Does this sound familiar? Your performance review results are in. One group of employees is consistently productive with its outputs, while another group, although less productive, has demonstrated a mastery of the soft skills and problem-solving abilities you expect in your future leadership roles. You need a productive workforce to reach your sales and revenue goals, but you also need organizational leaders who can address disputes and inspire teams to ensure efficiency. So which development strategy do you prioritize?

The short answer is both. Hard and soft skills are essential to your organizational success, and the majority of business leaders are investing in professional development across their workforces. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs Survey, 63% of employers identify skills gaps as a “major barrier” to business transformation, and 85% of employers are prioritizing skills development between now and 2030.

Investing in your employees’ career development can also help you reduce employee turnover. A survey from Gallup found that 11% of workers who voluntarily left their roles would have stayed with their former employers if there had been better opportunities for professional development.

High-performing and high-potential employee groups have different strengths and capabilities, and recognizing the distinct value each group brings will help you create a stronger talent pipeline across your organization. When you invest in your high-performing and high-potential talent, establishing professional development programs to hone their unique skillsets, you won’t just future-proof your enterprise—you’ll put your organization on the path to transformative business success.

This blog post explores how to identify your high-performance and high-potential workers, why it’s critical to develop unique strategies for both groups, and how to do so effectively.

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High Performers and High Potentials: What’s the Difference?

High performers are workers who exceed expectations, deliver results, and take ownership of their work. They maximize resources and adapt quickly to hit their KPIs, setting the standard for productivity and efficiency in their roles. While these traits can be indicative of someone’s leadership potential, managerial roles require skills and competencies that typically go beyond measurable outputs associated with completing certain tasks.

Your leaders need to be able to delegate, deliver constructive feedback, and inspire their teams. High performers who are promoted into these roles without sufficient training in these skill areas may struggle and cause a possible domino effect in your organization. In a survey of managers in the UK, 49% of respondents said their lack of managerial training contributed to lost productivity at their organizations.

Your high-potential employees, on the other hand, are the people in your organization who demonstrate the ability to grow into leadership roles with the right guidance. They might not be consistently outperforming their peers, but they’re curious, adaptable, and eager to learn. High-potential employees care about the organization’s goals and seek ways to innovate. They’re often adept at communication and likely show signs of leadership readiness, even if they haven’t formally held a managerial role. These are the people who are likely to excel at leading teams.

It’s important to recognize that an employee can be a high performer and have great potential for leadership. The two groups aren’t mutually exclusive. However, it’s also essential to understand that a high performer isn’t necessarily the right fit for a leadership position.

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Why You Need to Tailor Your Employee Development Strategies

It’s easy to lean too heavily on growth strategies for your high performers—they get things done! However, prioritizing the development of these workers in favor of your high-potential employees can leave the latter group feeling unmotivated or disengaged. Overlooking high-potential employees could mean missing out on your next generation of capable and skilled leaders if these workers start to feel disenchanted with your organization and seek external opportunities. Likewise, focusing too heavily on high performers could cause those employees to burn out or seek alternative employment if they start feeling stressed or pressured by your organization’s expectations.

The best development strategy is to personalize professional learning pathways for both groups. No matter where an employee falls on the performance vs. potential spectrum, they’ll likely value career development opportunities. According to LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report, 91% of L&D professionals agree that continuous learning is essential for career success. Many of today’s workers want to upskill and reskill to keep up with evolving trends, regardless of their performance history or leadership potential.

It’s essential that you find a way to balance each group’s development needs. High performers keep your enterprise running smoothly today, while high potentials are the key to where you’re headed tomorrow. A dual-focus workforce development strategy strengthens succession planning, reduces the need for costly external hires, and creates a culture where every employee sees a path to growth.

How to Support and Develop High Performers

Developing high performers means helping them do more of what they already do well while challenging them with new opportunities. You can support their growth by:

• Identifying their goals and aligning development plans with their career interests
• Offering upskilling or reskilling opportunities to keep them growing in their roles or prepare them for lateral or upward moves
• Recognizing their achievements formally and informally
• Providing autonomy and avoiding micromanagement
• Giving regular feedback to help them stay aligned with organizational goals
• Assigning them stretch projects or opportunities to mentor others, further enhancing their impact

How to Support and Develop High-Potential Employees

For high-potential employees, development should focus on unlocking the capabilities they haven’t fully realized yet. Your strategy should include:

• Structured learning and development plans that build leadership, strategic thinking, and communication skills
• Mentorship programs, especially with experienced high performers, to share practical insight and boost engagement
• Broader exposure to different departments, initiatives, and leaders across your enterprise to help employees better understand your organization
• Intentional succession planning conversations so these workers know that you see their potential as future leaders
• Clear goals, communication regarding expectations, and regular coaching and feedback to track progress toward development goals

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Professional Development and Your Overall Talent Strategy

If you want to effectively support both groups of employees, your organization needs to embed the development practices mentioned above into its larger talent management strategy. Define what excellence looks like in your business—the behaviors, mindsets, and outcomes that matter most—and create development programs that:

• Help your future leaders hone their skills
• Give your high performers space to grow and excel in their roles

Your talent management system can help you track who’s demonstrating high performance or high potential so your managers can have data-backed professional growth conversations with employees. You don’t want to put people in proverbial boxes, but it’s important to be transparent about how someone’s performance history informs their development and potential succession plans. When you personalize your workforce development strategies to bring out the best traits in your employees, you’ll be better equipped to prepare your organization for the future.