The Art of Adding “Strategy” to “Workforce Planning”
Strategic Workforce Planning Certification from HCI
Written By: Mahmoud Mansi
The meanings behind some words change as the world changes, perhaps the definition is the same but the essence behind is different. An example for these words are “leadership” and “strategy”.
50 years ago when the “manpower planning” exercise was developed – also referred to as headcount – it was a strategic and viral role indeed. In today’s competitive corporate world, calculating the “headcount” is not considered a strategic exercise anymore, and it is not a sufficient tool to plan for the future of talent, and therefore the future of the entire organization.
The Human Capital Institute developed the SWP (Strategic Workforce Planning) course/certification to empower the workforce planning exercise by adding the “strategic” element.
In today’s world “strategy” has many angles; agility, innovation, leadership, sustainability, engagement, people oriented, etc… At many occasions such terminologies are used as “buzzwords” but what gives meaning to them is the application, the methodologies used towards application, the impact it generates and the expertise to apply. In the SWP certification program, HCI has assured that all of the following success criteria are integrated within the course.
As mentioned in the SWP toolkit, the difference between strategic workforce planning and basic workforce planning is that the SWP includes the following:
- Alignment with strategic plan
- Target positions with greatest impact – pivotal roles, “A” jobs
- Define various “futures”
But how to define the “future”? What are the parameters that would help a workforce planning strategist set a talent plan for not only one future, but several futures? According to the SWP toolkit, there are “megatrends” that shape the future of the environment, the economy, therefore the demand and supply and eventually the industry. Examples of these megatrends are technological breakthroughs, accelerating urbanization, climate change, etc…
The SWP certification program actually influences the “futurist” talent within, which is one of the vital competencies mentioned in strategic workforce planning toolkit.
Defining various futures is a process that is profoundly reflected through the HCI tools, backed up with tens of case studies and workshops that are shared and conducted during the 2-day interactive program.
According to IBM only 13% of organizations are good at predicting “future skills”, therefore learning and applying strategic workforce planning is a differentiated move, not only for the individual, not only for the organization, but on a wider scale impacting the global economy. As Joelle Laguerre – HCI facilitator – simply stated, “SWP starts with the business strategy and ends with business results.”