The Importance of Investing in Technologists' Culture

The importance of investing in technologists' culture first cannot be overstated. Tech leaders must plan and build support for technologists any time an organization plans a new investment, such as a new goal or project. To ensure the completion of a new goal or task, talent strategies– such as people-first decisions– need to be scoped first to drive success with the new goal.

However, investing in the right talent strategies is a paradigm shift from consuming to creating. What we mean by this is,  investing in the right talent strategies means organizations can no longer afford to participate in traditional talent strategies by being a consumer of talent; they must redefine tradition by being a creator of talent.

And we start redefining traditional investments in talent strategies by examining and then investing in the talent pipeline and onboarding environments.

Why?

Let's take modern software development, for example. 

Moving from idea to production requires wholescale changes to the way organizations think of and invest in technologists. It also means modern software development requires both a tech and a culture transformation. Optimal workflows don’t translate to high-quality, reliable software without the right skills. And without the proper workflows, skills don’t translate to fast, on-time delivery. 

Ergo, moving from idea to production requires wholescale changes to the way organizations think of and invest in technologists' culture. 

So, how can organizations change the way they think about and invest in technologists' culture? 

A great place to start is examining people-supported processes such as talent pipeline and onboarding initiatives.

Determining which technologists are the best fit for your team is a needed insight to make the most of your team's productivity. This determination means examining and improving how your organization invests in your talent pipeline.

To be creators of talent, we need to enable our organizations to harvest talent from within. To be creators of talent, we must simultaneously cultivate external AND Internal pipelines.

Cultivating your talent pipelines encompasses: 

• Onboarding: delivering world-class experiences
• Upskilling initiatives: developing internal talent through learning and development programs
• Solving roadblocks: examining bottlenecks and modernizing procedures accordingly 
• Talent mobility: creating and enabling vertical and horizontal career paths.

By examining and cultivating both pipelines simultaneously, your organization can focus on identifying the breadth and depth of benefits offered, clear role scope and how technologists are supported before a candidate accepts the position.

Inefficient onboarding is detrimental to an organization, tech leaders and technologists. Modernizing the onboarding process is a win-win for technologists and tech leaders; technologists are moving from their first day to their first commit faster, and tech leaders’ goals won’t suffer setbacks.

Sounds good, right? 

So, how can organizations and tech leaders improve and then invest in their onboarding initiatives?

They can start by examining common areas within onboarding, such as communication, work environments, and bandwidth of experienced team members. 

Another way organizations and tech leaders can improve onboarding before investing is by asking your teams and technologists how your organization can best support them and address challenges and concerns. 

Remember, purposeful and strategic investments in technologists' culture signify that your investments in technologists are intentional and strategic--- And onboarding-technologists are an organization's best asset in assessing the beginning of the employee experience. 

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