Can you really tell who is doing a good job in your organisation, and who just happens to be in the right place at the right time? Searching for High Potential Talent (or HiPos as they are unflatteringly known) can be quite challenging. Drawing together our training and performance measurement, here's a straightforward, practical approach to help you

Define a role in terms of what actually adds value to the organisation.
Yes really – most definitions focus on tasks not value, but your winners come from those who add value as opposed to do tasks. Roles need to be defined in terms of those attributes – skills, knowledge, experience and personal drivers that will deliver success. Understand more about role definition.

Too many people are doing roles where there are no real criteria for success. What is winning supposed to look like for these people? Delivering on time and in budget may be alright for project managers, but what does that mean to a care worker, a sales support technician or a coffee shop barista?
For each attribute in your role definition, you need a clear picture of what good looks like.

If you rely on ‘I'll know when you are doing a good job' – you will never really spot the winners as inevitably we are each affected by how much we like people personally when judging performance. Even sales managers can make major mistakes about talent; for example, confusing the quality of performance with market conditions. Find our more about measurement.

Individual performance is not something to be discussed once a year. It should be a constant dialogue with more formal reviews at least quarterly. (Are you really going to wait 12 months before responding to someone who is not delivering?). The earlier you discuss performance issues, the more impact it will have regardless of whether you are handing out praise or expressing concern. If we have done well we WANT to know now, if we are not doing well we NEED to know now.

If you have quarterly reviews, make sure you have them – don't let them slip or the message is that performance is less important than other issues, when surely it is the most important.