Having the right people who possess the right skills at the right time when they are needed is the basis of strategic workforce planning. It is the ability to recognize the diverse talent needs and agility necessary for long-term success in a fast-changing world. It entails understanding the gap between workforce demand and supply in different business scenarios that will set the organization for future success.

With the right workforce planning, an organization will be ahead of its peers, because it can easily identify and rectify the gaps left by demographic shifts and skills, present in the organization, and those that will arise in the future. It would have successfully eliminated one of the major reasons some organizations get phased out and have difficulty keeping up with the markets and technological changes, which is a lack of workforce agility.

Workforce agility is a strategy that ensures profitability in a rapidly changing production environment. It is very different from workforce flexibilities which refer to daily operational issues.

Workforce agility ensures that intensity is stable despite the rapidly changing work environment.

To ensure an agile workforce, more focus will be placed on flexibility, innovation, creativity, challenge, empowerment and value. There will be a massive reduction in the core operating overhead, made up of Executives, Senior Managers, Graduates and Apprentices. It would shift to specialists, recruited on short notice for a fixed period.

Workforce agility will also be hinged on employee agility, which involves individuals who are psychologically ready for openings in organizations that will help horn their skills and also enable them to apply their capabilities, creatively.

Job openings, public recommendations and ratings which will replace the traditional CV will be given based on “on the job” performance. It will be the determinant of whether you will be considered for future employment considerations.

Organizational workforce agility entails recognizing the parts of the business that require more agility and ensuring that mechanisms have been put in place to accommodate such workforce agility.

It also gives room for a shorter decision making the process as lesser people are involved in the decision-making process, thus, increasing the trust and autonomy placed on the available talents, while ensuring that data-driven decisions, based on the knowledge of staff’ strength and capabilities are made.

To be relevant in the fast-changing world, it becomes imperative for organizations to communicate with their employees in a clear, simple and effective way which will, in turn, increase productivity, return on investment and enhance your reputation.

Simplifying complex issues and effectively communicating it to employees, shareholders and customers, stating the reason for the change, using a compelling story, will help shareholders and employees to achieve the desired result.

On a final note, the relevance of your organization in a world where disruptors such as, robotics, artificial intelligence and drone technology have changed the work environment and the entire recruitment process, is hinged on your rightly getting workforce planning and workforce agility and effectively communicating it to everyone involved in achieving the future success of your organization.

Categories: Agile HR

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