Turning HIPOs into LIONs
By John Chen, CEO, Geoteaming
http://www.geoteaming.com john@geoteaming.com (877) 652-0875
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
I had the honor of facilitating a program for HIPO (High Performers) for a Fortune 500 company. This is a unique group and one that this company is still investing in despite the economic downturn.
To me a HIPO is:
H – Always in a hurry
I – I’ll do it, rather do it myself than teach someone else
P – Praised, which means no honest feedback
O – Offensive, brutally honest, little or no tact.
Like a hippo, a HIPO gets their work done with brute force.
Ala Jeff Foxworthy, I thought I’d offer these 7 indicators if you’re a HIPO.
You might be a HIPO if:
- You do the work of 3 people
- You’ve been promoted twice in a short amount of time
- You don’t get any feedback except ‘good job’
- You rather do it yourself then teach someone else how to do it
- Your teammates don’t like you
- You throw your non-performing teammates under the bus
- The boss doesn’t bring you to any client or high end meetings
I should know what these are, I was one at Microsoft. I was promoted twice in 2 years, then promoted again in 1 ½ years. I left many ‘dead bodies’ in my path of people who I ran over in the name of getting the job done. I was starving for real feedback as every manager I had said I was doing fine, then they spent all their time on troublemakers while I starved for attention and cultivation. Finally, I was heading into burnout, I had worked 4 ½ years with 120 hours per week, I was engaged and I wanted to spend time with my kids when I had them.
You can now understand why a company can justify investing in this group. They would be the last to be laid off and in fact, this is the perfect group to take up the load for all the slackers who weren’t doing the job. In addition, losing of these people would be difficult if not catastrophic depending on the project. Finally, the investment will make long term payoffs for the many who make the jump from HIPO to LION (Leaders In Organization Nirvana). A LION is one make the jump from individual contributor to inspiring and effective manager and leader. Because they were a HIPO, they can be very effective leaders in managing other HIPOs because they know exactly what they want. BUT, they need to change. And change is difficult for most, especially a HIPO who doesn’t necessarily want to listen to feedback even if it’s something they crave (paradox). Let’s look at what HIPOs need to become LIONs.
Top 7 Needs of HIPOs
- HIPOs need direct feedback
- HIPOs need help with tact
- HIPOs need to learn to delegate effectively
- HIPOs need sustainable work habits and work/life balance
- HIPOs need to learn to communicate effectively
- HIPOs need emotional intelligence to manage their emotions
- HIPOs need to become leaders of other HIPOs
In this program, they learn Structured Reflection, a very direct feedback tool that gives their peers permission and a structure to deliver the information they need to be better. I found the need for tact after a teammate solved an incredibly complex challenge, then threw his entire team ‘under the bus’ when he took all the credit for the solution and none for his teammates who helped. I found the worst thing you can do for a HIPO is to ignore them, one team got NO feedback for 60 of 120 seconds and you could feel their pain in being ignored. I found they need communication training, each team needed to give a 2 minute presentation and 7 out of 9 of them were lacking in key messages, power and punch. This is after they listened to 10 hours of executive speaking and complaining that some of the executive failed to communicate clearly to them.
I’m fascinated by HIPOs and what is takes to get them to the next level. I know that I got to being a LION the hard way, there was no support or specific program for me when I was at Microsoft and that I got many of my LION’s share (ha ha) of training from outside sources that I found myself. I also found it close to home, I recalled many stories that hit home with HIPOs that are cautionary tales of how to avoid my mistakes in my past. It turns out I’m a HIPO expert because I am one.
If you’re interested in cutting edge experience and research into what it takes to turn your HIPOs into LIONs, please start a dialog with me and my personal experience by sending me an email. I’d like to hear what you’re seeing in HIPOs and what challenges you have.
John Chen
CEO and HIPO, Geoteaming
(877) 652-0875
2008 Training Magazine Top Young Trainer
2008 Puget Sound’s Fastest Growing Minority Owned Business
