The McKinsey Quarterly
The McKinsey Quarterly Chart Focus Newsletter
October 2006 | Member Edition


A better way to manage talent

The war for talent doesn't stop when employees are hired; many managers at large companies find their productivity stifled because they can't find qualified people to train and promote within their own organizations. The culprits: traditional hierarchical mind-sets, which treat talent as "corporate property," and HR departments that chart career paths solely within organizational silos. A few companies are leading the way to a better future by creating formal talent marketplaces that encourage employees to find the best opportunities for themselves.


 

 
Such a marketplace helps a company not only to offer more people more opportunities but also to share talent across the whole organization by posting all vacancies and creating competition across a range of candidates and jobs. For more on how talent markets work and which employees they help most, read "Making a market in talent" (2006 Number 2).



Also of Interest

The people problem in talent management
2006 Number 2
McKinsey research finds that many talent management programs don't deliver real value to the companies that create them, because managers fail to recognize their importance. (We are giving you temporary access to this premium article via a complimentary guest pass. To read it, click through directly from this page by November 2.)

Leadership as the starting point of strategy
2005 Number 1
Many companies fall short of their strategic objectives because top managers underestimate the challenge of finding the right leaders and then of convincing them that opportunities are worthwhile. (Premium)
The 21st-century organization
2005 Number 3
To make employees better able to work together, organizations must encourage them to create and exchange intangible assets. One way is to develop formal markets for knowledge and talent. (Premium)

Matching people and jobs
2003 special edition: Organization
Workforce management software can help some companies with large, distributed staffs find the right people for the right jobs at the right times.


Did you miss last month's Chart Focus?

The value of IT leaders
A trusted individual leader can achieve what IT governance systems can't: focus, energy, and high-level attention to ensure that IT investments deliver real value.