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Catalyst | Diversity
HiPo programmes “may not belong there”.
And that’s if we accept the validity of
leadership competency frameworks in the first
place. Swanz believes that, in reality, leadership
competencies can’t be measured: “There is no
psychometric data available anywhere to prove
that competencies are either a state (something
that can be achieved) or a trait (something that
someone is born with).”
Yet, competency frameworks abound. Worse,
they are often used by managers without the
necessary awareness, nuance or context that
might help mitigate their shortcomings. For
Lucy Adams of Disruptive HR, and former HR
director at the BBC, there is a danger that these
frameworks act “like a kind of leadership ‘bingo
card’ where we try and tick all the boxes”. They
perpetuate the myth of the all-powerful leader,
succeeding through individual endeavour and
achievement rather than by getting the best
from their teams, and divorced from workplace
context, culture and even business needs
and output.
Adams also believes that often narrow
definitions of what a good leader looks like
tends to underpin a lack of diversity: “We end
up with the leaders who are more extrovert,
who seem to be very confident and charismatic
rather than those who can build genuine trust,
who build capability and capacity in their teams
and who collaborate effectively.” Organisational
psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
agrees. Writing for Forbes, he coined the phrase
‘faux-Pos’: individuals with the confidence and
self-focus to game the system at the expense
of the ‘hidden gems’ who fly under the radar
but have the qualities needed – such as good
judgement, empathy and self-awareness – to
succeed at the top.
Demotivating effect
“We end up
with the
leaders who
are more
extrovert”
Beyond the question of frameworks, ratings
and selection lies a perhaps more fundamental
issue: the potentially demotivating effect
on colleagues who might also benefit from
development programmes reserved for the
select few. There’s a real danger that HiPo
programmes are deemed, quite simply, to
be exclusive and unfair, soaking up talent-
management resources that might be better –
and more equably – deployed more widely.
It’s not always a great experience for the
HiPos either, saddled with expectations they
may fail to meet or stagnating through lack
of opportunity after expectations have been
raised. It may be no surprise that, despite an
organisation’s best efforts, there’s nothing to
stop an expensively trained HiPo taking their
new-found expertise – or their disappointment
– elsewhere. Research suggests, in fact, that the
majority of HiPo-programme graduates leave
their alma maters within five years of being
singled out. So much for the perceived retention
power of investing in the best.
But perhaps the most compelling reason
why a focus on HiPos is under attack is the
Issue 4 - 2020
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