Managing High Performance A familiar challenge for any expanding enterprise is how to find and manage the highest potential employees who can over time mature into leadership positions. While there are always more applicants that positions available in senior management, the task of any leadership team is to accurately and with insight find those employees with the greatest potential of success (Ruggiero, 2008). From the very informal succession planning techniques small businesses use that are tantamount of planning sessions, to the much more rigorous and thorough high potential employee development programs, there is a very wide variation in approach and results (Bloch, 1996). The intent of this analysis is to provide a small, rapidly growing company with insights into how best to manage the dilemma of having 50% of its workforce looking to advance their careers with a limited number of positions available while also giving the majority of employees greater job and career enrichment and enhancement. Critical to both of these strategies is the need for creating development and learning plans for employees, in addition to career paths or progressions for them as well. The intent of this...

By using strategic plans and their objectives as the foundation for planning succession, the company will have a much greater level of consistency and lack of conflict in the future. Concentrating on recruiting high potential employees that can contribute quickly and thoroughly to those corporate objectives is critical.
An initial approach to isolating which employees are best suited for the high potential leadership development program needs to include 360-degree feedback from their immediate managers, peers, customers they may have interacted with, suppliers and stakeholders (Bloch, 1996). Based on a 360-degree analysis and assessment through interviews with senior…