Tech Talent Tectonics: Ten New Realities for Finding, Keeping, and Developing Talent
Blumberg, S., Kouba, R. R., Thareja, S., and Wiesinger, A. (2022, April 14). Tech talent tectonics: Ten new realities for finding, keeping, and developing talent. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/tech-talent-tectonics-ten-new-realities-for-finding-keeping-and-developing-talent
Sven Blumberg, et al. write: “Despite the formidable challenges in finding tech talent, incumbent companies cannot expect to succeed in the digital world without being technologically strong, which is simply not possible without a deep bench of tech talent. In fact, developing robust people and talent strategies are among the highest-value actions a business can take. Tech talent, therefore, should be a CEO’s top priority. Based on our work on more than 80 technology-talent transformations, we have identified a set of ten realities companies need to face and what they can do to address them.”
1. “You can’t be good at just one aspect of talent management and expect to succeed”
2. “Close your talent gap; it’s wider than you think”
3. “Think candidate experiences, not recruiting process”
4. “Top talent is interviewing you, not the other way around”
5. “You can’t hire or outsource your way out of your talent problems”
6. “Build small, empowered teams with a clear mission, and let them execute”
7. “Eliminate meaningless toil and bad practices—top talent won’t put up with it”
8. “Focus on developer happiness, and productivity and performance will follow”
9. “Stop turning great engineers into bad managers”
10. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are strategic necessities, not special initiatives”
Additional Information
Dhasarathy, A., Frazier, R., Khan, N., & Steagall, K. (2021). Seven lessons on how technology transformations can deliver value. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/seven-lessons-on-how-technology-transformations-can-deliver-value
De Smet, A., Dowling, B., Mugayar-Baldocchi, M., & Schaninger, B. (2021). ‘Great Attrition’ or ‘Great Attraction’? The choice is yours. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/great-attrition-or-great-attraction-the-choice-is-yours
O’Kane, J., & Lundy, M. (2022, March 26). From ‘boomer’ companies to encroaching giants, Canada’s tech sector has a labour problem. The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadian-tech-companies-in-a-global-struggle-to-attract-and-hang-on-to/ UTL Link: http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2Fcanadian-tech-companies-locked-global-struggle%2Fdocview%2F2643163862%2Fse-2%3F
Bernstein, A. (Host). (2022, April 4). The Essentials: Retaining Talent. [Audio podcast episode]. In Women at Work. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/podcast/2022/04/the-essentials-retaining-talent
Photo Source: [Photograph]. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/tech-talent-tectonics-ten-new-realities-for-finding-keeping-and-developing-talent









