Managing talent well has become crucial for finding opportunity in the midst of change, as leaders must shape a workforce with the skills to deliver on strategy now and in the future. Financial capital isn’t the main limiting factor in rising to today’s challenges – talent is. The key to success is a talent-first mindset. Too many organizations go from initiative to implementation without thinking about the talent required. By putting talent first, the human resources function becomes a true driver of business value. We establish talent management as a distinct competitive advantage, matching talent to where the most value is at stake. By delivering on dynamic talent allocation, closing skills gaps, and transforming core systems, we partner with organizations to build the talent capabilities they need to sustain and scale impact.
Establish a talent-first organization
What we do
Support roles and individuals that create disproportionate business value
Pinpoint critical positions with the most value and strategic importance; place the right people in these roles and support them comprehensively.
Enhance skill pools to unlock growth
Assess where a company is long and short on talent by analyzing the capabilities needed to achieve business goals; close the gaps with precision by leveraging upskilling and redeployment where possible.
Design people processes and systems to propel the organization forward
Empower the human resources function to be more strategic and analytics-based; shape capabilities to build and retain the workforce needed to advance the mission.
Featured Capabilities
Complementary to our expertise and knowledge, we offer proprietary analytics-powered digital solutions to address pressing talent questions and make faster decisions rooted in data instead of instinct.
People Analytics: With the predictive power of machine learning, People Analytics generates insights to dynamically allocate talent, identify drivers of performance, plan for the future, and boost workforce motivation while minimizing attrition.
Skills Finder: Powered by artificial intelligence, Skills Finder inventories and baselines employee skills to inform talent decisions, enable internal mobility, and discover untapped potential within the organization.
Strategic Workforce Planning: To prepare for the future, Strategic Workforce Planning enables translation of business drivers into demand for skills and capabilities, assesses expected supply within the organization and in the labor market to anticipate gaps or overages, and identifies how to solve them through reskilling, hiring, and redeployment.
Talent and Org Intelligence: An advanced analytics tool that delivers role, skill, and experience benchmarking, Talent and Org Intelligence offers an assessment of how a company’s workforce stacks up versus competitors.
Talent Match: Through collaborative technology that enables dynamic problem solving, Talent Match helps allocate top talent to critical roles, assemble agile teams, and implement strategic succession planning.
Examples of our work
Turning CEO conviction into value
Operational challenges at an industrial company had hurt financial performance, inspiring the CEO to seek a new approach to talent. By identifying top value-driving roles and enhancing pockets of critical skills, we protected more than $500 million in annual income.
Building talent to future-proof
An insurance company wanted to meet changing customer expectations and invest in digital enablement, but success would require enhanced and fundamentally new skills. After quantifying workforce needs across the business, we created a tailored talent program including development to enable current employees to fill important skill gaps.
Cutting time to attract talent in half
The human resources team at a large consumer goods company struggled with a lengthy hiring process for important but hard-to-fill roles. Shortly after adapting agile methodologies and practices, the team achieved aggressive hiring targets in half the usual time.
Featured Experts
Faridun Dotiwala
Partner Mumbai
Leads performance transformations that boost organizational health, facilitating stronger leadership, shaping culture, and counseling...
Neel Gandhi
PartnerNew York
Advises leading organizations on how to strengthen their talent-management capabilities and build an HR function that operates...
<span>Leads Talent Value Leader Academy</span>
Arne Gast
Senior PartnerAmsterdam
Offers extensive global expertise in leadership development, organizational design, talent management, and transformational change...
Bryan Hancock
PartnerWashington DC
Supports private, public, and social sector clients through expertise in talent management, organizational design, and workforce...
Asmus Komm
PartnerHamburg
Unites diverse teams across the globe on their talent management, leadership, organization design, and change-management initiatives...
Dana Maor
Senior PartnerTel Aviv
Coheads the People & Organizational Performance Practice globally and leads it across Europe. Passionate about shaping organizations...
Featured Insights
Article
Investing in middle managers pays off—literally
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New research shows that having more top-performing middle managers leads to much better financial outcomes. Here are five actions that can set managers and their organizations up for success.
Article
Is your workplace ready for flexible work? A survey offers clues
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Flexible work can deliver both better employee engagement and real estate savings. Here’s how tenants and investors can prepare.
Article
What is talent management?
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Talent management includes all the ways that organizations bring employees on board, keep them happy and productive, and help them continue to develop their skills over time.
Article
It’s (past) time to get strategic about DEI
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Companies have committed to being more diverse, inclusive, and equitable, but many struggle to make significant progress in these areas. Here’s how they can meet DEI ambitions—now and in the longer term.
Featured Podcasts
McKinsey Talks Talent
Bryan Hancock, Bill Schaninger, and other talent experts help you navigate a fast-changing landscape and prepare for the future of work by making talent a competitive advantage.
Podcast
Generative AI and the future of HR
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A chatbot may not take your job—but it will almost certainly change it. Here’s how to start thinking about putting gen AI to work for you.
Podcast
Workplace rituals: Recapturing the power of what we’ve lost
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The right rituals can revitalize meaning at work—and help employees move beyond “me” to “we.”
Podcast
Talent in a changing market: What now?
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High turnover, shrinking pipelines, inflation—the talent market remains in flux. Here’s what you should be doing differently.
Podcast
Stave off attrition with an internal talent marketplace
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Is your best talent hiding in plain sight? An internal talent marketplace helps match existing employees to open roles—in novel and sometimes unexpected ways.
More McKinsey podcasts on talent
Podcast
Getting a read on the state of organizations
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A new McKinsey report reveals how organizations are faring in a post-COVID-19 world. Here, two of its coauthors offer suggestions for managing through the uncertainty.
Podcast
Back and forth: COVID-19’s impact on business in 2021—and today
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The years-long pandemic persists. How can companies continue to adapt?
Podcast
Culture in the hybrid workplace
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Hybrid work is happening. Your culture will need to catch up—fast.
Podcast
The search for purpose at work
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Purpose is personal, but companies play a critical role in how we express it.