Strategic Workforce Planning

Workforce planning is a systematic process for identifying the human resources required to meet organizational goals. Specifically, the plan involves having the right number of people; with the right knowledge, skills and abilities; in the right positions; at the right time. Often companies choose to grow organically, by using existing employee personalities and abilities to determine roles and responsibilities. Planning happens “on the fly” and job duties end up leaving gaps or having overlaps. This is costly to the company and can lead to frustrated employees and supervisors, as expectations keep shifting or an employee migrates out of their intended position.

Workforce planning allows for a more effective and efficient use of staff. It helps ensure replacements are available to fill key vacancies. It makes it possible to make staffing decisions based both on the work needed and the funds available. It provides realistic and accurate staffing projections based on skills needed to do the work. It provides clear training and development goals and priorities focused on the work that needs to be done. It may also help the company prepare for restructuring, reducing, or expanding its current workforce.

Workforce planning requires an analysis of numerous factors, including current staff, short- and long-term needs, and weaknesses in the talent pool. Proper planning calls for a detailed understanding of the skills of the workforce and decision tools to maximize the company’s talent pool.

Planning the workforce requires an overall understanding of the company’s goals and strategies. The skill set of the workforce should align with these goals. If the company is planning on expansion, for example, the workforce to support the expansion needs to be identified, put into place, and trained before the expansion rolls through the company.

Some of the steps to consider when planning your workforce are:

1.        Review your organization’s strategy, for your area. What are your current workforce needs? Start with a clean piece of paper and draft the deliverables, duties, tasks, and outcomes necessary to run your area and meet your strategic goals. What are your future workforce needs? Write down the “future state” of your organization if your goals are met.

2.        Document your existing workforce competencies, job levels, certifications, etc. Also document turnover and time in position in order to assess how often you may need to (re)fill the position. Consider time to train the position as well.

3.        Create a projected workforce based on your goals and existing trends. Ask yourself questions like:

a.        What changes (technology innovations, process developments, organizational structure) are expected?

b.        How will these changes affect the work? How will they affect the skill requirements?

c.        What will the planned organization look like – number of employees, competencies, certifications?

4.        Align your existing workforce with your projected workforce. Identify gaps or excesses in headcount, knowledge, skills, abilities and experience. During this process you will: identify skills needed for success; develop retention strategies; consider training versus recruiting to fill gaps; consider contractors versus hiring; and create mentoring programs for staff needing nominal development.

5.        Review your plan with your supervisor to get approval and spot any weak areas in your plan.

6.        If your plan calls for a new role, ask yourself the following questions:

a.        Will structure changes better allow the company/ department to achieve its goals?

b.        Where are more people needed?  Fewer?

c.        Which skills are lacking? In surplus?

d.        Will the tools used in the past support the future direction?  Will the tools needed to support the strategy require new skills?

e.        How expensive will the change be?

f.         What are the critical positions?  Where are the retention risks?

7.        Draft a job description

a.        Define the position – write down everything you want in a new hire before you assign a title to the position. Think about desired outcomes, specific deliverables, as well as duties or tasks critical to success.  You may have to eliminate some as you hone the list to acceptable professional standards and the market, but you will start with a better idea of what you are hiring for.

b.        Title the position and the department to whom the new hire reports.

c.        Write a summary overview of what the position entails, followed by a bulleted list of job duties and responsibilities.  Include all key areas of responsibilities.  Include a catch-phrase line to include additional “duties as assigned” to prevent a “that wasn’t in my job description” conflict later on.

d.        You may want to include a list of people and positions the hire will consult with on a regular basis.

e.        Qualifications should be in a separate paragraph.  Reflect any particular skills, attributes, or credentials necessary to perform each responsibility on the list. 

8.        Determine the best way to change the workforce:

a.        Buy – recruit and hire talent

b.        Build – develop and promote talent from within the company

c.        Borrow – contract

d.        Trim – reduce the number of employees

9.        Determine approximate cost of the new role - Each initiative must be evaluated on cost, benefit, and value.  Create budgets for each option, evaluate opportunity costs, determine capacity requirements, and check in with financial goals.

10.     Get authorization – give your job description and completed Intent to Hire form to your supervisor for approval.  Once you have supervisor approval, give to the HR office for review and approval.

11.     Finalize the job description – make any necessary changes to the job description and post.

How to Delegate Meaningful Work

          The hallmark of good supervision is effective delegation.  Delegation is when supervisors give responsibility and authority to subordinates to complete a task, and let the subordinates figure out how the task can be accomplished.  Effective delegation develops people who are ultimately more fulfilled and productive.  Supervisors become more fulfilled and productive themselves as they learn to count on their staff and are freed up to attend to more strategic issues.

Delegation is often very difficult for new supervisors.  Many supervisors want to remain comfortable, making the same decisions they have always made.  They believe they can do a better job themselves.  They don’t want to risk losing any of their power and stature.  Often, they don’t want to risk giving authority to subordinates in case they fail and impair the organization. Finally, delegating takes time and effort to prepare the information and communicate desired results. It may seem easier to do it yourself, rather than take the time to show someone else how.

Delegating the tasks you have mastered will free you up for more challenging work that develops you; and will build your employees’ skills and abilities. You want to foster employee involvement and employee empowerment to enable your team members to deliver their best effort at work.  These tips for successful delegation will help you help your employees succeed when they are most empowered. 

Employee - select an appropriate employee, one with the right level of experience and time.  If you select an employee who will need training, be sure to account for this in your presentation of the project or task.

Big Picture - whenever possible, give the person a whole task to do.  (If you can’t give the employee a whole task, make sure they understand the overall purpose of the project or task.  If possible, connect them to the group that is managing or planning the work.  Staff members contribute most effectively when they are aware of the big picture.)

Establish Expectations - make sure the employee understands exactly what you want them to do and when you want it completed.  Ask questions, watch the work performed, provide examples, or have the employee give you feedback to make sure your instructions were understood. Include in your expectations a list of outcomes or ways the task must be completed grouped by importance: “must haves,” “nice-to-haves,” and “non-directed.”

Authority - give authority to match the level of responsibility.  Be sure to let the employee know when they can make decisions and when they need to consult you.  Below is a list of delegation levels with examples of when to use each one:

·         Tell – the delegate has low ability; the project must be done a particular way; surprises are not acceptable

·         Sell – the delegate has moderate ability; the project must be done a specific way

·         Test – you have ideas but are open to other ideas and insights

·         Consult – the delegate has moderately high ability; others might have innovative ideas or know more than you do

·         Delegate – the delegate has high ability; you can define the vision and don’t need to know the how

Checkpoints – identify the key points of the project or dates when you want feedback about progress.  This is the critical path that provides you with the feedback you need without causing you to micromanage your direct report or team.  You need assurance that the delegated task or project is on track.  You also need the opportunity to influence the project’s direction and the team or individual’s decisions.

Closure – after the task or project is completed, meet with the employee to review how the delegation went. 

·         Did you select the right employee?

·         Did the employee have enough authority to keep the project moving? 

·         Were the timelines realistic? 

·         Did the employee have access to tools and training necessary to complete the project? 

·         Were the instructions clear and concise?

When you receive the delegated work back, give yourself enough time to review it thoroughly. If you accept unsatisfactory work, the employee does not learn how to do the job properly. Go over your review with the employee step-by-step, so that they can learn your review process and understand more about the desired results. Of course, if their work is good, make sure to reward the results using your highly-honed feedback skills.

What Makes a Plan Successful?

Many people fail to realize the value of a project in saving time, money and many issues. Even small projects should be thought through; otherwise problems can quickly spin results out of your control. A good plan creates a platform for communication, establishes and manages expectations, and prioritizes and focuses resource utilization.

Specifically, a project plan should have these elements:

Goal – a project is successful when a goal has been attained. It is important that you identify the stakeholders in your project and find out their needs. Take the time to understand their true needs so that your project creates real benefits. Your goal statement should be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Framed.

Once you have defined the project goal, create a list of deliverables. Specify how and when each one should be completed. These can be translated into milestones in the schedule below.

Scope – this section of the project explains the boundaries of the project, establishes responsibilities for team members, and sets up procedures for communication, delegation, and approval. The better the scope is set at the beginning, the easier it is to adapt the plan to changes along the way.

Schedule – create a list of tasks to carry out for each deliverable and assign a due date. For each task, identify:

·         the amount of effort (hours or days) required

·         the resources assigned

·         any contingencies to be met

Budget – assign a cost for each deliverable. Be sure to include wages; equipment purchases, maintenance or rental; supplies; and contractor costs.

One of the common realizations at this point is that the project has an unrealistic delivery time or cost based on estimates. The Iron Triangle gives you the following options to ensure project success:

1.        Renegotiate the deadline (time)

2.        Employ additional resources (cost)

3.        Reduce the deliverables in quality or quantity (scope)

Now you should have a reasonably well thought-out plan. While you may have spent some time at your desk that you would have rather spent completing actionable items, this process will result in a plan that:

·         Clearly communicates the goal and scope of the project

·         Uses resources effectively and efficiently by detailing tasks with responsibilities, priorities and deadlines

·         Provides transparency to team members and stakeholders

·         Identifies risks and plans for contingencies so that setbacks can be dealt with quickly

Decision-Making Strategies

Decision making is a process of identifying and evaluating choices.  The three types of decisions we make are: routine, impulsive, and reasoned.  Deciding what to eat for breakfast is a routine decision; deciding to do or buy something at the last minute is considered an impulsive decision; and choosing your career is, hopefully, a reasoned decision.  Below are some tips to refine your reasoned decision-making process.

Decision making has much in common with problem solving.  In problem solving you identify and evaluate solution paths; in decision making you make a similar discovery and evaluation of alternatives.  As you weigh alternatives, use the following suggestions:

·         Consider the outcome each is likely to produce, in both the short term and the long term.

·         Compare alternatives based on how easily you can accomplish each.

·         Evaluate possible negative side effects each may produce.

·         Consider the risk involved in each.

·         Be creative, original; don’t eliminate alternatives because you have not heard or used them before.

A comparison analysis is a great tool to help work out the importance of certain aspects of the decision. It’s a way to compare apples to oranges, so to speak. It helps to prioritize objective data when you have different, subjective options. Selecting between candidates for an open job position is a good example of this tool in action, where you are comparing qualifications, skills, and experience against your desired position.

First, make a list of the aspects you want to compare. Assign each aspect a letter of importance (A is most important / relevant; B is second, and so on).  Try to keep the list to five or fewer options. If you have more than that, some of the aspects may be facets of the same thing, or may not truly be relevant to the decision. In our example, let’s say Computer Skills, Teamwork, Warehouse Experience, Management Experience, and Problem-Solving are the five aspects, in order or importance.

Second, write the options in columns across the top. In our sample, it would be the candidates you are comparing, let’s say Amy, Tom, and Mike.

Third, rank each option according to the aspect on the left. If you have three options, you would assign each option according to the aspect a number one (lowest) through three (highest, or most like). This part is subjective, and that’s ok. You may need to write out your defense of the ranking, or talk it through with someone else. This process will organize your thoughts and help reinforce your ranking.

		Amy	Tom	Mike
Computer Skills	A	3	1	2
Teamwork	B	1	2	3
Warehouse Experience	C	1	2	3
Management Experience	D	3	2	1
Problem-Solving	E	2	3	1

Fourth, give the rankings a weighted score. To assign weight to each aspect, use a multiplier of 1 plus the number of aspects being compared. For example, if there are five aspects, the “A” aspect would have a multiplier of 1.5, the “B” aspect would have a multiplier of 1.4, etc. Multiply the option’s ranking times the multiplier. Total the weighted scores, the option with the highest score would be the one to choose.

		Weight	Amy	Tom	Mike
Computer Skills	A	1.5	4.5	1.5	3
Teamwork	B	1.4	1.4	2.8	4.2
Warehouse Experience	C	1.3	1.3	2.6	3.9
Management Experience	D	1.2	3.6	2.4	1.2
Problem-Solving	E	1.1	2.2	3.3	1.1
Score			13	12.6	13.4

If you disagree with the results, examine your aspects and your rankings to make sure these are an accurate reflection of your priorities. In our sample case, Mike would get the job offer because even though he didn’t score strongest in the first aspect, he scored best overall, with strong teamwork and warehouse experience. 

Another common decision-making tool is the “Pro – Con” approach. A branch-off of that is the Pro – Con – and Fix method. After listing the pros and cons, go through the list of cons and determine which ones can be mitigated, or fixed.  Evaluate each Con to determine if it:

·         truly impacts the result

·         can be combined with another con 

·         can be eliminated, mitigated, or neutralized. Write the “fix” in a column to the right of the Cons.

There are as many methods of reaching a decision as there are decisions to make. Check out the quiz: How Good Are Your Decision-Making Skills to find out how you rate.

Problem Solving

Much of what supervisors do is solve problems and make decisions.  New supervisors, in particular, often solve problems and make decisions by reacting to them.  They are “under the gun”, stressed and very short for time.  Consequently, when they encounter a new problem or decision they must make, they react with a solution that seemed to work before.  It’s easy with this approach to get stuck in a circle of solving the same problem over and over again. 

To prevent this as a new supervisor, get used to an organized approach to problem solving.  Much of your problem-solving confidence will come from having a tried-and-true process to solve problems quickly and effectively. Below are six steps to frame your problem-solving process.

1.        Define the Problem – identify the problem as specifically as possible.  Evaluate the present state and determine how it differs from the goal state.  Writing it down can be very helpful in clarifying and organizing your thoughts. Taking the time during this step will ensure that a) there is a problem; and b) that your solution actually addresses the real problem. So often, when we hear about a potential problem we race to act. A lot of time and resources can be saved by spending time defining the root cause.  

2.        Analyze the Problem – learn as much as you can about it.  It may be necessary to look beyond the obvious, surface situation, stretch your imagination and reach for more creative options.

a.        Interview others who are involved

b.        Be flexible in your analysis

c.        Consider various strands of impact

d.        Brainstorm about all possibilities and implications

e.        Research problems for which you lack complete information

f.         Seek help – consult your coach or mentor, or discuss with your department head

3.        Formulate Possible Solutions – identify a wide range of possible solutions.

a.        Be creative

b.        Consider similar problems and how you have solved them

c.        Use advice from more experienced supervisors

d.        Check for existing company resources regarding the same or similar problems

4.        Evaluate Possible Solutions – weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each solution.  You may use a classic “Pros & Cons” T-diagram to organize your thoughts.

a.        Think through each solution and consider how, when, and where you could accomplish each. 

b.        Consider both immediate and long-term results. 

c.        Mapping your solutions can be helpful at this stage.

5.        Select One Solution – consider compatibility with your priorities, amount of risk, and practicality.

6.        Monitor the Solution – revisit the solution to evaluate the effectiveness.  You may need to tweak the results to get to the goal state.

Keys to Problem Solving

Think aloud – problem solving is a cognitive, mental process.  Thinking aloud or talking yourself through the steps of problem solving is useful.  Hearing yourself think can facilitate the process.  If you are not in a place where you can think aloud, use a word processor on your computer.

Allow time for ideas to “gel” or consolidate.  If time permits, give yourself time for solutions to develop.  Distance from a problem can allow you to clear your mind and get a new perspective.

Talk about the problem – describing the problem to someone else and talking about it can often make a problem become clearer and more defined so that a new solution will surface.

Think maybe your problem-solving skills are already up to the challenge? Take this quiz and find out! How Good Is YourProblem Solving?

KPI's for Your Business (and QuickBooks' Company Snapshot)

Running a small business is all about the details.  So much that you can lose sight of the direction your business is taking.  Key Performance Indices (KPI) are a great way for you to see the big picture.  
          Although there are standard KPI's out there for you to use, they can be just about anything, customized to your business.  The trick to making the KPI's significant to you is easy, just follow these steps in making your choice:

1. Use your vision or business plan to focus.  Is customer service your mission?  Choose KPI's that relate to responsiveness, timeliness, and quality of service.
2. Choose 5 or less KPI's to keep an eye on.  Make sure you have one for revenue, one for profitability, and one for cash. 
3. Look at these first, before you look at the rest of your financial statements.  The summary will give you a direction for your review, and you can find answers to your questions.

Quickbooks' Company Snapshot is a ready-made tool that does just that.  Unfortunately, your choices are limited, but there are some good ones in there.  You can program the Snapshot to open on your desktop when you open Quickbooks, which is a good way to get in the habit of checking your company's big picture.

• Open the Company Snapshot (in the bar next to your Home button).  To add content, click the "Add Content" link on the upper left hand side.  You can scroll through the Quickbooks options to select five that work best for you.  
•  I recommend that you use the Income/Expense chart, the A/R Aging report, the Account Balances list, the Vendors to Pay list, and either the Top Customers by Sales or Top Product Sales.  You can arrange these on your desktop by dragging.
• To remove graphs or reports, click the upper right hand "X" and Quickbooks will delete it from your desktop.
• To program Quickbooks to open this report every time you start Quickbooks, with the Company Snapshot open (and no other windows), go to Edit/Preferences/Desktop View and select the Save Current Desktop option.  Click the Save button and you are done!
• There's also a Payments tab at the top of the Snapshot that will take you to another summary screen that is oriented towards receiving customer payments and making vendor payments.  This can be customized similar to the Company page.

There are three other KPI's that I would highly recommend you include at least in your monthly reporting:  Cash Gap, Expenses Per $ Revenue, and Product Margins.

How to Host a Successful Meeting

          Have you ever attended or hosted a meeting, only to be disgusted with your fellow attendees' behavior or the complete waste of time?  Wait!  Before you schedule your next meeting as a host or attendee against your better judgement, consider the following.
          Meetings should only be held in two situations:  collaboration or conversation.  Any other circumstances can be taken care of with a memo or a short power point.  If you must hold a meeting, follow these four steps and attendance and attitude will improve:

1. Send an agenda and your meeting materials the day before.  You may even send a task or reminder set the day before so that people arrive to the meeting informed and ready to go.
2. Be on time and stick to the meeting time frame.  If the discussion looks like it will go long, reschedule that item for another time.  This is being respectful of other peoples' time, which will be much appreciated.
3. Invite the right people.  Check your attendee list, are you missing any key decision makers?  Do you have any extra attendees who don't need to participate in the discussion, only be informed of the results?
4. Send a follow-up with a summary of decisions and assignments that came from the meeting.

If you are not the meeting coordinator, but you often find yourself attending useless meetings, try these steps to manage your meeting holder:

• Start meetings on time.  If the meeting holder is late, wait 10 minutes, then send a polite request to reschedule.
• Request an agenda and meeting materials the day before the meeting.  At first, you may not get anything back.  Stick with it, if the host knows that you are going to request information beforehand, eventually they will catch on and send it with the invite.
• Keep the meeting time limited.  If a particular topic goes long, suggest moving it to another time.  If the meetings you attend often extend past their time limit, politely excuse yourself from the meeting and offer to contact someone to get the information you will miss.  Sometimes just making this gesture will wrap up a meeting that's dragging.
• Send a follow-up email outlining the decisions and action steps that you will be taking as a result of the meeting.

There are just some people out there who are habitually bad meeting participants.  The best you can do is follow the above steps and keep your cool.

A free resource to help plan, organize, and collaborate your meetings is MeetingKing.  It's an online tool to create agendas, store and share documents, track tasks, and keep a record of past meetings.  

The 8-Hour Workday Habit

          Have you ever heard of the game called Superfection?  It's a timed game, where you fit pieces together into the shape of squares on a board.  If you do not get all of the pieces on the board before the time is up, the board pops up with a loud "kapow" and the pieces go flying.  I had it as a child, and spent many hours beating the timer.  Recently, my daughter pulled the game out, and I heard the familiar sound of the timer, the "kapow", and her squeal as she played.  Of course, my son and I had to get involved.  I remembered that my best time was 60 seconds, and the challenge was set.
          Amazingly, I recalled the skills I had developed when I was younger and was quickly able to bring my time down to 59 seconds.  My son was impressed with how calm and deliberate my hands were as I played.  My kids are still working on it.  Then my son had an intriguing idea.  What if we set the timer to only have 60 seconds on it?  What would happen when we weren't just beating our time, but we were under pressure to beat the game's "kapow?"
          As a small business owner, you put in as many hours as your business needs to be successful.  You often have 12 to 14-hour days, and never a day so short as 8 hours.  As a matter of fact, you could say that you are in the habit of working long hours.  The thing about habits is that they become ingrained.  We perform the habit's motions but lose the meaning.  
          Business owners in the habit of working long days lose a sense of time.  Since they are "at work" most of the day, tasks can take as long as they need to.  If you are in a service business, appointments can run long, because your day is booked in units of customers instead of units of time.  You just start at the beginning and work until you've seen all the customers on you schedule for that day.  This can be true of other business types.  The mindset is on completing the task, not on the time it takes to do it.  
          While giving the customer or task as much time as it takes may seem like superior customer service, in reality, it leads to inefficiencies and waste.  The customer may not appreciate that you are consistently late to start their appointment (because of the overlap from previous appointments), or that their appointment with you runs long.  Taking longer to complete tasks most often does not mean that you did a better job, it just means that it took longer and so your day stretches on.
          Another effect of an endless day is that you begin to mix your personal activities with your work time.  Since you are never home and never have time off, you begin to take care of your personal emails, bill paying, phone calls, and maybe even errands during business time.  This is a matter of survival, right?  If not now, when?  The result is that you always have a working mindset.  You never give yourself down time, you never feel you are away from the business, and burnout drags you down further.
          I propose that you take a different approach.  Set the timer to as much time as you want to give your business in a day, before you start your day.  You may even set a reminder to go off an hour before your day ends, so that you can take stock and wind up your day.  Start with a 10-hour day, because cutting too much time off too quickly will lead to frustration.  Since you are creating a new habit, you will have a learning curve.  Plan on struggling with it at first, but just like a diet, forgive yourself and start fresh with the next day.
          You will need to clear your personal activities off your work day calendar.  You will need to schedule a reasonable day.  You can use tools from The Busyness Habit to help.  Be firm about the timer and end your day when it goes off.  You will be amazed at how quickly you will adjust to the day, and your new habit will be to go home at a reasonable hour.
          Playing Superfection with the threat of the "kapow" caused me to go back to some old struggles.  My hands were shaking and I had trouble getting the pieces to fit together.  But then, I took a deep breath, reminded myself that I could to this, and went back to calmly beating the timer.

Photo courtesy of marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com

The Busy Habit

          As a small business owner, you know what busy is.  Often, you are wearing multiple hats and performing jobs in which you have little or no training or background.  You know you'll figure it out eventually, or grow your business and hire someone else to do it.  In the meantime, you are spending a lot of time learning new skills and, well, running a business.
          Busy is an attitude, not a state of being.  Creating habits to help you stay organized and manage your schedule can reduce your stress level, and give you confidence in your day.  You will probably have as much, or more, to do; but you will feel like it is manageable.  

• First, write out your to do list, highlight the important tasks (no more than five), cross off the rest, then store the list in your drawer.  The To Do List exercise is a good tool to focus your thoughts and help you keep your eye on the big ticket items, but you can burn a lot of time tending to it and a long list can make you feel defeated before you've even started.  At the end of the day, get out the list and rewrite it for the next day, adding any tasks that came in during the day, but save the highlighting for when you are fresh the next morning.  Put a big check mark next to completed items and enjoy that satisfying feeling.  
• Second, set realistic expectations early and often.  Your customers, suppliers, and employees may demand more from your business than you are prepared or capable of giving.  Know your limitations, communicate that, and then stick to them.  You may have to get in the habit of considering your calendar and capabilities before you accept a new obligation.  Practice saying "sure, but can I get that to you tomorrow (or another reasonable time frame)?"
• Last, use your email program to organize and schedule your time, then commit to sticking to it.  Most programs come with reminders, tasks, and the ability to move emails to your calendar.  Categorize your emails and tasks during your To Do List exercise.  Block time on your calendar for administrative tasks, phone calls, meetings, and follow up.  When you are obligating yourself or your business, open the calendar and use it.

If you keep these three points in mind as you work through your day, how you spend your time becomes easy.  Just like a diet or new exercise regime, being organized is a habit.  The initial effort takes time, but eventually it will become a background part of your day.  If you find yourself slipping, or you have a "busy" day, take a deep breath, remember that tomorrow is another chance, and forgive yourself.