| REF: | 16343_1016664 |
| DATE: | 20 - 24 Jun 2027 |
| LOCATION: | Dubai (UAE) |
| INDIVIDUAL FEE: | 4600 Euro |
High-Potential Talent Review and Development for HR is a 5-day Practitioner course for HR business partners, talent specialists and line leaders who must decide which employees have the potential to grow, and then develop them. You define potential, run a calibrated 9-box talent review and design development for the people you select, and you take back a HiPo Talent Review Pack. Mercury Training Center delivers this high-potential talent review course.
About This Course
Many organizations label people high-potential on a manager's instinct, so the same names repeat, strong performers are confused with future leaders and nobody acts after the meeting. To follow the course you should already take part in performance reviews or talent decisions. You practice with employee profiles, mock calibration sessions and development planning exercises.
Who It Is For
- HR staff who prepare and facilitate talent review meetings.
- Talent and learning staff who design development for selected employees.
- Line leaders who rate their team members on performance and potential.
- HR analysts who gather ratings, assessments and feedback data for reviews.
- Department heads who sponsor stretch assignments and internal moves.
This course is not for readers who need to plan replacements for every critical role across the organization, who are better served by a succession planning course, nor for new HR staff still learning basic performance appraisal, who suit an introductory performance management course.
Competencies You Will Build
- Defining Potential: you write clear, observable criteria for potential that managers apply the same way.
- Evidence Gathering: you combine performance ratings, competency assessments, 360-degree feedback and career aspirations before any rating.
- Calibration Facilitation: you run a cross-functional calibration session where ratings are challenged on evidence.
- Bias Checking: you spot halo, recency and similarity effects and ask for justification when they appear.
- Development Design: you turn each grid position into coaching, stretch assignments, job shadowing and formal learning.
- Follow-Through Tracking: you track development actions, moves and retention of the selected group.
What You Will Be Able to Do
By the end of the course you will be able to:
- Using your organization's competency framework, draft definitions of performance and potential with behavioral indicators.
- Given a set of employee profiles, rate each one with written justification and place it on the 9-box grid.
- From a draft talent map, plan and run a calibration agenda that settles disputed ratings.
- Given the final grid, write individual development plans that match each employee's box and aspirations.
- From turnover and engagement data, identify flight risks among selected employees and set retention actions.
- Using a short indicator set, report the outcomes of the talent review to senior leaders.
Course Content
Day 1: Defining High Potential
- Performance Versus Potential: Separating Current Results From Future Capacity
- Potential Criteria Built From the Competency Framework
- Behavioral Indicators for Learning Agility, Drive and Leadership Capacity
- Nomination Rules and Eligibility for the Talent Review
- Roles of HR, Line Leaders and Senior Sponsors in Talent Decisions
Day 2: Evidence and the 9-Box Grid
- Data Inputs: Performance Ratings, Competency Assessments and 360-Degree Feedback
- Career Aspiration Conversations Before the Review
- Rating With Written Justification for Each Employee
- 9-Box Grid Axis Definitions and Box Labels
- Draft Talent Map Preparation by Department
Day 3: Running Calibration
- Calibration Session Agenda and Ground Rules
- Facilitation Techniques for Challenging Ratings on Evidence
- Rating Bias Checks: Halo, Recency and Similarity Effects
- Resolving Disputed Placements and Recording Decisions
- Confidentiality and Communication of Talent Review Results
Day 4: Development and Retention
- Development Actions Matched to Each 9-Box Position
- Individual Development Plans With Stretch Assignments and Job Shadowing
- Coaching and Mentoring Pairs for Selected Employees
- Flight Risk Review and Retention Actions for High Potentials
- Indicators for Tracking Moves, Readiness and Retention
Day 5: Practice Building the HiPo Talent Review Pack
- Exercise: Rating a Sales Team on Performance and Potential
- Exercise: Mock Calibration Session for an Engineering Department
- Exercise: Development Plans for Three Grid Positions
- Exercise: Talent Review Briefing for Senior Leaders
- Completing the HiPo Talent Review Pack for Your Organization
Case Studies and Exercises
These are suggested activities.
- Case study: a bank's branch managers rate almost everyone as high-potential; you rewrite the criteria and decide how to recalibrate the list.
- Case study: a manufacturing plant promotes its best technician to supervisor and loses performance; you separate performance from potential and set a better selection rule.
- Exercise: a hospital's nursing leaders disagree on two placements; you facilitate the calibration and record the agreed evidence.
- Exercise: a retail chain's selected employees are leaving within a year; you review flight risk and draft retention actions.
What You Take Back
The HiPo Talent Review Pack is the set of tools you complete for your own organization during the course. In your first month back, you use it to brief line leaders on the criteria, collect the evidence and schedule the first calibrated talent review in one department.
- Definitions of performance and potential with behavioral indicators.
- A 9-box rating template with justification fields.
- A calibration agenda and decision log.
- An individual development plan template and tracking indicators.
Quick Answers (FAQ)
What should I know before High-Potential Talent Review and Development training?
You should already take part in performance reviews, promotions or development decisions. Familiarity with your organization's competency framework helps, since the potential criteria are built from it.
How does high-potential talent review training differ from a succession planning course?
It focuses on identifying and developing a pool of high-potential employees through calibrated talent reviews. Succession planning courses start from critical roles and plan named replacements and readiness for each one.
How does a 9-box talent review identify high-potential employees?
It places each employee on a grid of current performance against future potential, using agreed definitions and evidence. A calibration session then tests each placement, and the high-performance, high-potential box usually holds the strongest candidates for growth.
What do I take back from High-Potential Talent Review and Development for HR?
You take back the HiPo Talent Review Pack: potential definitions, a 9-box rating template, a calibration agenda and decision log, and development plan templates with tracking indicators.
For Your Manager
After the course, the team member can define potential, gather evidence, facilitate calibration sessions and design development for selected employees. They return with a HiPo Talent Review Pack for the organization, first used to run a calibrated talent review in one department and turn its results into individual development plans.
