Two different things
McKinsey Forward and Talstack are often compared, but they do different jobs. McKinsey Forward is a free programme run by McKinsey.org that individuals apply to, usually with less than five years of work experience. It runs in cohorts for about 10 weeks at around two hours a week. There is no version an employer can buy, assign or track.
Talstack is a platform your organisation uses to train its own people, at any level and at any time.
What Talstack gives your organisation
Courses you can assign
Talstack Learning includes nearly 400 expert-led courses and bite-sized Shorts from experienced professionals, searchable by topic or instructor. You can also build your own private courses with video, text, PDFs and quizzes, combine them with Talstack courses in learning paths, assign training to people or teams with deadlines and reminders, and award certificates, including on your own courses.
Learning connected to performance
Learning sits in the same platform as Performance Reviews, Goals, Feedback, Surveys and Core HR. Reviews show where each person needs to grow, and managers can assign the courses or learning paths that build those skills, so training follows real development needs rather than sitting apart from them.
One platform, one price
Talstack charges one price per employee with every module included, billed annually, so Learning comes with Performance, Core HR and Engage rather than as a separate subscription.
When McKinsey Forward might fit
McKinsey Forward is a good free programme for an early-career employee to apply to on their own. It is not something an organisation can assign or track. For training your whole team, at every level and on your schedule, Talstack is the platform built for it, and the two can sit side by side.
Getting started with Talstack
Our team helps you bring your data across for every part of the platform, from employee records to existing training content, and helps you roll Talstack out to managers and employees.
