Build or Buy?

What’s Your Underlying Talent Strategy?

Every effective talent strategy must tilt toward either building talent internally or buying it externally. Both paths are valid. Both come with strengths and risks. But trying to balance both without clarity and discipline often leads to poor execution and missed opportunity.

The real trap? Being caught in the middle—hiring externally because of poor succession planning, or promoting internally without the right capabilities or support. In practice, no strategy is ever 100% Build or 100% Buy—but without a clear preference and consistent follow-through, you won’t gain traction with either.

The table below outlines some of the key dynamics between Build and Buy strategies:

Strategy Only Matters If It’s Executed Well

It’s not about picking the “right” strategy. It’s about executing your chosen strategy well, and ensuring your organisation stays ahead of the talent game. For example, even if your focus is on building talent, you still need to recruit exceptionally well. And if your focus is on buying talent, you still need strong development and retention systems.

Execution requires commitment, capability, and the discipline to review your performance honestly—and adjust when needed.

Use the following checklist to assess whether your current approach is delivering:

 Your Build strategy is working if:

• You recruit externally for less than 10% of senior roles
• Your promotion and development move rate is between 15–20%
• You invest more in development than on recruitment
• Your succession plan has a ‘Ready Now‘ candidate for every critical role

 Your Buy strategy is working if:

• You have strong pipelines of external talent ready to bring in
• Recruitment is proactive, and you hire great people when they become available—not just when roles open
• Your managers are skilled talent scouts who can “sell” the organisation
• Your employment brand attracts top-tier candidates

If you answered “No” or “I don’t know” to any of the above—it may be time to pause, reflect, and recalibrate your strategy.

Don’t Get Stuck in the Middle

The worst strategy is no strategy—or one that tries to please everyone but delivers little. Choose your path. Resource it. Stick to it. And be bold enough to course-correct as needed.

If you suspect your organisation is stuck in a talent strategy trap and want to sharpen your approach, we’re always up for an open conversation.

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Justin Miles

Manager Partner, Melbourne at Generator Talent

Justin is the Managing Partner of our Melbourne office, an outcome focused leader with a track record of driving business performance through proven talent and organisation development practices. Justin’s methods and skills have been shaped by working with performance oriented leaders in great companies including PepsiCo, The Campbell Soup Company, Diageo, Rip Curl, Fonterra and Wesfarmers, in Australia, the USA and Latin America.