Let’s not mince words. It’s been tough in the trenches during the economic downturn. This gives us all the more reason to applaud those organizations that have managed to recruit and retain a talented and motivated workforce. These organizations know the importance of aligning the company’s strategic plan with a “people plan.” And now that they’ve weathered the storm, they can look confidently towards the future.

That future includes identifying and developing future leaders – an important but sometimes daunting task. Over the past 20 years, I have worked with leading Fortune 500 and dynamic mid-size companies on developing and implementing internal talent strategies. One of the most important issues we tackle together is talent development – a process that first involves identifying the high-potential individuals already on board and then implementing a plan to grow them into company leaders. It’s my job to get organizations to think beyond the here and now of their well-oiled machine and into the when, not if of management turnover.

So how do leadership teams pick the “heir apparents” without making “apparent errors?” (Here’s a great CNN.com piece on that.) After all, talent development is a major investment of resources. If we identify the wrong people, our time and money won’t yield the dividends we desire. While there is no magic formula, my experience has shown there are three key components to identifying the high potentials in your organization.

Define the Roles

It’s impossible to identify the future leaders in the organization until we map out where the company is going, what might be standing in our way, and what skills are needed to get there. As I outline in my recent article on succession planning, this all stems from the company’s strategic vision. Understanding what success looks like in the future will determine if you need to nurture sales stars or operational geniuses. From there, drill down to document the competencies and experiences required for those key roles. Remember, strategies change with time, so leadership teams will have to make the time to re-define roles regularly.

Review for Quantifiable Skills

Once baseline criteria for crucial leadership roles are established, take a look at your current employee skills inventory. A skills inventory is a compilation of the skills, education and experiences of current employees. Collecting this data should be a collaborative process between team managers and HR; many companies do so in conjunction with performance review processes. Employers that are diligent about keeping this information current and accessible are well prepared to begin the process of looking for potential leaders within.

Assess for Leadership Competencies

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Skills are merely an objective base filter for finding future leaders. Successful leaders possess characteristics like vision, passion, ambition, integrity and emotional intelligence—these are innate (and arguable more subjective) behaviors that are hard, if not impossible, to develop. Using competency maps developed as part of the role definition stage discussed above, leadership development teams use assessment tools and feedback mechanisms to identify those who truly have the capacity to lead.

Building a deep bench of “ready-soons” should be a top priority for all organizations. Identifying those employees who can occupy key vacancies is a first step in filling that talent pipeline. How does your organization recognize leadership potential?

By Cindy Lubitz, Managing Director of inTalent Consulting Group