Retail Lending & Financial Services

How we identify high-potential leaders in a growing financial services firm

92%retention of identified high potentials

The problem we were asked to solve

Branch and regional expansion was outpacing the internal leadership pipeline, and senior hires from outside were taking too long to become effective.
High potential identification relied on manager nominations, which favoured visibility over capability and overlooked strong people in smaller markets.
Promising employees were leaving because they could not see a path forward.

Defined potential separately from current performance, using indicators of learning agility, judgement under ambiguity, and stakeholder influence.
Ran a two-day development centre with psychometrics, a strategy simulation, and a stakeholder negotiation exercise.
Gave every participant a personal debrief and a written development plan rather than a pass or fail label.
Paired each identified leader with a sponsor and a structured coaching cadence over nine months.

92% of identified high potentials were still with the organisation eighteen months later.
Over half of new regional leadership roles were filled internally in the following year.
Nominations from smaller markets rose sharply once selection stopped depending on visibility.

XALTEM