Integrated staff planning puts the final piece into the strategic plan

By John Simmons

Most organizations plan their business activities thoroughly. Typically, they start with a high-level strategic plan, move on to operational plans aimed at implementing those strategies, then drill down to specific project plans for each initiative.

Every plan, from the high-level to the tactical, has an impact on staffing requirements yet very few companies take the next logical planning step: to spin off specific staffing plans that will ensure all the other plans can be implemented with maximum efficiency and minimum cost.

Integrated staff planning isn’t difficult but it’s tremendously important. Done well, it can reduce recruiting costs by as much as 30%, help you avoid the demoralizing roller coaster ride of hiring sprees and layoffs, improve employee retention and more.

The human supply chain

Many companies have spent millions on revamping their supply chain processes to create cost efficiencies and improve the speed and quality of product delivery. These improvements have been achieved through a better matching of supply and demand, and through the wise management of resources at every step in the supply chain.

People are also a resource. Just as in a product supply chain, the supply of human resources needs to be effectively matched to demand with few shortages or surpluses if the process is to be as cost efficient as possible. Such matching can only be achieved with advance planning that takes into account both the short-term (operational) and longer-term (strategic and transitional) activities of the company. Failure to perform staff planning that is directly tied to strategic and operational planning results in bloated personnel costs, project failures, and an observable misalignment of the staff to the current mandates and direction of the company.

Staffing plans must be direct spin-offs

When you create or revise a strategic plan, the very next item on your to-do list should be to determine the impact of the strategic direction on your human resource requirements. Similarly, when you create or revise operational plans, the next step is to assess specific staffing requirements for each project to be implemented. How many people and what skills will be required to complete the plans? How will those skills be acquired? For example, let’s look at a pharmaceutical company that plans to have a new drug approved in February. The sales force must be ready to hit the pavement the moment the drug receives approval.

In this case, timing is a critical issue. The cost of having a large sales force waiting for something to sell is significant. The cost of having a new drug with no one to sell it is far worse. What’s the best and most cost-effective way for the company to build its sales team? Should it hire new employees, re-train existing staff, re-assign staff from other areas of the company, or some combination of all of the above?

When companies don’t plan their staffing, they can only react to events as they occur. As a result, they often scramble to find the skills they need at the last minute, pay higher than necessary prices for the talent they do hire, and overlook the goldmine hidden in their current workforce. “Who can we get on this project right now?” and “Someone call the agency, we need a new sales person” are common refrains. There are countless consultants out there who promise a lower cost per hire and all kinds of tools to make recruiting faster, better and cheaper. The tools are great but unless you have a plan you will still be reacting — and spending more time and money than necessary.

The 4 steps to success

At its most basic, staff planning is about determining what skills you need and what skills you have, then identifying and filling any gaps between the two. It sounds simple yet the results are anything but mundane.

Determine current and future needsMost companies react to resource requirements as they occur rather than anticipating and planning for them. The first step must therefore be a detailed look at the strategic and operational plans to determine what resources will be needed in the immediate, short and long terms.
Assess current staffing situationIn much the same way that a supplier can’t ship products it doesn’t know it has, an organization can’t take advantage of skills within its workforce if it remains unaware that they exist.
Therefore, once resource needs have been charted, the next step is a comprehensive employee inventory that includes a profile of each worker’s skills and experience, as well as projects they are currently working on, when they finish, whether they are willing to travel, and other details that will affect their future deployment.

There must be one — and only one — resource database within the company. Regardless of how deeply departmental or regional divisions are entrenched, resource management can’t be effective unless it takes an all-encompassing view of the organization.
Identify skills gapsArmed with an assessment of future needs and a current skills inventory, it’s now a relatively easy matter to match these two pieces together and uncover any skills gaps.
Generate plans to fill gapsCompanies that don’t manage their human capital effectively often default to recruitment as their first and only method for dealing with skills gaps. However, companies that have assessed their needs and inventoried their skills have many more options at their disposal. They can pick and choose the methods that will be most efficient or cost-effective for any given situation.

Don’t forget the management team

Don’t forget to look at how planning affects the management infrastructure. When doing staff planning, you should look not only at the number of managers but also at the ability of those managers to take their teams through those plans. I regularly hear senior executives say that some members of their management team are not “aligned” or not meeting the challenge. This may very well be due to significant changes in the organization that have caused shifts in responsibilities. Staff planning helps you steer clear of such organizational pitfalls.

If your company already identifies the hiring requirements that result from your strategic and operational plans, you’re in a select group. You have the necessary foundation for keeping your operation at peak productivity while minimizing human resource expense. If you don’t currently derive staffing plans from strategic and operational plans, what’s holding you back? Things can only get better.

John Simmons is the founder of Kijik Consulting (info@kijik.ca), a firm specializing in human capital management services.

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