Why You Should Care About Performance And Potential To Grow Your Career

Aren’t potential and performance the same thing?

Absolutely not!

But it’s not surprising you might think of them as one and the same because the terms are often mistakenly used interchangebly.

What’s The Difference Between Potential And Performance?

Performance and potential are both employee development terms.

The simplest definitions are that performance refers to results an employee exhibits in their current role whilst potential predicts the likelihood of future success (Mercer).

You’re probably already familiar with the concept of performance on the job.  Between the two,  it is the term most openly discussed in organizations.

You likely talk about your performance regularly with your boss, co-workers, and even clients and customers.

And, if you’ve ever participated in a performance review process, you already know discussing your job performance serves many purposes.   Including helping to determine how well you are executing your job responsibilities.

Performance is usually measured by what you’ve done in the past.  And how you are doing totday.

Potential, on the other hand, strives to predict future capabilities.  Unfortunately, many companies make the mistake of using past performance to predict potential, which is inheritantly wrong.

And I am willing to bet that at some point in your career, you’ve experienced the consequences of such a misstep.

Have you ever had a bad manager and wondered how they ever got into the role in the first place?

More than likely they were promoted or hired into that role based on past good performance in a related, but different role.

A typical scenario is that the woman who exceled as a Senior Business Analyst applied to be the Supervisor of the business analyst team.  And because she was such an exceptional business analyst, she got the supervisor role.

But supervising a team requires a very different skillset than being a business analyst.  Yet in this classic example, performance was not distinguished from potential.

 

Why Are Both Performance And Potential Important To Your Career Growth?

At every stage of your career journey, both performance and potential are needed to grow and excel.

If you are looking to be promoted internally or to move to a different organization, smart companies will seek to determine whether you are a high performer,  high potential or both.

Research suggests that only 30% of the workforce are both (Hogan, 2019).

But if you fall into that category, organizations will be eager to invest in you.  Not just to support your continued performance today, but also for tomorrow with the hope that you will continue to develop with the company and eventually take on higher level roles.

Many companies, particularly large organizations, have formal, transparent processes to assess performance (i.e., annual performance reviews). And  performance is usually easily observed.

But the same is not always true of potential.

To be considered high potential, you need to have the “ability, engagement, and aspiration to rise and succeed in more senior, critical positions” (Gartner).

So potential is trait based, and thus not as observable as performance.

Some organizations try to assess potential scientifically through formal assessment measures and defined competencies, particularly for leaders.  Other organizations attempt to determine potential through observation and past performance, which is inconclusive.

And there are still organizations that don’t even measure or include potential as part of hiring and promotion decisions.

 

How To Use High Performance And High Potential To Your Advantage In Your Next Career Steps.

 

Here are a few ways you can leverage the distinction of high performer or high potential to your advantage throughout your career.

1. Find out from your current employer whether you are a high performer, high potential, or both.

   The easiest way to get this information is to ask your direct manager or human resources.  Be advised, if your organization assesses potential, it may not be information readily shared.  In fact, some companies have practices against disclosing potential designations due to employee morale and rentention concerns.

2. Include your high potential and/or high performer designation in your professional summaries…

   …in your resume, applications, LinkedIn, performance reviews, etc.  It’s one way to make yourself stand out.

3. Ask what being a high performer and/or high potential means for your career within the company? 

   If you want to grow,  be very clear on if/how the company will support your development (i.e., training, promotion fast-track, etc.).  You also want to understand if there will be new expectations of you when you fall into either category. Note: Performance and potential criterion are different at each company.  So those distinctions won’t necessarily “transfer” with you when you take on new roles.

4. When taking on a new role or joining a new company, inquire about how performance and potential are measured, and if there are any specific programs for each.

 

Final Thoughts.

For sustainability and growth, every organization needs both high performing and high potential employees.

So as you strive to have a meaningful career, knowing where you stand in the organization in terms of performance and potential is one surefire way to proactively manage your journey.