You’re conducting performance evaluations. How can you spot the employees with the most potential?

1 Define potential

Before you start evaluating your employees, you need to have a clear definition of what potential means for your organization and your role. Potential is not just about past performance or current skills, but also about future readiness and adaptability. You want to look for employees who have the ability and willingness to take on new challenges, learn new skills, and assume higher responsibilities. You also want to consider the alignment between the employee's goals and values and the organization's vision and culture.

3 Focus on behaviors

When evaluating an employee's potential, you should focus on their behaviors rather than outcomes or results. These behaviors reflect the employee's mindset, motivation, and personality, as well as how they approach problems, communicate with others, and handle feedback. Some of the behaviors that could signal high potential include initiative, curiosity, collaboration, resilience, and leadership. For example, an employee with initiative takes proactive steps to identify and pursue opportunities, while a collaborative employee works well with others and shares information and ideas. An employee with resilience is able to adapt to changes and overcome obstacles, while a leader influences and inspires others.

4 Provide opportunities

Once you identify the high-potential employees in your team, you want to provide them with opportunities to develop and showcase their potential. Assign them challenging and meaningful projects that require them to use and learn new skills, work with diverse teams, and deliver value to the organization. Give them exposure and visibility to senior leaders, clients, and partners who can recognize and appreciate their work. Also, offer them training and coaching programs that can help them enhance their technical and soft skills, expand their knowledge, and grow their confidence. Encourage them to pursue their interests and passions, whether it is related to their current role or a different field or function. Finally, support them with regular feedback, recognition, and rewards that acknowledge their efforts and achievements and motivate them to continue their growth.

5 Communicate effectively

The last tip to spot and nurture the high-potential employees in your team is to communicate effectively with them. Open and honest conversations about their performance, potential, and aspirations should involve sharing expectations and criteria for potential, discussing strengths and areas for improvement, exploring career goals and preferences, soliciting feedback and suggestions, and expressing appreciation and trust. Following these tips can help employees reach their full potential as facilities engineers.