Initiate Strategic Workforce Planning With These 3 Steps

Equip your HR team to overcome barriers to executing an effective plan.

Strategic workforce planning is a top executive business priority

CEOs cite talent shortages as the top damaging factor for the business outlook. This puts increased pressure on CHROs to effectively resource their organization with the skills necessary for success. 

Strategic workforce planning offers a blueprint to identify talent needs associated with the business’s future goals and ensure the right mix of talent and employment models to meet those goals. Done well, strategic workforce planning helps organizations keep costs down, retain critical talent and accelerate transformative growth initiatives.

Create an Effective Strategic Workforce Plan

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    Overcome barriers to strategic workforce planning to future-proof the business

    The importance of strategic workforce planning is universally acknowledged — but as of 2024, only 15% of organizations are engaging in this planning. A holistic approach bridges the gap between talent leaders and the C-suite by translating organizational strategy into a compelling talent management strategy.

    Strategic workforce planning step 1: Define roles and responsibilities

    Initiating a strategic workforce plan requires effective collaboration between HR and the business. 

    To build solid partnerships, identify the necessary stakeholders and ensure transparency from end to end. Start by outlining key milestones, a timeline and how the strategic workforce plan connects to the operational workforce plan. Then outline the data each stakeholder must provide and actions they are responsible for after meetings. Defining these partner responsibilities helps ensure co-ownership throughout the process.

    Strategic workforce planning step 2: Narrow the plan’s scope

    Strategic workforce planning often stalls when the scope is too broad. It’s easy to fall into the trap of analysis paralysis — striving for perfection by attempting to gather every piece of data available.

    To simplify and enhance the effectiveness of the process, narrow the scope of the strategic workforce plan and the number of inputs into it. Prioritization is key. Invite business unit leaders to submit problem statements and filter them by relevance and the strategic workforce planning team’s ability to act against the problem. Prioritize problems that align well with the top business goals for the year — and then filter the problems further by the availability of data, technology and people to solve them.

    Strategic workforce planning step 3: Practice adaptability

    Many organizations revisit their strategic workforce plans annually, often aligning the review with the finance budget cycle. While any routine is helpful to a degree, successfully executing a strategic workforce plan requires more frequent maintenance. Talent requirements shift rapidly with changing business needs, and a strategic workforce plan can quickly become outdated if only addressed once a year. 

    Conduct frequent audits at shorter intervals to allow for stronger alignment with the business. Consider a mix of quarterly and trigger-based reviews with business leaders to track progress toward the project’s goals. (A trigger might be deviations in company strategy, changes in personnel costs, or technological breakthroughs.) This will allow for easy course corrections and adjustments to ensure the strategic workforce plan remains flexible to the needs of the business.

    Strategic workforce planning FAQs

    What are some common barriers to conducting strategic workforce planning?

    Common barriers to initiating and executing a strategic workforce plan include establishing a clear process, aligning talent needs with strategic business objectives, securing buy-in, demonstrating ROI and adapting workforce planning beyond a one-year planning horizon.

    What is the best way to initiate the strategic workforce planning process?

    Prepare for strategic workforce planning by first establishing the “where” (critical business areas best suited for a strategic workforce plan), the “what” (the key elements of a workforce plan), the “who” (key roles and stakeholders) and the “when” (workforce planning roadmap and timeline).

    Which areas of the business are essential to initiating and executing strategic workforce planning?

    Effective workforce planning is a group effort that requires participation across the organization. Examples of key roles include: 

    • Finance leaders, who help HR align workforce planning goals to financial goals

    • Business unit leaders, who help address capability gaps and make strategic talent decisions 

    • IT leaders, who keep HR and stakeholders up to date on technology trends and advancements

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