are changing. One sign of this is the growing attention being focused on talent management. Certainly you would think that the recognition of the fact that organisational success hangs on the way you manage your talent is indicative of a wider recognition of this uniqueness. But does it?

It would seem that the whole science/art of talent management is driven by the desire to identify the people who will make the biggest difference and help ensure organisational success. Of course the competitive nature of business suggests that there is nothing inherently wrong with this. Any organisation relies on its people and the better the people perform the better the organisation will do. Continuous improvement by its very nature implies the improvement of people and people performance.
Unfortunately the focus and effort inevitably shifts to the high-potential people or the ‘high-pots’ as they are called. These are defined as the people “with the ability to succeed in senior level positions.”

Unfortunately, this creates the risk of developing a two-tier employee structure or employee management system – high-pots and others. It overlooks the fact that success is a team effort and is equally dependent on the ‘others’ fulfilling their roles by optimising their talent. Just as Roger Federer could not have won his 7th Wimbledon title without the help of his physiotherapist when he suffered those back problems earlier in the tournament, so too your organisation depends on everyone pulling their weight to the best of their individual talent.

So the question your need to ask yourself is, “Am I recognising the talent of all my amazing people or am I in danger of focussing too much attention, effort and resource on my high-pots?” True talent management means focussing on everyone and all their talents. That way you will recognise how amazing all your people are and inevitably get the best from them. And at the same time, you will automatically look after your ‘high-pots’ in the manner you ought. Not only will they benefit, but they will also have an environment and culture of employee engagement in which they can be the leaders you expect them to be. On the other hand, if you don’t, you will risk losing them and your investment when they move on to an environment where they will be more likely to achieve more.

It’s a funny thing, but people are inspired to be amazing when they feel others view them in that light. I know I did. Thank you, Tim!