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.

Hosting Great Meetings

“Doing great things takes more than a great vision and a great team. It takes great execution, down to the nuts and bolts of day-to-day organization. Meetings get a bad rap, and deservedly so – most meetings are disorganized and distracted. But they can be a critical tool for getting your team on the same page.” Justin Rosenstein, employee of Google, Facebook, and Asana (http://blog.asana.com/2013/03/the-5-secrets-to-leading-great-meetings/).

Meeting management tends to be a set of skills often overlooked and undervalued by leaders and managers.  However, with just a few minutes’ forethought and preparation, we can avoid frustrating and time-wasting meetings. Productive meetings can be invigorating, motivating, and reconnecting. Follow these steps to improve attendance and attitude:

1.        Selecting Participants - invite the key decision makers; do not to invite attendees who could avoid wasting time by getting a short summary after the meeting.

2.        Developing Agendas – send an agenda and your meeting materials to attendees the day before.  You may even send a reminder or task set the day before so that people arrive to the meeting informed and ready to go. 

3.        Establishing Ground Rules for meetings – below are some suggested ground rules, you may add or subtract from the list as you wish.

a.        Start the meeting on time

b.        Members will arrive having read the materials and prepared for discussion

c.        Cell phones and other distractions are off

d.        Share all relevant information

e.        No idea is a bad idea

f.         All ideas and opinions will be respected

g.        The focus should be on goals, not solutions or personal intention.  A solution is a strategy of how you meet your goals.  The group will create solutions to an agreed upon mutual goal.

h.        Stick to the agenda, or focus of the meeting

i.          Before the meeting ends, the group will jointly design next steps that demonstrate the level of commitment necessary to succeed

4.        Time Management – be on time and stick to the meeting timeframe.  If the meeting requires visual aids or the use of equipment, give yourself an extra 15 minutes to set up.  If the discussion looks like it will go long, reschedule that item for another time.  It may be because attendees do not have enough information.  Tell the attendees that you will research their questions, or give other attendees the opportunity to do the same before the next meeting.

5.        Closing Meetings – send a follow-up with a summary of decisions and assignments that came from the meeting.  Include any non-participants who may need to be informed.

If you are not the meeting coordinator, you can still facilitate meetings with the following steps:

·         Start meetings on time.  If the meeting holder is late, wait 10 minutes, and then send a polite request to reschedule.

·         Request an agenda and meeting material the day before the meeting.  At first, you may not get anything back.  Sick 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 actions steps that you will be taking as a result of the meeting.

Setting Powerful Goals

Why Set Goals?

The process of setting and achieving goals can be like building a ladder from where you are to where you want to be. Sharp, clearly defined goals that are meaningful to you can give you a sense of purpose and improve your self-confidence. Simply knowing where you are going can mean that you will get there faster, just ask Wayne Gretzky, the NHL’s all-time leading scorer. Writing your goals down and sharing with others can increase your chance of successfully completing them. 

How to Successfully Achieve Your Goals

Goal achievement is influenced by writing meaningful goals, committing to goal-directed actions, and being accountable for those actions. Below are five steps for writing your goals:

1. Set Goals that Motivate You – make sure that they are important to you. Relate the goal to the priorities in your life, and then focus the goal down to its essence. One great check is to ask yourself “Why?” after you’ve written the goal down, and keep asking until you have the single nugget of purpose. Then rewrite the goal to address that purpose.
2. Set SMART Goals

Specific – well defined; clear to anyone who has a basic knowledge of the project

Measurable – know if the goal is obtainable and how far away completion is; know when it has been achieved.

Achievable – results are attainable.

Relevant – relates directly to company goals, and measures actual outputs such as products, deliverables and accomplishments

Time-Framed – enough time to achieve the goal; not too much time

3. Write Your Goals Down – this makes it real and tangible. Use positive action words like “will” instead of “would like.”
4. Make an Action Plan – plan all of the steps needed along the way. By writing down each step, then crossing each one off as you complete it, you can measure progress towards your goal.

Here’s an interesting fact: each time we successfully achieve something, our brain releases the reward chemical dopamine. Dopamine activates the part of the brain responsible for pleasure, learning and motivation. Thus, the more you succeed, the more likely you are to continue.

5. Stick with It – build in reminders to focus, review your goals regularly, and communicate your plan to someone who will hold you accountable.

Writing goals is a skill that improves with practice. I have been using the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey as a goal-setting platform for many years, and each year I refine the process and get better at setting goals that I am motivated to achieve. Each year I review my goals over time and realize that my life is truly a tapestry, not just a series of random events.

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

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?

5 Steps to Planning A Successful Project

The key to a successful project is in the planning.  Creating a project plan is the first thing you should do when undertaking any kind of project.  Taking the time to plan a project can seem tedious, especially when you are excited about the potential outcome, but having a project plan can save time, money, and many problems.  There are five elements of a project plan:

1. Goals:  A project is successful when the needs of the stakeholders have been met.  The best way to determine who the stakeholders are and their needs is to conduct interviews.  Take the time to understand the true needs that create real benefits.  Once you have a comprehensive list of needs, assign them a priority level and create a set of  SMART goals.  Record the set of goals in the project plan.   
2. Deliverables:  Create a list of things from the goals that the project needs to deliver in order to meet those goals.  Specify how each item should be delivered.  Add them to the project plan, under the relevant goal, with an estimated delivery date.
3. Schedule:  Create a list of tasks to be carried out for each deliverable.  Identify the amount of time required to complete the task, the resource, and any contingencies to carrying out the task.  Use this information to refine the estimated delivery dates listed under the deliverables. One of the common realizations is that the project has an unrealistic timeline based on your estimates.  Consider the following actions to reestablish expectations:  1)  Renegotiation of the deadline (project delay); 2)  Employment of additional resources (increased cost or personnel); 3)  Reduction in the scope of the project (less delivered)
4. Budget:  Assign a cost for each deliverable.  Be sure to include resource wages; equipment purchases, maintenance, or rental; supplies; and contractor costs.
5. Supporting Plans:  Below is a suggested list of plans that could be a simple, one-page memo to support your project plan.

• Human Resource Plan - a list of participants and resources, with their roles and responsibilities
• Communications Plan - a document outlining who needs to be kept informed of project progress, as well as frequency and method of communication
• Risk Management Plan - identify as many risks to your project as possible.  Track the risks with a simple log, write down what you will do in the event that it occurs, and what you will do to prevent it from occurring.  Some examples of risks are:  time and cost estimates too optimistic, unexpected budget cuts, unclear roles and responsibilities, poor communication, and lack of resources.

photo courtesy of MyStrategicPlan.com

Project planning is a skill that improves with practice.  The first project will take some time to develop, but keep at it, for you will find that this exercise will help you to keep the project on track and to clearly communicate expectations.