Workforce Planning

What is Succession Planning? Organizations use succession planning to help mitigate the risk of a vacancy occurring in key management and leadership roles that could impact the organization’s ability to perform. In more strategic organizations, the scope of succession planning is expanded to include high-impact and mission-critical roles throughout the …

Part B: Plan Output or Success Measures Group 3 – Output measures of plan success The best plans have goals (and measures) that cover each of these areas: Percentage of all management positions filled by internal candidates (this is the broadest measure of development success because it covers all management …

Most fear to even to use the word “depression,” but now is the time for corporate HR to begin thinking about such an eventuality. As most people know, there are two key economic drivers that impact our economy: 1) productivity (product and service output) and 2) employment. The government has …

When economic times are volatile and businesses are facing a downturn in revenue, many CFOs turn their attention to cost-containment. A logical place to start cutting costs is labor, given that in many industries labor costs account for an average of 60% of all variable costs. The volatility in the …

The Downturn is Coming, But When? Many HR individuals I’ve met do not even like to discuss the topic of economic downturns. I presume this avoidance is based on the premise that even “talking” about them somehow will make them happen. Unfortunately, the consequences of not discussing or preparing for …

Most of us have read about upcoming workforce trends like decreasing employee loyalty, differing generational expectations, and the impending retirement of the baby boom generation, but surprisingly few organizational leaders are fully aware of how those issues will impact them. Several of the organizations I have worked with in recent …

In Part 1 of this article, I outlined the first six of 13 key factors that differentiate great workforce planning efforts from mediocre workforce planning efforts. Here are the remaining seven points to note. Factor #7   Demonstrate the likelihood that your recommended actions will actually work. In addition to …

Few would argue that workforce planning is not a hot topic these days. Just five short years ago, it was nearly impossible to find a titled role for workforce planning in corporate America. Yet today, more than 54% of the Fortune 100 have dedicated FTEs to the activity.   Even …

Lack of Leadership Bench Strength: A Growing Problem As the second phase of the War for Talent slowly builds momentum, more and more firms are going to experience havoc directly related to the absence of leadership bench strength. The problems that have crippled smaller firms historically will establish a footing …

Beyond this commitment, what follows are the major steps: 1. Make the business case for external succession planning. The first step is to present arguments to your senior leadership about the need for including external talent and development opportunities in your succession plan. Generally that means documenting current development problems/shortages, …