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competing for that tricky stem talent –
and what performance management has
to do with it.
It seems like nearly every company I’ve worked with is struggling to attract and retain strong technical
resources, whether their organization competes in the technology space or not. We can chalk up the
demand to the advancement of science and technology’s role in nearly every industry, service, and
product out there — combined with a shortage of the necessary STEM (science, technology,
engineering and mathematics) talent to support those needs. And while there’s a lot of literature
available on how to meet the needs and expectations of this audience, it seems worth adding a few
words on this tricky employee group, specifically in regards to performance strategies.
“First, this group cares a great deal about their skills, knowledge,
and experiences. They want to be current in their field, work with the
latest and greatest in technology or science, and rub elbows with
the best and brightest.”
Let’s start with the employee’s point of view. While acknowledging that no two people will ever want
or care about exactly the same things, we can still recognize some macro themes that come up again
and again that resonate with STEM-oriented personalities. First, this group cares a great deal about
their skills, knowledge, and experiences. They want to be current in their field, work with the latest
and greatest in technology or science, and rub elbows with the best and brightest. Second, they like
to be recognized for that mastery. This recognition can come in many forms, such as awards and
certifications, patents, published works, or speaking at conferences — or simply being recognized by
their peers as a ‘rock star’ in their space. They also care deeply about having the freedom to invent,

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build, design, explore, and play in their field. After all, how can you ever be the master if you don’t
have the time and space to practice your craft?
Now let’s look at what the organization needs from this group. Clearly those mastery skills are
important to organizations, too. Yet many companies struggle to give STEM talent the tools, training,
and experiences needed to stay on the cutting edge of their field of practice. The more the
performance solution you build for them can focus on identifying and aligning your best technical
talent to the ‘coolest’ work, the better.
Another common tension organizations face is wanting all that STEM brain power aimed at the right
work, rather than being distracted by other things. While we definitely want to put more focus on
directing that talent to the best work, we also need to balance that with this groups’ desire for time
and space to do their own thing. I get it: when you’re short on critical technical talent, it’s hard not to
dedicate the talent that you do have 120% to your priority agenda items. However, you need to be a
little more flexible in order to keep this very mobile group happy. Google and other forward-thinking
companies have proven that letting your people use some percentage of their time on their own pet
projects pays big dividends down the line.
“This group tends to hate formality and bureaucracy, so do you
really want to irritate them with the process?”
So how should the desires and interests of both employee and employer influence your performance
design? I recommend focusing on what both care about – in other words, the win/win. Here are some
ideas on how to do that:
 Keep your approach simple. Why? This group tends to hate formality and bureaucracy, so
do you really want to irritate them with the process? Also, this is a valuable resource, so
optimizing their time is essential.
 Push as much authority and ownership as you can down the ranks. STEM folks don’t like
hierarchy any more than they like bureaucracy. The flatter your structure, the better. Create
more opportunities that allow them to work in networked teams with control over their own
resources. This also means more employee-driven and peer-based approaches. Let them be
the rock star in their crowd.
 Invest in building clear technical career paths, and in creating the content necessary to
enabling and communicating those paths. Share information on how they can build their
mastery within your organization, and provide them with resources outside the walls as well.

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 Build a model where you can assess the technical skills, knowledge, and capabilities
that are housed within your organization. A strong technical competency/capability model
will do this. It will also help to have the technical career path agenda mentioned above.
 Ensure that your talent review processes prioritize mobility. In other words, keep your
STEM talent moving to increase collaboration, the sharing of knowledge, and to enhance their
growth, experiences, and learnings.
 Celebrate their brilliance (often). Find ways to highlight progress, solutions, invention, things
of beauty, and innovation. This may be at a team level as much as it is at the individual level.
Recognition can be as simple as a toast at the Friday happy hour or as formal and high-
visibility as company-wide recognition like displaying patents or other awards prominently in
the office halls, or granting annual innovation awards internally
And remember, always connect your investments and their rewards to the things they care about:
building their mastery, recognition of that mastery, and the time and freedom to play.
PeopleFirm is a management and HR consulting firm dedicated to helping you achieve that ultimate
win-win: inspired people driving inspiring performance. We focus on effective tools, measurable
outcomes, real results, and getting your people out of their seats and engaged in your company’s
growth. We use people strategy, talent management, organizational performance, and change
management, to help you partner with your people to build an organization that excels in today’s new
world of work. People are your last competitive frontier. Make them count.
Your people = your success.