Marine Corps Establishes the Talent Management Strategy Group

22 Apr 2022 | Maj. Eric Flanagan The Official United States Marine Corps Public Website

Since publishing Talent Management 2030 in November 2021, the Marine Corps has continued to rapidly meet the goals set out by Gen. David H. Berger, the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

In order to make the full transition from the current manpower system to the talent management system, the Commandant has formed the Talent Management Strategy Group, referred to as TMX.

Gen. Eric M. Smith, the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, will serve as the Talent Management Officer of the Marine Corps, and will have direct oversight of TMX in order to address all personnel and cultural issues impacting the Corps’ ability to invest in and leverage a diversely skilled and talented force.

TMX will aggressively address TM2030 initiatives and enable the creation of the talent management system for the service.

“TMX will lead the Marine Corps in the battle for talent,” Berger wrote in ALMAR 007/22. “Creating an enduring talent management system will strengthen our ability to retain the highest qualified and talented force — postured and equipped — to fight and win on future battlefields. I have the utmost confidence in TMX’s ability to embrace innovation, seek the strategic initiative, and sharpen talent mindset in order to build the foundation for a more mature, effective, and lethal force.”

Foundationally, the new talent management system will recruit individuals with the right talents, match those talents to organizational needs, and incentivize the most talented and high performing individuals to remain with the organization.

“TMX will lead the Marine Corps in the battle for talent.” Gen. David H. Berger, Commandant of the Marine Corps

Items already in progress for this campaign include:

- TMX has created a retention campaign, called Recruit the Marine, to address retention of talented Marines. These initiatives are focused on ideas that are current and relevant to Marines’ career goals.

- Marine Corps Recruiting Command has paired with academia to innovate and take a new perspective on lateral entry and specialized recruiting. A new way to attract and retain top talent.

- TMX is coordinating with industry leaders in the human resource and talent management enterprise. Defense companies invited TMX to see how they manage, create, attract and retain talent - demonstrating modern digital tools for their processes and development of the necessary skilled work force.

- Talent Management professionals provided guidance to help the Marine Corps design their approach to Talent Management - energizing the total effort and provide wide perspectives that will lead to success.

- TMX will hold a semi-annual Talent Management Synchronization Conference in June. The conference will invite talent managers and leaders from across the Marine Corps to provide updated insights and recommended considerations for implementation and bottom-up feedback of TM2030.

Read Talent Management 2030

ALMAR 007/22 describes how Talent Management Strategy Group will operate at Headquarters Marine Corps, and discusses the four lines of effort for TMX.