Workforce planning has emerged as the prevailing trend of the year (or post-COVID-19 era) as organisations strive to leverage their potential in navigating the complexities of the current economic uncertainty. 

However, despite the hype, many of these organisations are grappling with the terminology associated with this practice. Skills, knowledge, behaviours, and competencies are frequently used interchangeably. However, it's important to note that they hold distinct meanings within workforce planning.

To truly harness the power of workforce planning, it is essential to understand these terms and how they connect to the specific activities carried out in your organisation. This understanding will allow you to build a solid framework for understanding the roles, positions, skills, objectives and activities available in your organisation today and those that will be needed in the future.

But with a wealth of data available, how can you effectively use it to inform your business decisions?

As people analytics leaders, we know that data is only as valuable as the insights we can derive from it. Therefore, this article will explore how to use data and analytics to drive strategic workforce planning and create a data-driven organisational design.

Skills, Knowledge, Behaviours, and Competencies

Even though we are seeing more organisations shift towards a skills-based organisation, this does not necessarily mean that there needs to be a sole focus on skills when it comes to workforce planning.

Strategic workforce planning is understanding the complex interplay between skills, knowledge, behaviours, and competencies. It involves exploring how these skills are applied and interact with other workforce elements such as roles, positions, objectives, and activities.

Skills

Skills refer to the ability to do something well. They are usually acquired through training, education, or experience and are specific to a task or job role. As Jesse Jacks, Senior Manager of Organisational Strategies and Design at Deloitte expressed on the Digital HR Leaders podcast:

"Capacity isn't just about headcount in a certain team, it's about whether the people with the skills needed to deliver that work are within that organisation; how do you access them; where do they sit; how do you, as an HR professional, have the ability to look across the organisation and truly understand where those pockets of skills or capabilities might exist, because they might not exist where you think they might from a headcount perspective, or on an organisational chart?"

So, when thinking about skills in the context of workforce planning, it is important to consider the current availability of these skills, where they are located within your organisation and how you can access them.

"At Unilever, there's this internal talent marketplace that enables those skills to move fluidly across projects and tasks within the organisation, either as a permanent employee or as a U-worker, as they're called, a worker who's guaranteed a minimum retainer along with a core set of benefits, and who contracts with them for a series of short-term projects. So, we're seeing more and more of a move towards that because, as you mention, there's this real cost-containment, margin-improvement focus", Jesse Jacks shares.

A taxonomy or skill framework can be used to understand the different skills present in your organisation. This will help you identify any gaps and where there may be overlaps or redundancies in certain roles or positions. Predictive analytics can also be used to forecast future skill needs and identify any potential risks or opportunities. Combine this with external talent market intelligence, and you have a robust understanding of your organisation's current and future skills landscape.

Knowledge

Knowledge, though it may seem similar to skills, refers more to the understanding of concepts or theories. It is usually acquired through reading, studying, or observing and can be applied across various tasks and roles. Knowledge is a key driver for innovation and continuous improvement within an organisation.

Regarding workforce planning, it is essential to identify the current knowledge within your organisation and the potential for knowledge growth and development. This knowledge basis of your workforce can be identified through Organisational Network Analysis (ONA), allowing you to understand how knowledge flows within your organisation and which individuals or teams are key knowledge holders.

These insights can prove invaluable regarding succession planning and data-driven organisational design.

Behaviours

Returning to the conversation with Jesse Jacks on the Digital HR Leaders podcast, Jesse highlights the importance of understanding behaviours in workforce planning. He discusses the concept of "supervisory burden," referring to the actual human conditions that impact the management of teams. This includes factors like the interconnectivity of work, the repetitiveness of tasks, and the variation in skills and capabilities within a team.

For example, a team may have a span of control of 10:1, but the supervisory burden could be 6:1, indicating that the manager is under significant stress. This is where ONA can help map out these behavioural aspects within an organisation, providing insights into how teams interact, how work is managed, and where potential stress points lie.

Understanding these behaviours is crucial for effective workforce planning. It allows for identifying areas where additional support or resources might be needed, or restructuring could improve efficiency and employee well-being.

Competencies

Competencies, another critical element in workforce planning, encompass a combination of skills, knowledge, and behaviours required to perform a job effectively. Competencies are often used to define the expected level of performance in a role and to guide training and development initiatives.

In workforce planning, it's essential to map the competencies for current and future organisational success. This involves identifying the competencies in the organisation and anticipating those that will be required for the future, especially in light of evolving business strategies and market demands.

Tools like competency frameworks, effective job design and architecting, and predictive analytics can help identify competency gaps and guide the development of targeted training programs.

Leading the Workforce Planning Way

By now, it should be clear that skills, knowledge, behaviours, and competencies are all interconnected regarding effective workforce planning. And the key to unlocking this complex puzzle lies in data and analytics.

However, to achieve all of this, as Rupert Morrison, CEO of Orgvue, rightly advises during his discussion with David Green on the Digital HR Leaders podcast:

"You need your systems; you need the people with the skills, and you need different types of roles. You need people who can design and competency taxonomies, think about role and architecture, and connect these dots. You need people who can communicate and influence senior executives."

Organisations need to invest in developing the skills and capabilities of their HR teams to leverage data and analytics for workforce planning effectively. This includes training on tools and techniques such as ONA, workforce planning, and predictive analytics.

It also means fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making throughout the organisation and democratising strategic workforce planning insights. Organisations can drive more informed and effective workforce planning strategies by empowering key stakeholders with the knowledge and skills to interpret and use data.

At myHRfuture, we offer online courses specifically designed to help HR professionals develop these crucial skills. Our workforce planning course covers all aspects of strategic workforce planning, from understanding the importance of competencies to leveraging analytics for futureproofing your organisation.

Remember, effective workforce planning is not just about understanding skills, knowledge, behaviours, and competencies; it's about using data and analytics to build a resilient workforce that is ready for the challenges of tomorrow. So why wait? Start your journey towards data-driven organisational design and workforce planning today with myHRfuture.

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