Agile Workforce Planning: How to Align People with Organizational Strategy for Improved Performance

by Adam Gibson

Overview

As business priorities change and focus shifts to address arising issues, HR professionals need to be able to reorganize talent swiftly and plan for future needs to enable the business to succeed. It covers how to forecast organizational demand for people, resources and skills, analyze the gap between supply and demand and most importantly, how to fill this gap. This book explains how to use agile workforce planning to achieve this.

Agile Workforce Planning is a practical guide for HR and organization development practitioners needing to align their staff, skills and resources with evolving company goals. This book also covers how to identify the skills needed in the workforce, where these skills are already available and when they're missing, how to decide whether to buy, borrow or build them.

Agile Workforce Planning explains how to collect data to calculate and predict staff churn as well as how to use qualitative and quantitative demand modelling to forecast for future needs and provides strategies to address these including lateral internal recruitment. There is also expert guidance on horizon scanning, scenario planning and how to secure stakeholder buy in and engagement for an agile workforce plan. Supported by case studies from companies including Apple, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, NATO and the UK National Health Service, this is essential reading for HR and OD professionals needing to continuously align the talent and capabilities in their workforce with the overall business strategy

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789666052
Publisher:	Kogan Page, Ltd.
Publication date:	01/26/2021
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.18(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Adam Gibson is a global leader in workforce planning and a consultant in the professional services industry. He has held senior roles in workforce planning, workforce analytics and talent management in a number of prominent public and private sector organizations including PwC, the Metropolitan Police Service and Capita. He is also the Founder of Agile Workforce Planning Ltd and leads the Strategic Workforce Planning Faculty at the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development).

Table of Contents

* Section - ONE: Introduction to workforce planning; ** Chapter - 01: What is workforce planning?; ** Chapter - 02: Evolution of workforce planning; ** Chapter - 03: The value and limitations of workforce planning; ** Chapter - 04: The agile approach; * Section - TWO: Baseline; ** Chapter - 05: Analysing the strategic context; ** Chapter - 06: Understanding the workforce; ** Chapter - 07: Gaining buy-in; * Section - THREE: Supply; ** Chapter - 08: Understanding workforce evolution; * Section - FOUR: Demand; ** Chapter - 09: The nature of demand; ** Chapter - 10: Forecasting demand; * Section - FIVE: Gap analysis; ** Chapter - 11: Establishing the gap; * Section - SIX: Action plan; ** Chapter - 12: The planning approach; ** Chapter - 13: Demand optimization; ** Chapter - 14: Talent management; ** Chapter - 15: Creating the plan; * Section - SEVEN: Deliver; ** Chapter - 16: Implementing the plan; * Section - EIGHT: Conclusion; ** Chapter - 17: Becoming a workforce planning professional

Editorial Reviews

"In this constantly changing world we respond with adaptability and speed, with a consistent learning mindset, seeking development and innovation. This book immerses the reader in this agile world through a welcoming narration of personal and business stories, explaining how to practically implement theories and conquer the related statistics. Adam Gibson, offers the recipe to succeed on having the right people capability that will lead an organization become truly agile. This book is written with the people in mind not just the business, preparing us for the future workplace. Its captivating narration offers an enjoyable way of fast knowledge assimilation for all those seeking to extend their knowledge on workforce planning and gain new perspectives, as well as those that want to start their learning on this topic."

Anna Mamalaki

"Adam has woven together his considerable experience, detailed academic research, organizational case studies and fascinating military anecdotes to convey the 'what' the 'how' and critically the 'why' behind Agile Workforce Planning. I believe all HR professionals, not just those devoted to workforce planning, will find the framework and insights provided of real practical value in shaping, building and delivering the workforces their organizations require."

Steven Scott

"Workforce planning has always been among the top priorities for HR and Business leaders alike - after all, if we don't anticipate the workforce we need in our organizations well, we may suffer massive direct or opportunity cost. However, in today's VUCA world, workforce planning has proved to be an almost impossible task - how shall we anticipate the workforce requirements when we cannot even predict what might happen a few months ahead? This is why I was so happy to receive a copy of Adam's book, who based on his many year's practical experience shows us that with solid, Agile principles we can create the workforce we need that enables organizations to be successful in the market. The book is based on solid research and academic insights - and also demonstrates many practical, real-life applications showing the readers that workforce planning is a manageable process if we apply an agile mindset- after all, we cannot change the past, but we can always alter our current situation and act now to build the organization of the future."

Mihaly Nagy

"At last a comprehensive and practical guide to workforce planning! Whilst organizations are realising the value of strategic workforce planning, as a relatively new discipline within the HR profession and wider business, there hasn't been the corresponding capability to capitalise on their interest. Staying true to Adam's 7Bs of workforce planning, if there is no internal supply and a scarcity of skill in the market then organizations need build this capability. Adam's book takes significant steps in providing the resource for organizations to build a workforce planning capability for themselves. It enables people to become SWP (Strategic Workforce Planning) professionals, providing them with the knowledge, tools and approach to form a solid foundation as a SWP practitioner."

Kath Soole

"In Agile Workforce Planning, Adam Gibson has delivered the definitive book on workforce planning. As businesses navigate uncertainty and complexity, this book shows how workforce planning will need to be agile and built upon solid principles of business, economics, and risk. It is a must-read for practitioners in this space."

former leader of SWP at General Electric and Allia Nicholas Garbis

"Adam has filled a major gap in the literature with this book. Thoughtful, nuanced, rigorous and practical, it will be a great end-to-end guide and reference for leaders and professionals at all levels on the ROI, theory and practice of effective workforce planning."

Rupert McNeil

"A business strategy without understanding the future workforce shape, capability and skill needs, and cultures and operating model is like having a stool missing a leg. In these times with all the drivers of change in the future of work, organizations need to build the capability for agile workforce planning. This book provides great insights on what this means, why it is important, and the ways in which to approach it. It will help us all in being able to adapt for the future in an uncertain world."

Peter Cheese

"Adam Gibson provides us with a guide to agile workforce planning for professionals at all levels. This is a go-to handbook on how to plan for the future that I will be using many more times for its wealth of case studies and examples."

Erik van Vulpen