Part 4 of 4 – High Potential Blog series
How High Potential Leaders Can Optimize their next career move
So you are thinking about moving on from your current role, but you have questions about how to select that right next opportunity. What factors are you considering in this decision: level of responsibility, compensation, title, employer brand? These are all critical factors, but let’s take a look at some others that may be even more relevant to your career growth.
The best time to create a decision filter for new opportunities is prior to interviewing or even actively contemplating a move. By establishing the success criteria in advance of your next move, you create the best chance to serve your career growth objectives.
Here are some questions to ask:
Do I need to find a new employer or a new boss?
When our learning plateaus we tend to start looking for other opportunities outside our current firm. But why not look inside your own company first? Can you identify another area, team or boss to work with that will help grow your skills? If you have already established a track record of success, then your current company is much more inclined to see you shift to a new area rather than see you leave.
Who will you work for and what is their track record for developing their team?
The strongest influence on your future growth opportunities is the person you report to. Before going to work with someone, you want as clear as picture as possible of how highly they value developing the people around them. Here are some questions that may help with that assessment:
How many people have been promoted out of their area over the past 3 years?
Can they give you specific examples of how and when this occurred?
What is their retention rate of High Potential staff?
Who will you learn from?
Will you be surrounded by a Team you can learn from? And will this learning be short or long term? Is your development based one key individual or many?
What new skills are you going to develop? And how will these grow?
Does the role line up with the specific skills that you have previously identified as needing development?
How will these new skills position you for future roles?
Are there identifiable role expansion opportunities from the position you are considering? It would be ideal if the new organization can point to potential future roles and identify what is required to step into these.
How much decision making authority comes with the role?
Will you have the ability to execute your role as it has been portrayed to you? This is a great opportunity to understand if the new organization uses formal authority levels and what yours would look like.
What’s the comp now and in the future?
What does the comp program look like for the role? This much is obvious, but you also want to know what is reasonable to expect in future years. You might ask what is the average annual salary increase for people in this role? And do you have an upper band on salary increases for top performers? These questions will help you avoid situations where the new employer plans to hold your comp flat for the next 3-4 years.
Wrapping Up
This Series is intended to turn a spotlight on the divide between employers and the people that will define their future. The relative value of high potential emerging leaders will continue to grow, given forthcoming industry demographic and technological shifts. How we support skill growth and role expansion for them will influence the success trajectory of both our individual firms and the industry at large.
Written by Andrew Steen
