This post is co-authored by Loren Margolis, MSW, leadership faculty at the State University of New York and executive coach at Training & Leadership Success, a global leadership development firm.

I had just completed my third year at my former company and was having my annual performance review. I shared my accomplishments with my manager and told her that I felt that I had potential to grow. It wasn’t the first time that I told her that I was eager to tackle new things. She had been supportive that year and even gave me increasingly higher-profile projects, which we were discussing in my review.

When she was done sharing her appraisal, she exclaimed, “Congratulations! We decided that you are a high potential!” I was both excited and confused. I had heard the term 'high potential' batted around – mostly by my peers. But the process to become one and what it meant was never clarified. My manager had not discussed it with me either. So, my head was spinning with questions:

“What exactly is a ‘high potential’?”

“What does it mean for me?”

“What do I do now?”

Categorizing employees based on their level of potential and performance is a fact of organizational life. It helps companies develop and manage their most prized resource — their talent. A high potential employee not only excels in their current role but goes above and beyond expectations. Research shows that these professionals are usually in the top 5% of employees........

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