The old adage about giving work to busy people might be frustrating and burning out your best leaders.
It’s tempting to always give added responsibilities or last-minute assignments to your high potentials because they seemingly come through every time and never complain. But like ducks who are paddling furiously under the water, they might look calm on the outside while silently heading to burnout.
High potential leaders have a tendency to prioritize the needs of their organization and their team often at their own expense.
If you miss the warning signs, you might never know they’re actually “not ok” until they quit.
Your High Potentials Won’t Tell You What’s Wrong
We know from the coaching conversations we have with top leaders that they guard their reputation fiercely — they want to be known for achieving results. Being candid about their concerns can feel like they’re accepting defeat which is tough for people who are used to winning.
In our recent research survey, we invited high potential leaders to share the challenges they find most difficult to raise with their managers — and they had a lot to say.
Yes, they take on the additional work given to them in stride and continue outperforming their peers. But they’re quietly starting to worry that they won’t be able to deliver (or more likely over-deliver) in the way they’ve done in the past, because the disconnect between expectations, available resources and time available has simply become too great
Your key leadership talent also needs more help than they’re letting on. Leaders who rate the support they receive from their managers at a 3 or less are more likely to be job seeking. Ironically, we also found that asking for new roles or opportunities is something they’re reluctant to raise with their managers, so typically these managers are completely unaware of the flight risk.
While top talent may not want to talk about it, regular career discussions and check-ins are a key driver in keeping them engaged.
Finally, to keep your high potential leaders motivated, don’t ignore poor performance. One of the biggest pain points for leaders in our survey was seeing low performance being accepted. When expectations for outcomes are set but consequences for not delivering on these outcomes are avoided, your best and brightest find themselves obligated to pick up the slack which contributes to feelings of overwhelm and burnout.
Build Meaningful Relationships, Weekly
The Pareto Principle suggests that we will spend 80% of our time on 20% of the problems. When it comes to talent, the biggest risk for senior leaders is spending 80% of their coaching and development time with the 20% of their employees who are struggling, ignoring the top 20% who seem to be self-sufficient high performers.
Senior leaders who actively stay connected with their top leadership talent are most likely to catch the moments when these leaders start to disengage.
Sure signs that your best and brightest leaders are at risk of disengagement:
- Withdrawing during contentious discussions too quickly.
- No longer putting their hand up to help out.
- Reducing discretionary efforts.
- Providing fewer opinions and ideas in meetings.
If you see any of these signs, here are some things you can start doing:
Have weekly micro conversations. Gallup’s engagement research notes having one meaningful conversation per week with each employee translates into their highest levels of engagement. These don’t need to be in-depth career discussions. Check in to ask, “What was exciting for you this week?” opens the door to growth conversations.
Keep expectations high for everyone. It can be tempting to swing too far the other way and ratchet up your empathy skills if you worry your leaders are struggling. Worrying about disengagement doesn’t mean backing away from high expectations or cutting people slack if they don’t meet performance targets; your top talent will find that demotivating. Keep your targets ambitious and use your 1:1s to ask about pace or volume and to provide support.
Help high potentials set the right expectations for their team. In our research, 52% of top leaders say developing talent is one of their top three motivators, but their drive for performance can lead them to forget not everyone is wired for growth like they are. Your strongest leaders might need guidance on how to set appropriate expectations for their steady performers.
Don’t mistake silence for acceptance. Regular, meaningful contact can be your early warning system that helps you course correct and keep your best leaders from walking away.
We share taboo topics and more in The Roundtable Report on High Potential Leaders, our latest research on their biggest challenges and what they hesitate to tell their senior leaders.
If you want to create the right environment so your best leaders can thrive, book a call with Liane Taylor to explore how we can support you. Our proven processes in team coaching and group coaching have been designed to drive alignment and accountability and are adaptable to the rapidly changing requirements of today’s work world.
