It’s Strategic Planning Season – Is your workforce as ready as you?

In the upcoming weeks and months, board and conference rooms around the country will soon become wall papered with flip charts, whiteboards and colored sticky dots with scribbled aspirations, goals and prioritized strategic initiatives for 2015. This is that time of year when executive minds collectively “stack hands” on bringing future plans to life. The important question is, how can that plan be brought to life in your collective workforce?  Without a doubt, the right workforce planning and execution will determine the fate of almost every organization’s strategic plan. Here’s some helpful reminders to keep in mind while you look to align your workforce with your company’s strategic plans:

1. Understand the outside while looking inward – Multiple staffing and labor statistics show that 80% of organizations have plans to grow their workforce in the next two years. Furthermore, multiple industries are looking for higher skilled workers to execute initiatives centered more and more on improving efficiencies and profitability. By baking strategic sourcing into your company’s planning process, you’ll have a realistic and competitive foothold in how to close the gaps between the plan and achieving actual results. 
2. Map the gap – What’s the current position of your organization’s talent mix and skill set?  What competencies are core to your organization’s business and which are not?  Staying focused on the essential skills you need for talent allow the organization to effectively direct internal recruitment efforts while exploring opportunities for contingent labor, independent contractors, and project-based professionals to handle the non-core and variable skill set requirements.
3. Leverage Expertise – Assess the depth of your corporate knowledge needed to map the talent requirements for each initiative.  Keep in mind that sometimes it’s helpful to engage external partners with expertise. This is a quick, effective way to link strategy to workforce planning and get your initiatives rolling.
4. Measure Results – Action plans should be linked to rigorous measurements and progress tracking.  Linking workforce analytics that produce meaningful data about the quality, cost and fulfillment of your workforce provides valuable visibility. Visibility creates insight and fuels smarter decisions on where to make mid-year adjustments keeping your important initiatives on course to success.