Perhaps you have encountered this challenge — your executive leadership has tasked you with helping them build a robust internal talent pipeline. You’ve been assured that you will have senior leadership support, the cooperation of cross functional leaders, and a budget if you need to forge new training or development efforts. Where do you start?

In our work with clients, we’ve seen a number of different approaches to this challenge and yet, we hear a similar question across this work: “We want to invest in the people who will help lead our business into the future. How do we know who they are?”

There are many factors to consider, no doubt. There’s also countless reasons for strong talent development practices: employees who feel stagnant in their job are 12 times more likely to leave it, talent who feel invested in are likely to stay with their company longer, and dedicated employees are more productive. Not to mention, companies that foster cultures of continuous learning and innovation are more resilient during economic and market disruptions.

Ultimately, most talent development and human resources (HR) leaders we work with say they need to ensure energy and development dollars are used to retain the workforce they will need in the future in addition to the talent carrying them now.

The issue with this is that “future-proofing” your organization is tricky. Roles and competencies that are critical business drivers today may not be critical in the future. There’s consensus among practitioners that relying on performance data only gets you so far — not all high performers will easily adapt and evolve with your business. To get a fuller picture, strategic talent pipeline planning should also account for employee potential.

The key to assessing for potential boils down to the ability to discern key leadership competencies. Below, we offer one model of potential that incorporates leading research on potential and 45 years of experience consulting to talent business leads. These four dimensions, if incorporated into performance review processes, can be used to identify the individuals with the capacity for increased responsibility, scope and visibility.

Let’s consider each dimension, behaviors to look out for and questions to ask your leaders about their talent.

Thinking Agility

This is the ability to make quick connections and come to sound conclusions. People with strong thinking agility often make the people around them smarter with their ideas, manage ambiguity better than most, and are thinking through the future implications of decisions.

In performance reviews or succession planning discussions, consider asking managers:

• Who on your team contributed ideas that significantly improved business outcomes?
• Who are your strategic- and forward-thinkers?
• Which employees come up with creative solutions?
• Who is best at handling ambiguous or complex problems?

Curiosity

Curiosity in this context, describes one’s willingness and capacity to learn and apply newly acquired knowledge. Highly curious people are motivated to learn, demonstrate greater self-awareness on average, and experiment with new ideas to improve outcomes.

Consider asking managers:

• Who on your team is best at making adjustments after a setback? Who seeks and is receptive to feedback?
• Who goes above-and-beyond to expand their knowledge (in both the general and business contexts)?
• Which employees are on the lookout for new techniques, innovations or market trends?
• Who opens up conversation by asking smart questions?

Drive

In the simplest terms, drive is ambition. It’s difficult to say someone has potential to take on more if they don’t desire more. Driven leaders are those who push forward through adversity, enjoy ambitious challenges, and keep their eyes on the prize—they work with the end result in mind.

Consider asking managers:

• Who is best at failing fast (i.e., recovering quickly from setbacks)?
• Who seeks out new challenges or increased responsibility?
• Who goes above and beyond what is expected? How did they deliver?
• Which employees push through challenging conditions to deliver results?

Leads With Purpose

Individuals with potential to lead naturally require an ability to connect. Those who lead with purpose display interpersonal savvy, influence, and an inspiring humility that draws others to them. Ultimately, these are the people most likely to bring out the best in others.

Consider asking managers:

• Are there any individuals with whom most people enjoy working? Who has everyone’s trust?
• Who have you seen encourage or build others up?
• Who demonstrates humility in the way they lead others?
• Who do you lean on to help mobilize others to action?

The talent who fit these four criteria are best positioned to help your business adapt, engage your workforce, and deliver exceptional outcomes. Although we believe you should create learning opportunities for all talent, it’s worth considering strategic development for your high potentials, such as:

• Creating specialized learning activities (e.g., development programs, peer coaching circles, Q&A sessions with executive leaders, etc.).
• Providing stretch assignments that give high potentials visibility and networking opportunities (e.g., multi-disciplinary rotational programs, project-based experiential learning).
• Providing coaching and mentoring opportunities for leaders to establish advocates across the organization.

We would be remiss if we didn’t note that investment in high potentials doesn’t guarantee retention. Talented individuals will always have opportunities. That said, targeted interventions that aid their growth and provide them a sense of momentum are your best bet for keeping them and, ultimately, readying them to assume the key roles your business needs for its future.