Grow Your Own Recap: Turning Internal Talent into Your Competitive Advantage
Posted on October 24, 2025
On October 15, we were pleased to welcome Monica Darroch as the facilitator for Grow Your Own: Internal Mobility and Building Market-Ready Talent from Within, a webinar that explored how internal talent mobility can be the secret to your organization’s success. Here are our top takeaways from this jam-packed, insightful session.
Putting it into Context
The workforce has shifted dramatically in recent years, and organizations are feeling the impact from multiple directions. COVID-19 disrupted career paths for new graduates while promoting many experienced professionals to exit the workforce earlier than expected. As Darroch pointed out, “the experience gap has never been wider.”
At the same time, hiring costs have soared, with the average new hire costing upwards of $6,500 per new employee. The accelerating pace of change is also taking a toll, contributing to high turnover and the loss of valuable institutional knowledge.
Against this backdrop, internal talent mobility is no longer just a nice-to-have; it’s a strategic necessity. Investing in employee growth not only closes skills gaps but also builds engagement, loyalty, and resilience.
Internal Growth as a Competitive Advantage
Darroch highlighted that lack of career growth remains the second-largest driver of turnover. “By demonstrating opportunities for professional growth, you strengthen that investment and commitment to employees that lead to higher engagement and ultimately reduces your turnover.”
Investing in continuous learning not only benefits the individual, but it also creates a more agile, future-ready workforce.
She continued to share that in a fast-changing environment, adaptability is the new competitive advantage. Developing adaptability requires fostering a growth mindset—the belief that skills and abilities can be developed through effort, feedback and learning. When organizations cultivate this approach, employees feel safe to take risks, experiment, and take on new challenges. This mindset fuels innovation and transforms learning from a one-time event into an ongoing part of the workplace culture.
Organizations that prioritize learning will be better prepared to pivot when necessary and take advantage of emerging business opportunities.
Strategies for Growing Internal Mobility
Creating a culture of continuous learning starts with re-imagining how we define career growth. Darroch shared that the average Canadian will have 5-7 career shifts in their lifetime. “Why not facilitate those career shifts? Allowing and facilitating employees to move up, down, and across will not only strengthen the fabric of your organization, but it will also develop well-rounded employees who can contribute to many areas of the business.”
By embracing a latticed approach to growth, organizations can foster deeper engagement and long-term retention.
Organizations can further support internal mobility by celebrating growth milestones, sharing success stories, equipping leaders to champion development, and ensuring equitable access to learning opportunities by facilitating mentoring and knowledge-sharing opportunities.
Taking the Next Step
In closing out the webinar, Darroch concluded, “Developing market-ready talent isn't accidental. It takes a deliberate approach that empowers employees to learn, adapt, and share ideas that will drive your business forward. As leaders, we may not be able to predict every skill the future will demand (…) but we can absolutely create the conditions for people to grow, experiment, and stay ready for whatever comes next.”
Future-proof your organization with market-ready courses and micro-credentials at the School of Continuing Studies. Get in touch to learn more about our customizable and bulk-enrolment courses that directly work towards solving your organization’s challenges and skill gaps.