At McKinsey, you’ll learn by doing. And to make sure you have the best chance of success, we’ve established a uniquely powerful culture of mentorship and coaching.
Mentoring
Formal mentor relationships
When you join our firm, you’ll be assigned a McKinsey partner as your development group leader (DGL). This senior colleague provides active and ongoing support for your career direction and professional growth.
Your DGL offers feedback on your work, participates in your performance evaluation twice a year, and measures your progress against your goals.
But don’t think of your DGL as your “boss.” DGLs are there to help you succeed, and they are evaluated on your progress. Your DGL is your sounding board. Turn to this person for advice—whether you’re weighing your next client study, considering changing offices, or looking further into the future.
Informal mentor relationships
One of the first things new consultants often comment on is how McKinsey colleagues go out of their way to help each other professionally and personally. Helping others succeed is the firm's very real expectation of everyone at McKinsey, in all roles, and at all levels.
New consultants often find informal mentors among senior colleagues while working with them during client engagements. These informal relationships will be the bedrock of your network of sources of professional and personal advice. In turn, you will be expected to mentor other new consultants as you gain experience.
Evaluation
Coaching and feedback
While coaching is everyone’s responsibility at McKinsey, the bulk of it comes from your teams. At the beginning of a project, team members meet to discuss their individual development goals and how the rest of the team can help them. The team then looks for opportunities for everyone to work on their goals.
Feedback is also at the core of our culture. When you’re doing something well, you’ll get reinforcement. When you’re having trouble, someone will point out how you might improve. Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. But the aim is always to help you learn, grow, and succeed. Everyone, even the most senior partners, gets regular feedback, and our consultants come to depend on it as the key to their continual growth.
Performance evaluations and career progression
You will have a performance review at the completion of each client study, as well as two collective performance reviews annually.
Performance reviews are based solely on how well you are doing against a pre-defined and transparent set of criteria—not how you measure against your peers.
How you are evaluated
We evaluate tenure-specific skills across several categories including thought leadership, client leadership, people leadership, entrepreneurialism, and adherence to values. This is how we determine your readiness to progress and what client engagement would be best for you next.
Because McKinsey is a merit-based organization, you will be able to progress as soon as you are ready. You won't have to wait for a spot to “open up”—there is room for everyone.