Overview Page
CEB Ignition™ Guide
to Identify and
Assess HIPOs
CEB Corporate Leadership Council™
This six-step guide includes nine documents that will help you: Time:1 6–10 Weeks
■■ Create standardized criteria to assess possible high-potential Effort: 4–6 FTEs
2
employees (HIPOs), Cost:3 $0
■■ Identify HIPOs based on aspiration, ability, and engagement, and Input: ■■ Organizational
■■ Identify skill and competency gaps among HIPOs. strategy and
goals
■■ Existing talent
review and
other employee
evaluation data
Plan Step 1: Plan to identify and assess HIPOs.
1 Task, 1 Document
Build Step 2: Prepare to identify and assess HIPOs.
6 Tasks, 2 Documents
Step 3: Assess selected employees.
3 Tasks, 2 Documents
Step 4: Analyze areas for improvement.
2 Tasks, 1 Document
Step 5: Communicate HIPO status.
2 Tasks, 2 Documents
Monitor Step 6: Monitor the HIPO status.
1 Task, 1 Document
1 Time refers to the total duration for completing the activity end to end.
2 Effort refers to the total number of FTEs required to execute the activity. Get Help
3 Cost refers to the incremental expenses required for the activity and excludes internal resources. from Peers
© 2015 CEB. All rights reserved. HRFR3838415SYN 1 cebglobal.com
Step 1
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6
Step 1 of 6: Plan to Identify and
Assess HIPOs
Lay the groundwork for identifying and assessing HIPOs, and ensure all participants
understand their responsibilities, the process timeline, and expected outcomes.
Business Case
for Change
Project Outcomes Problems Addressed
■■ Improve measurement of potential ■■ A standard process reduces
by assessing of ability, aspiration, subjective assessments and bias
and engagement. when selecting HIPOs.
■■ Facilitate succession planning by ■■ Reduce the chance of
identifying employees with the misidentifying HIPOs.
potential to succeed in critical roles.
■■ Assess HIPOs, and identify skill gaps
for further development.
■■ Standardize the process for
identifying HIPOs.
Roles and
Responsibilities
Head of HR/L&D
CEB Ignition™ Approve the HIPO identification process.
Project Manager
HIPO Program Manager(s)
Lead and coordinate the HIPO identification process and project scoping,
review organization strategy, and lead the implementation and communication
strategy.
HR Business Partners
■■ Identify necessary skills with the HIPO program manager.
■■ Ensure organization strategy and HIPO criteria align.
■■ Validate the list of employees to be assessed.
■■ Coordinate the assessment with managers.
■■ Help managers better assess employees.
Managers of Those Being Assessed
Assess employee potential, and complete employee evaluations.
Potential HIPOs
Complete the employee questionnaire.
Get Help
from Peers
© 2015 CEB. All rights reserved. HRFR3838415SYN 2 cebglobal.com
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6
Before
You Start
Before starting the HIPO identification and assessment process:
■■ Secure buy-in and commitment from the company’s leadership team, and
■■ Gather all available talent data (including 360-degree reviews, succession
plans, performance reviews, and other external benchmarks).
Common
Pitfalls & Keys
to Success
Equating High Use Measures Beyond
Performance with High Performance to Assess
Potential Potential for Success in
Senior Roles
Not all high performers are HIPOs. Using ability, aspiration, and
According to our research, only engagement to identify your
29% of top-quartile performers HIPOs ensures they are truly high
succeed in senior roles. potential.
Manager Bias Use Validated Assessment
to Identify HIPOs
Managers may skew HIPO Create a standardized HIPO
identification toward the direct identification framework that
reports they favor, whether or not encompasses more than just
those employees are actually high manager recommendations,
potential. Manager bias may also which allows for more accurate
cause an organization to overlook HIPO identification.
legitimate candidates.
Overlooked Data Use Existing Data
Organizations tend to overlook Pay close attention to data
data and metrics that they and metrics that have already
already have. been gathered. Data from talent
reviews, succession planning,
and other sources can provide
the information required to
successfully identify and assess
HIPOs.
Get Help
from Peers
© 2015 CEB. All rights reserved. HRFR3838415SYN 3 cebglobal.com
Step 2
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6
Step 2 of 6: Prepare to Identify and
Assess HIPOs
Understand the business-driven competencies that you want your HIPOs and future
leaders to exhibit.
Your Tasks
2.1 Review your organization’s strategy document.
Identify critical talent requirements for the organization, including present and
future needs.
2.2 Determine success measures.
HIPO Metrics Determine what a successful HIPO identification program would look like, given
Dashboard your organization’s strategy and goals. Choose and define success metrics such
as size of HIPO pool, HIPO pipeline quality, or HIPO turnover.
2.3 Create and prioritize a list of important competencies.
Competency Identify a list of competencies (i.e., traits and values) critical to success within
Model Inventory the organization, taking into account current and future organizational needs.
2.0
2.4 Determine the pool of employees to evaluate.
Determine which employees should be assessed from a preselected pool
(e.g., high performers with two years of tenure at a middle-management level
with high performance ratings). Use existing data from within the organization.
2.5 Validate the employee pool.
Review the pool of employees to evaluate if other HIPOs were left off the initial
list.
2.6 Identify essential skills.
Identify specific skills needed for each competency against which each HIPO
will be evaluated. For this step, skills refer to tangible building blocks for
succeeding at the overarching competencies.
Get Help
from Peers
© 2015 CEB. All rights reserved. HRFR3838415SYN 4 cebglobal.com
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6
Case Study
UIL’s Dually Deployable HIPO
Criteria
Review Your
Progress Success Red Flags Team
Criteria Conversation
■■ A pool of employees Low levels of ■■ How do we select the
to evaluate responsiveness from best employees to
■■ Competencies and HR business partners evaluate?
criteria by which to when determining ■■ Are we effectively
evaluate employees pool of employees to using internal
evaluate benchmarks to select
our pool?
Get Help
from Peers
© 2015 CEB. All rights reserved. HRFR3838415SYN 5 cebglobal.com
Step 3
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6
Step 3 of 6: Assess Selected Employees
Identify employees who exhibit high potential.
Your Tasks
3.1 Enable managers to identify HIPOs.
HIPO Manager Ensure managers understand the meaning of potential and can recognize top
Guide talent.
3.2 Survey employees and managers to determine HIPO status.
HIPO Identification Send employee–manager questionnaire (from Employee–Manager
Diagnostic Questionnaire tab) to managers so they can fit it out and have a conversation
with their employees.
3.3 Input scores.
Input information gathered from survey data into the HIPO Identification
Diagnostic (on Input Scores tab), providing an organizational list of assessed
individuals ranked based on potential. View results in the Organization Results
and Individual Results tabs.
Review Your
Progress
Success Red Flags Team
Criteria Conversation
A pool of employees ■■ Scores are too How can we help
identified as having similar; little managers distinguish
high potential differentiation between high potential
between employees and high performance?
in assessment pool
■■ Widespread lack of
survey participation
by managers
Get Help
from Peers
© 2015 CEB. All rights reserved. HRFR3838415SYN 6 cebglobal.com
Step 4
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6
Step 4 of 6: Analyze Areas for Improvement
Identify skill gaps to highlight targeted areas for development.
Your Tasks
4.1 Input competencies and skills to assess HIPOs.
Gap Analysis Tool Input the important competencies and skills identified in step 2 to the Gap
Analysis Tool.
4.2 Create a gap analysis report.
Using existing data from within the organization, evaluate each HIPO based
on skills identified in step 4.1, creating a gap analysis report. The tool produces
results on an individual and organizational basis, revealing development
opportunities for each assessed individual.
Case Study
Johnson & Johnson’s “Folio
Map”
Review Your
Progress
Success Red Flags Team
Criteria Conversation
For each HIPO, there No skills gaps are How can we better
is a list of identified identified. assess for the critical
skills marked for skills that future roles
development. need?
Get Help
from Peers
© 2015 CEB. All rights reserved. HRFR3838415SYN 7 cebglobal.com
Step 5
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6
Step 5 of 6: Communicate HIPO Status
(Optional)
Decide on and implement a HIPO communication plan.
Your Tasks
5.1 Determine whether to communicate HIPO status.
HIPO Use the questionnaire to help decide whether or not your organization should
Communication communicate HIPO status.
Questionnaire
5.2 Implement a HIPO communication plan.
CEB Ignition™ Use the questionnaire to decide whether your organization should
Guide to communicate HIPO status. For help with implementing a HIPO communication
Implementing plan, please see the CEB Ignition™ Guide to Implementing a HIPO
a HIPO Communication Plan.
Communication
Plan
Case Study
Sony’s HIPO Communication
Guidelines
Review Your
Progress
Success Red Flags Team
Criteria Conversation
HIPO communication ■■ HIPOs don’t How do we deliver a
plan understand the consistent message
program. throughout the
■■ Non-HIPOs organization?
complain about
the identification
process.
Get Help
from Peers
© 2015 CEB. All rights reserved. HRFR3838415SYN 8 cebglobal.com
Last Step
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6
Step 6 of 6: Monitor HIPO Status
Monitor HIPO status, and regularly repeat the assessment from a selected employee
pool. Incorporate feedback from key stakeholders and track your success, reevaluating
the process over time.
Review Your
Performance
Closing the Project
CEB Ignition™ ■■ Assess the effectiveness of your HIPO identification process.
Project Reviewer
■■ Get feedback from stakeholders.
■■ Document lessons learned, and make adjustments over time.
Review and Track Performance
■■ Track selected success metrics in the HIPO Metrics Dashboard.
■■ Continually reassess the selected employee list at a regular interval.
Keys to
Continued
Success
Update Competencies
Update competencies and skills necessary as the organization’s strategy
and goals evolve.
Solicit Feedback
Solicit feedback from HIPOs and their managers to update your HIPO
identification process.
Monitor Priorities
Continuously review its alignment with other stakeholders and
organizational priorities.
Related
Resources
CEB Ignition Guide™ to Implementing a HIPO Communication Plan
Get Help
from Peers
© 2015 CEB. All rights reserved. HRFR3838415SYN 9 cebglobal.com
