According to a survey conducted by Gartner in 2025, only 13% of Human Resources leaders consider successor development to be effective in their organizations.
We are becoming increasingly aware of the need of having tools that truly help us to identify and develop employee talent, seeking to maintain business continuity and, above all, adapting to new market challenges. However, we continue to see how this area faces a high degree of subjectivity and a low success rate.
The challenge in measuring potential lies primarily in the fact that the criteria that can predict future performance depend on the perception of those evaluating the talent and, therefore, we often find important controversies during the definition of the future potential of a person.
In this sense, there are interesting trends that bring us closer to effective methods that are based on three fundamental aspects:
» 1. A person’s performance does not depend solely on the person himself
One of the current limitations of the potential mapping technologies is that they measure the “installed capacity” of the person, but they leave out the environment in which said person is applying this capacity. This means that various factors that become key for obtaining results have an impact on a significant part of their current performance. For example, the collaboration of the team in which the person works and the type of leadership that guides them, among many other variables.
Thus, potential analysis must take into account the collaborator and their circumstances, that is, the identification of the employee’s capability for growth or for taking on new challenges also requires mapping of the type of team with which they achieve their results and the way in which other people’s competencies support their performance, with the objective of anticipating the contexts in which the collaborator can achieve his best results.
On occasion, when we promote a collaborator that is successful in one position, we find that results are not as encouraging as expected in their next position. When going deeper into the causes, we can see that the person’s support network was key in the way in which they were able to navigate and face their challenges and, therefore, in the new position, in the absence of that network, their individual capabilities were not sufficient.
This doesn’t mean that the person shouldn’t be promoted, what it creates is the need of making sure that they have the necessary tools or support to ensure that they can succeed in the new position.
» 2. Potential is easier to identify when associated with the capability of responding effectively to new challenges
The second element that has an influence on the effectiveness of talent mapping relates to the very definition of potential. Some internal company methodologies expressed it as the capacity to ascend one or more organizational levels, the problem is that this becomes totally subjective and is also relative to each role and business unit size, which does not permit the application of a standard criterion that gives clarity for executives and those evaluating them.
In this sense, many companies have migrated to measuring agility (the concept of Learning Agility from Korn Ferry developed primarily by Robert Eichinger and Michael Lombardo), which has made it possible to better understand in detail the behaviors that are expected to be identified in the person and that can be markers for the capacity for adapting and responding effectively in new environments.
Although it still has subjective elements, this method is very helpful, as a more specific translation of business challenges and measuring the capacity of the employee to take them on can be achieved. This approach even permits determining a better development plan, as we move from generic competencies to specific challenges that allow us to define behaviors, support, and tools that can empower the executive to achieve their best results.
» 3. Career paths are outdated, we now talk about experience maps
The trend in potential development is evolving toward the measurement of the person’s capacity (in conjunction with their environment) to face the challenges of the new assignment or position effectively. Prioritizing experiences that equip employees with the tools for making decisions in a crisis, addressing more complex problems, identifying risks early reduce the likelihood of failing in a new position.
In other words, we focus employee development on the toughest situations that they will encounter in the new position, and, to this end, we seek out all of those actual experiences that will help them understand and act effectively. The development system even takes into consideration the emotional preparation for facing these problems, as it is often one of the variables that derail performance.
With this approach, career path construction changes drastically, going from vertical growth “ladders” to a more agile and flexible system in which key experiences in maps that are more similar to the levels of a video game are added; as the person goes through them, they are getting prepared for the next challenge.
The advantage of these new approaches of potential identification and development lies in their better alignment with evolving business needs, as they allow for a more flexible growth for people, preparing them for new and different challenges, as they are linked to the way in which technology and consumers’ preferences transform markets and companies.
