Why Workforce Planning Teams Need Shotguns

Get out the shotgun, it's time to talk about workforce planning. Huh? Relax. I'm not about to suggest that a key secret to workforce planning success is communication at gunpoint. But I am going to tell you that one of i4cp's just-published Seven Communication Secrets of Highly Effective Workforce Planning Teams involves a shotgun sort of approach.

In survey after survey, business and planning leaders have consistently acknowledged that they blow it more often than not when it comes to their workforce planning efficacy. Our latest study found that even among respondents from high-performance organizations (based on revenue growth, market share, profitability and customer satisfaction), not even one-third characterized their strategic workforce planning as highly effective.

Reasons for that record of uninspiring performance vary from one organization to another. But i4cp's recent research reaffirms that communication issues continue to undercut planning success. In fact, the results of three of four workforce planning surveys we've conducted since 2009 placed ineffective communication squarely atop the planning glitch list.

What's at risk if workforce planning doesn't measure up? In a word: everything.

You may already know that i4cp's focus on human capital practices examines their connections to overall organizational business performance. And those links aren't a big leap where workforce planning is concerned. As our People-Profit Chain™ model for increasing market performance reiterates, effective workforce planning is a vital link in successful strategy execution. In short, poor performance in workforce planning can threaten an entire organization's performance.

Aiming for better workforce planning results

Shotguns launch multiple projectiles at once. That scattershot capability enables wide coverage, making it more likely that the user will hit his or her desired target. That same idea underlies i4cp's top secret to workforce planning communication: Highly effective planning teams understand that wide coverage is better, and they use more means of communication to get their messages across.

Of 17 communication-related tactics presented in i4cp's Strategic Workforce Planning Communication Survey, using all available channels of communication within an organization to educate employees reflected the single strongest correlation to workforce planning effectiveness. Though only 14% of all respondents said their organizations' workforce planning teams leveraged all available communication vehicles, more than twice as many of those with highly effective planning functions said they did so extensively. In the new report, Seven Communication Secrets of Highly Effective Workforce Planning Teams, i4cp explains that kind of gap (low use by most organizations and significantly greater use by highly effective groups) signals a high-performance practice quietly being leveraged by today's most effective workforce planning teams.

For instance, at i4cp member company McKesson Corporation, the oldest and largest U.S. health care services firm, Amit Mohindra, vice president of workforce intelligence, and his team are responsible for workforce planning and analytics. As McKesson's planning initiative evolves, the team is casting a wide net to raise awareness of workforce planning.

"We realize that communication is a large part of it," Mohindra says. At his urging, the workforce intelligence team already is using multiple organizational channels to communicate about workforce planning and analytics. But the wide-ranging approach also demands cohesion, and he says, "We have been careful to keep the look and feel of our products and presentations consistent. Our materials are sharp, well-thought-out, and of high quality."

Along with presentations, another channel the team is using with success is an internal blog for McKesson's HR community. Mohindra explains that the blog is used as a training and communication tool for HR. "I've encouraged my team to be very active in blogging, and it helps us spread the message--here's who we are, what we do, and our products. We solicit questions and feedback, and post answers. We get good viewership, including our CHRO." Regular presence in activity reports and participation in training sessions also afford opportunities to enhance the team's visibility and to educate employees about workforce planning.

In a particularly creative approach, McKesson's workforce intelligence team held a competition to design a laptop sticker that would enable easy visual communication about workforce planning. Mohindra explains: "If we're in meetings, we open our laptops and have an opportunity to communicate. The sticker is a word cloud that contains key terms--workforce intelligence (our team's name) and different products and ideas related to workforce planning. When the laptop is opened, the very visible sticker speaks to everyone. Finance people see finance terms; HR folks see HR terms; business leaders see business terms--and they inquire about unfamiliar terms."

McKesson's workforce intelligence laptop sticker

As McKesson's workforce intelligence team demonstrates, fully utilizing all the communication channels and tools available in an organization--taking a scattershot approach--can help workforce planners reach out to a variety of audiences and in multiple ways. Mastering the available media with cohesive and consistent messaging is a top secret of highly effective workforce planning teams.

If your workforce planning team is shooting for better results, what can you do to improve your aim with the (figurative) shotgun? The Seven Communication Secrets of Highly Effective Workforce Planning Teams report offers these recommendations for mastering both media and message:

• Identify all communication channels available in your organization and learn which audiences they reach effectively
• Explore both formal and informal communication options
• Apply lessons from McKesson:
  • Commit to consistent quality in your materials and communications
  • Build a brand for your workforce planning function
  • Partner with internal communication professionals, if available

Don't miss out on the other six secrets of highly effective workforce planning teams that i4cp research has uncovered--or our recommended actions that your planning team can take to leverage those secrets. i4cp members, download the Seven Communication Secrets of Highly Effective Workforce Planning Teams report now.