Understand the essentials of Strategic Workforce Planning through a review of the overall planning process and the key steps involved. Included in the presentation are tools and understanding analytics as part of workforce planning.

1. SPONSORED BY
Strategic Workforce
Planning:
Preparing for Your Future
Workforce
Presented by: Michele Croci
Organizational Development & Talent
Management Professional

2. About the Facilitator
Principal & Senior Consultant, Talent Experiment.org. , Currently, Organizational
Consultant and Faculty with the American Management Association. Recent Senior
Faculty for the Human Capital Institute.
With over 30 years of experience in HR, OD and Talent Management, Michele has
held several executive roles in Learning, OD and TM organizations within Fortune
50 and 500 companies.
Certified in over 35 programs in the areas of Leadership Development, Talent
Management/Human Capital Strategy, Coaching, Performance Management,
Change Management and Organizational Development.
Published author and international speaker in the area of Talent Management,
Competency Design/Development and Leadership Development.
Michele holds a Masters Degree in Adult and Continuing Education from California
State University, Los Angeles and a Bachelors Degree in Business and Psychology
from Antioch University.
She is a member of Greater Good Science Center, ATD, AAUW, ISPI and NOW.
Michele has held several leadership roles in ATD and AAUW.
Michele can be reached at 1.310 375.3782
email: michele@talentexperiment.org, or michelecroci2@gmail.com.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelecroci1/
Michele Croci MA.Ed, CPT, MHCS, HRBP, SWP, CPLP, Coach

3. Learning Objectives
At the end of the workshop, participants will be better
able to:
• Build the Business Case for Developing a
Workforce Planning Strategy
• Define Critical Roles for Organizational Success
• Identify Current and Future Workforce Trends
• Recognize the Key Components Linked to
Workforce Planning
• Evaluate Workforce Planning Outcomes

4. Agenda
Strategic Workforce Planning
 Define Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP)
 Building the Business Case
 Understanding Critical Roles
 Conducting an Environmental Scan
 Conducting a Workforce Gap Analysis
 Developing Strategies to Address the Gaps
 Evaluating Workforce Planning Results

5. Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) is a
systematic process for designing an
organization’s future workforce and
determining the most effective practices and
policies to close the gaps to meet competitive
demands and future workforce needs to
achieve organization goals.

6. Strategic Workforce Planning allows an organization to:
• Think beyond today, or even the near future to
prepare strategically for talent needs.
• Set up a comprehensive people game plan for the
next 2-3 years.
• Move beyond common assumptions to minimize
dangerous talent need blind spots.
• Build systemic and strategic thinking in the leadership
ranks.

7. …So what is the game plan for the Workforce Planning
Strategy?
The role and the approach….

8. Talent Management and the Role of SWP
The Strategic Workforce Plan is the foundation for
talent management strategy and practices.
Talent Optimization Lifecycle
Competencies
& Analytics:
Points of
Integration
Org.
Impact
Talent
Impact
Work
force
Plan
Org.
Strategy
Change Management
Michele Croci 1.310.375.3782 2018
Talent Pipelining/
Pathing
Employee Value
Proposition
Engagement

9. A PRACTICAL APPROACH

10. Insure the Business Case: Link the
Strategic Workforce Strategy to the
Business Strategy
What needs to be done
different?
How far and how
fast?
Have I thought about the
operational details?
BUSINESS Drivers &
Key Stakeholders’
Perspectives
Design Implementation
Strategy
Current State
Assessment
Explore Future States
Identify Talent
Opportunities/Gaps
Establish the Strategic Workforce
Objectives
Critical Roles
Assess overall plan success

11. Activity:
Worksheet: Getting Clear on the Business Case
• How do we ensure that we capture the key stakeholders’
perspectives?

13. Identify the Critical Talent Areas: Understanding
the Link Between Business Strategy and Critical
Roles
What are the critical talent areas/roles in your
organization that drive the greatest value and/or
generate the greatest wealth?
Business
Strategy
Critical
Roles
(20%-40%
Of Jobs)
Competencies
needed to
perform roles
Skilled Talent
to fill the
Critical Roles
Strategy & Structure first…. Then address talent

14. Activity
Your Critical Roles
Reflecting on your business strategy, identify
what you believe are the critical roles in your
organization:

16. Assess Current State: External & Internal Factors
External Factor
Analysis
Internal Factor
Analysis

17. Using an Environmental Scan to Assess Current
State
Rest of World (ROW)
• Economic conditions
• Political actions
• Legal policies and compliance
• Technology interventions
• Competitive threats
• Market conditions
• Social patterns
• Global markets
• External security
Labor Market
• Global, national, and local data for specific
competencies and roles
External
• Industry-specific trends and patterns
Competitive employment activity for
specific competencies and roles
• Ability to attract and hire top talent
Organization
• Strategy
• Business goals
• Business constraints
• Technology introductions
• Strategic initiatives
o Process improvements
o Expansions
o Mergers and acquisitions
o Reductions in scope and force
o Continuous improvement initiatives
• Strategic and core roles
Employees
• What are workforce issues that impact the
execution of strategy?
Internal
What are important issues with the strategic role in
terms of retirement eligibility, engagement,
capabilities, pipeline, diversity, and other
important factors?
ExternalInternal
SUPPLYDEMAND

18. Environmental Scan: Risk Analysis
To evaluate factor priority, consider impact and
probability
Probability
Impact
Criteria:
Probability-
Impact-

19. Activity: Environmental Scan Analysis: Identify the
Current Trends
To evaluate priority, consider impact and probability….
Referring to the environmental scan, identify five
major factors that you believe significantly impact
talent success within the critical roles:
1.ie, employer branding is weak in emerging markets
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

20. Explore Possible Future States
The exercise of exploring possible futures and
comparing to our current states, allows us to identify
the talent threats or opportunities….our talent gaps or
priorities.
Since we do not have data on the future, our assumptions based
upon current trends/projections and data will feed our
considerations of possible futures.
Start with some questions to create possible future scenarios:
Think forward 5 years. Your company has just been featured in Fortune
Magazine…..what will the article say about your company?
• What will your customers/clients/patients be saying about you?
• What will your employees be saying about you?
• How about your competitors?
Engage in disruptive thinking…challenge your assumptions.

22. Determine Talent Threats/ Opportunities (TALENT
GAPS)
Consider current state and possible future scenarios to
assess impact on capacity and capability.
Current State
Future Demand
Talent Gaps
Future Supply
Strategy
Capacity and
Capability

24. Designing the Strategic Workforce Plan
A View from 50,000 Feet---
Key Questions to Ask:
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES:
1. What are the talent priority areas and what talent strategies
will be used to address the future talent requirements/close
the gaps?
IMPLEMENTATON:
1. How to develop an implementation strategy for each strategic
objective?
2. What constraints and strengths need to be considered to
achieve strategic workforce plan?
VALUE PROPOSITION:
1. How will the initiatives be measured in terms of achieving the
strategic workforce objectives and how will that impact the
business?

25. Designing the Workforce Plan
Identifying Talent Solutions to Address the Future
Talent Requirements
• Succession
Management
• Employer Branding
• Attraction, Recruiting
• Onboarding
• EVP
• Performance
Management
• Learning & Development
Change Management

26. Activity:
Reflecting on the Workforce Plan
Identifying Talent Solutions
Reflecting on the previous discussion of identifying talent gap
areas.
A. Select one key gap area.
B. Brainstorm possible talent solutions referring to close the
gap.
1. Talent Gap: ie, capacity risk in critical role: risk of not attracting top
talent
Solutions (s):
a. ie, Develop employer brand in new markets
b. Clarify employee value proposition; determine
optimal employee engagement drivers
c.
d.

27. Worksheet: Designing Your Workforce Plan
Refer to your talent gaps and possible talent solutions
to craft your plan
Talent Gap(s)
Critical ROLE: RN
Objective /Talent
Initiative
Initiative Owner
Business Partner
Success
Measures
I. Limited exposure
in new markets;
capacity impact:
need 100 new
employees by
2020
1. Finalize competency
expectations for
critical role
2. Establish sourcing
strategies for new
market
3. Establish new hire
criteria for roles
4. Train existing staff on
new roles and skills
required to meet
capacity needs
5. Assess EVP for role
Owner: Talent
Acquisition: HR,
Business Partners:
• Nursing
• Marketing
• Learning and
Development
• Operations
1. % of critical role
filled
2. Quality of Hire
3. Performance
Measures
4. Engagement and
Retention of
employees

28. Human Capital Metrics
Two Categories of Analytics*
Business
Strategy
Workforce
Strategy
Foundational
Analytics
Advanced
Analytics
• Acquire talent
• Engage Talent
• Develop Talent
• Pipeline Talent
• Hiring trends
• Turnover trends
• Productivity
trends
• Internal
movement trends
What is
happening?
Why/Where is it
happening?
• Correlations
inferring cause and
effect-more reliable
base for talent
decisions
*Mercer Research 2013, “Workforce Metrics &
Analytics; Why Is It So Hard? 5 Easy Steps”

29. Activity: Your Current Talent Metrics
Reflect on the metrics your organization is capturing
now. List them. Then check off the ones that are
foundational.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Possible Areas of Improvement:
1. How do the metrics above reflect your workforce strategy? Tie
back to the business’s bottom-line?
2. What are you doing with the data?

30. Summary Activity: Action Plan
What are key take aways from today?
1.
2.
3.
Next PRIORITY Steps?
1.
2.
Who will I/we partner with to begin or continue the
strategic workforce planning initiative? Build your
workforce planning design team…..

31. Final Thoughts
Questions and Comments?
 Please do meet with your HR leaders and
team to discuss next steps.
 Please do reach out to me, Michele Croci, for
questions and/or comments about any of your
workforce planning or talent management strategy
needs…..I am here to help!
CONTACT:
michele@talentexperiment.org or michelecroci2@gmail.com
1.310.375.3782
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/MicheleCroci/

32. CONTACT and RESOURCES
Please visit TalentExperiment.org for a list of services,
products and resources to build your Human
Resource/Talent Management effectiveness:
Training Programs: • Leadership Effectiveness
• Career Development and Engagemennt for
Employees & Managers
• Team Building (Certificate)
• DISC (Certificate)
.Products Available:
Consulting:
• FUEL 50: Career Pathing Software and
Engagement System
• Everything DISC: Personal Profile System, Team
Effectiveness Assessments, Leadership
Assessments
.
• Change Management (PROSCI)
• Strategic Workforce Planning
• Leadership Training and Coaching
• Organizational Development
• Career Development Systems

33. TOOLS SECTION
Planning Templates

34. TOOL:
High Level Steps in the Strategic Workforce
Planning Process
Keeping the business strategy in mind……
Steps:
 Create the business case—Link workforce strategy to
business strategy
 Identify critical talent roles
 Assess current state and explore possible future states
 Identify the key workforce gaps—talent priorities
 Develop and implement the strategy to close the gaps
 Monitor and evaluate the workforce planning outcomes
 Integrate the workforce planning process with the
business strategy planning.

35. Confirm we have planned for the following in our
OPERATIONAL workforce plan (implementation
strategy):
 Ensure there is executive support; ownership of implementation is
owned by the business NOT HR
 Completed strategic workforce plan; talent gap priorities addressed in
strategic plan
 Establish an implementation team with clear roles for implementation
 Agree to workforce implementation plan with consistent project plan
approaches for each initiative
 Allocate necessary resources to carry out the strategies
 Identify success measures
 Use proven change management approaches: Communicate basis of
plan and its elements to all employees
35
TOOL:
Checklist: Strategic Workforce Implementation
Worksheet

36. • Think about possible future capability and capacity needs
(demand and/or supply) in one of your critical roles.
• What might be some major talent gaps areas for your
organization based upon your current state? Consider the
impact of possible future scenarios.
 Competencies-Do current incumbents have the skills and behaviors needed? What are
the gaps?
 Staffing trends: projected growth/reorg, etc.
 Promotions/transfers/turnover
 Vacancies
 Engagement and Performance Gaps
Other:_________________
36
TOOL:
Practice Worksheet for Identifying Talent Gaps

37. TOOL:
Worksheet: Designing Your Workforce Plan
Refer to your talent gaps and possible talent solutions to craft your plan.
Talent Gap(s)
Critical ROLE:
Objective /Talent
Initiative
Initiative Owner
Business Partner
Success Measures
Describe talent need Identify the workforce
objective and talent
solutions
Identify the initiative owner
and business stakeholders
Identify the talent
outcome measures
and link to business
outcome measures