The nextleader can be recognized by certain talents
In our consulting practice, we repeatedly find that applicants for a management position that is to be filled in the short term are often selected using the same methods as junior employees who are actually to be developed in the long term(s). Thus, there is no clean differentiation between competencies and potentials. But actually it is clear: If I am looking for a competent manager for a current management job, I need a competence diagnosis in order to make an optimal decision. But if I am looking for the best talents for a talent pool for later management tasks, then competence diagnostics reaches its limits. After all, how can even the best talent competently (i.e., confidently, consciously, and repeatably) handle difficult leadership situations without knowledge, training, and experience?
Therefore, it is time to implement sensible and action-based potential diagnostics in the entire trend topic of “talent management”. This also offers the chance to discover hidden and less visible talents. In a meta-analysis on leadership potential, we investigated which talents speak for high leadership success here. Read more in our full article.