Difference between high potential and high performing employees:

☛ High performers stand out in any organization. They consistently exceed expectations and are management's go to people for difficult projects because they have a track record of getting the job done. They are great at their job and take pride in their accomplishments but may not have the potential (or the desire) to succeed in a higher-level role or to tackle more advanced work.

☛ High potentials are birds of a different feather. High potentials have demonstrated initial aptitude for their technical abilities and have future potential to make a big impact. In short, they can do more for the organization-possibly much more-with the caveat that high potentials who are consistently low performers are rarely strong candidates for management roles.

☛ High potentials can be difficult to identify, for two reasons. First, high performance is so blindingly easy to observe that it drowns out the less obvious attributes and behaviors that characterize high potentials like change management or learning capabilities.

☛ Few organizations codify the attributes and competencies they value in their ideal employees which means that managers do not know precisely what to look for to assess potential. As a result, most managers focus exclusively on performance and that can be a problem.