Q&A Interview with Tadhg Bourke, SVP of Global Talent at Cisco – Part 1   

We had the great privilege of speaking with HR/talent veteran Tadhg Bourke, who is currently the SVP of Global Talent at Cisco. The insightful conversation focused on the importance of organizations taking a “total talent viewpoint,” which integrates talent and workforce planning, recruiting, internal mobility, and talent development and learning. According to Tadhg, while these activities are all inextricably linked, many traditional HR teams view them in a modular manner, which introduces redundancy and ultimately underserves the business. 

Tadhg provided so much valuable information that we’re breaking down our conversation into two parts. Below is part one of our conversation, which includes tips for organizations to better connect various functions that fall under the talent umbrella to build high-performing teams that achieve business objectives.  

‍In your experience, why is it so critical for organizations to adopt a "total talent viewpoint”? 

Contrary to what one might expect, it’s less common for organizations to adopt a total talent approach. Typically, HR teams are not working cross functionally in an integrated manner to achieve business goals. Over the last couple of decades in my career, I’ve seen HR teams organized in certain verticalized manners. Verticals are identified and each given different objectives and key results (OKRs), and that may or may not lead to a semblance of coherence at the total talent level. So, I believe there is a gap there that needs to be addressed.  

I like to use this sports analogy to compare organizational strategy: if you’re coaching a soccer team, there’s going to be both defensive and attacking coaches, and they need to align on game strategy. Similarly, in an organization different leaders must understand and work toward the overall business goals for the year, rather than focusing on their individual objectives. Overall, it’s critical that the team works together to achieve the business strategy.  

Using this total talent approach, how can organizations build an ecosystem where recruiting, talent development, and internal mobility are interconnected to deliver a more agile and resilient workforce?   

Ultimately, the different pillars of HR should bridge talent gaps to achieve broader business outcomes, particularly in creating value for stakeholders and shareholders. However, these HR teams often get caught up in their specific metrics, such as the number of hires, time to fill, or cost per learner, which can lead to myopic goal setting. It's crucial for HR leaders to educate their teams about how their efforts align with the company's overall business strategy, ensuring that both recruitment and talent development are working toward the same goal: building a diverse and capable workforce to meet the organization’s future needs.   

This approach emphasizes the importance of a unified, macro view of talent management rather than focusing solely on narrow, departmental objectives. That’s where Revature comes in as a talent as a service company, because it plays a critical role by acting as a bridge between recruiting and talent development functions. By offering the Total Talent Solution, which encompasses the Emerging Talent Program and Digital Academies, that supports both hiring and employee development, Revature helps ensure these HR teams work in tandem to meet the company's evolving talent needs, ultimately contributing to the organization's long-term success. 
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How does effective workforce planning integrate with your overall talent strategy, and what role does it play in forecasting both current and future talent needs across recruiting, mobility, and learning?   

Workforce planning is very important to align talent strategies with business goals, serving as the "quarterback" that coordinates efforts across HR functions. As a discipline, workforce planning is about understanding the business, where it’s headed, and then translating this understanding to direct the talent organization. Without effective workforce planning, recruiting and talent development often operate in silos, responding to micro-level inputs or tasks from individual business units. For example, recruiting leaders may focus on fulfilling specific job requisitions based on sales leaders' needs, while talent development teams address skill gaps based on feedback from engineering leaders. This fragmented approach can lead to inefficiencies, as each team works on isolated tasks without a cohesive strategy aligned to the company's broader objectives.   

A well-structured workforce planning process helps bridge these gaps by bringing business leaders together to prioritize key initiatives for the upcoming year. By understanding the business's strategic direction and talent requirements, workforce planners facilitate a conversation between executives and the talent organization to balance hiring needs with available resources. This process results in an interconnected plan that outlines which areas require recruitment and which need talent development. The workforce planning leader acts as the quarterback, ensuring that the recruiting and development efforts are synchronized and strategically focused, ultimately creating a more coherent and effective talent strategy that supports the company's long-term success. 
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‍How do you balance external recruitment with internal talent development, and why is it essential for both to work in tandem? 

Many companies struggle to understand the true skills sets and capabilities within their workforce because they lack rich, detailed data on both employee experience and competencies. While HR systems capture information like employee headcount, location, start date, compensation and more, they don't provide insights into the actual skill sets of employees. This gap has driven the rise of skills-based initiatives aimed at deepening talent intelligence. I previously worked at Netflix, and just as Netflix uses vast customer data to shape its content offerings, HR leaders are working toward developing a similar level of data on their workforce, allowing for more informed decisions about talent development and deployment.   

As the demand for internal talent grows, particularly for upskilling/reskilling and redeploying employees to new roles, organizations need to centralize and deepen their skills data. Once this rich talent data is available, it enables a more strategic approach to workforce planning. By identifying "ready talent" – employees with the right skills who can be quickly mobilized – companies can better allocate resources to strategic projects. For employees with adjacent skill sets, which I like to call “pre-ready talent” or “near-ready talent,” targeted bootcamps or development programs can close the gap and prepare them for new roles. Finally, for areas with significant talent shortages, such as a shift to building new capabilities, talent acquisition efforts can focus on hiring external candidates with the necessary expertise. However, this requires all teams to align their efforts with the broader business strategy to ensure that talent initiatives contribute coherently to the company's long-term goals. 
 
Stay tuned for part 2 of this conversation, which we will publish next month! 

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