The Marine Corps’ new talent management plan forgets what makes the service unique
Talent Management 2030, the new plan for overhauling the personnel policies of the Marine Corps, threatens to change the ethos of the Corps.
BY GREGORY NEWBOLD | PUBLISHED APR 21, 2022 8:28 AM
OPINION
No organization, no matter how successful, can afford to stand still. Truly excellent organizations are always both self-critical and inclined toward experimentation. The Marine Corps, despite a record of unparalleled combat excellence over its long history, is not exempt from this principle. But a distinguished record of performance ought also to temper impulsive judgments and radical actions without fully, even exhaustingly, testing each premise and outcome. This is most especially true in personnel policies which are inextricably linked to a culture that relies not on “things,” but on the heart and soul of its members.
Talent Management 2030, the new plan for overhauling the personnel policies of the Marine Corps, threatens to change the ethos of the service. But it isn’t just the Marine Corps that will be affected by these changes because a changed ethos of the Corps has consequences for the security of our nation. Some background…
The magic that creates U.S. Marines and distinguishes the Corps from other services and other militaries of the world begins at the recruit depots. Here, a diverse group of individuals, accustomed to the norms of a society oriented toward individual pleasures and rewards, arrives and is introduced to psychologically sophisticated shock therapy. The depth and rigor of this transformative experience are purposeful — to crush the natural bias of a society oriented toward “self,” and turn a collection of individuals with their own intentions and goals into a cohesive, seamlessly blended organism, much in the way that individual members of an orchestra become a symphony. But this symphony’s success or failure can have lethal consequences, so changing its orientation ought to be performed with delicate hands and an appreciation that some acts of human interaction under stress are eternal.
https://taskandpurpose.com/opinion/marine-corps-talent-management-critique/
