6 steps to skill-based strategic personnel planning

Strategic personnel planning (English: Strategic Workforce Planning, abbreviation: SWP) is a process of analyzing a company's current workforce and predicting future personnel requirements. The aim of SWP is to ensure that a company has the right number and type of employees with the right skills in the right place at the right time to achieve its business goals. The process of strategic personnel planning generally includes the following steps:

1. Strategic orientation
2. Needs analysis
3. Workforce analysis
4. Gap analysis
5. Solution implementation
6. Measure progress

In this blog, we'll explore each of these steps and suggest a more effective, skill-based approach to strategic workforce planning. We will also give an example to illustrate.

Benefits of skill-based strategic personnel planning

Traditional personnel planning is based on job profiles. In contrast, we recommend using skills as a basis for forecasting and planning your headcount. This has three advantages:

1. Instructions: Skills become the common language for the entire planning cycle.
2. Flexibility: Independence from specific job profiles, which are changing ever faster.
3. Agility: Targeted analyses can be carried out for specific projects or initiatives rather than running through the entire cycle.

1. Strategic orientation: What do we want to achieve?

The first step is to align with the company's goals. What goals does the company have, which transformation processes are being initiated and how should they be implemented? What specific business goals are there that require new skills or that build on existing skills? At this point, it can be helpful to look at market data on skills in the industry, from companies with a similar focus, or skill data from your own company.

We'll look at this example in all 6 steps.

At managing director level, ACME Corporation has decided to transform to highly automate processes. In order to initiate the transformation process and drive forward greater process automation, the HR department has been commissioned to build up expertise on “Robotic Process Automation” (RPA) across an entire division. The HR department determines all competencies and underlying skills based on market data, competitors and internal data in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of the skills required.

2. Needs analysis: Which skills are needed?

The second step involves a specific needs analysis of the required roles and underlying skills. In other words: What specific skills are required for the transformation process? Skills are a decisive advantage here compared to needs analysis based on job roles, because roles change quickly. They are also not specific enough to identify skill gaps and to derive recommendations for action. To do this, it is recommended to use a skill taxonomy to define specific target skill profiles. These are significantly more flexible than rigid job rolls and can also be 100% tailored to your needs.

Back to our example:

The HR department of ACME Corporation incorporates the skills identified in step 1 in a Skill taxonomy brings together and combines concrete skill profiles for the implementation of the transformation process. This is done in collaboration with the respective experts from the department and stakeholders at management level to ensure that all needs are covered.

3. Workforce analysis: Which skills are already available?

Before new talent is brought in, it can be worthwhile to first check in the team which skills already exist. The status quo provides information about the current situation and creates a data basis for future decisions. The first step is to determine where the company stands in terms of the skills they are looking for. Based on the skill profile, the workforce can be analyzed and mapped accordingly. It is important that skill profiles are not out of date and are adapted to new developments. The existing skills can be determined, for example, through skill assessments or self-assessment.

Back to our example:

ACME Corporation provides all employees in the division with the defined RPA target skill profile, e.g. via a Learning Experience Platform (LXP). On the basis of a self-assessment, the level of knowledge of each individual is then measured. In addition, this self-assessment can be validated or classified by supervisors, if necessary. The result is a picture of the current situation of RPA-relevant skills in the company.

4. Gap analysis: Which skills are missing?

The next step is to compare the existing skills and their distribution with the target skill profile. By comparing target skill profiles with the status quo, it is possible to see exactly which skills are well covered, which are completely missing, as well as the “removal” of individual people (or cohorts) from the target profile. Comparing actual with target creates a clean basis for decision-making for future steps in workforce planning.

In this example:

The company already has a number of experts who meet a large part of the target profile for RPA. What is missing is comprehensive knowledge of the basics and areas of application of automation, which enables communication with experts and can thus drive the broad transformation forward.  

5. Solution implementation: How can skill gaps be closed?

We know the skill profile, know who meets it and what is specifically lacking. The next step is to find solutions to the skill gap, i.e. to define the specific measures. Various solutions can help here: The required skills can be brought into the company, for example, through upkilling or reskilling, outsourcing or internal mobility. Skills link the various initiatives as a common language. Depending on the use case, for example, a skill-based internal project platform can be set up or personalized learning recommendations can be played out.

Back to our example:

The HR department ACME Corporation has decided to develop the required skills by continuing education of existing employees in the company. For this reason, they purchased and compiled learning content on the basics of automation and assigned it to the appropriate skills in an LXP. In accordance with the assigned target profile and the previous assessment, learners are recommended the appropriate content for their level of knowledge. The artificial intelligence (AI) of the learning platform also ensures that the learning content is automatically adapted to the learners' previous knowledge and that employees only learn the learning content they really need. This saves time, increases the willingness to learn and maximizes results.

6. Measure progress: How can we measure learning progress?

Did the learning content produce the desired results? Were they used at all? What was the user experience with the learning content? The right key performance indicators (KPIs) can help you find answers to these and other questions. Here are the KPIs of our example organization:

Targeted KPIs

• What is the proportion of automated processes in the company?
• Have we achieved our business goal?

KPI:% of automated processes

Behavior-based KPIs

• How high was the quality of the learning content and how successfully were the participants able to apply the skills?
• Were special digital tools required for this?

KPIs:

• Feedback on how well the learning offer has enabled the learner to use a specific behavior
• Evaluation of the extent to which employees show behavior that is related to a skill
• Frequency of use of certain digital tools

Input-based KPIs

• How many people signed up?
• Who and how many employees took part in the assessment, how many hours of learning were completed?

KPIs:

• People registered on the learning platform
• Placement test taken
• Learning paths started
• Weekly/ Monthly active users (WAU/MAU)
• Learning hours
• Learning paths completed
• Projects implemented

Output-based KPIs

• ‍ HowHas the Skill Gap website developed ?
• How do skills develop in the company in the long term?
• What is the feedback from employees about the self-assessment?

KPIs:

• Level of skill achievement
• Skill gap compared to role-specific target skill profiles
• Development of skills over time compared to the target state (either a specific skill profile or a combination of skills)
• Self-assessment of mastering target skills

Skill-based strategic personnel planning as a challenge & opportunity

Skill-based strategic personnel planning makes it possible not only to place certain skills in a team, but also to develop them in the long term so that they are retained and developed further. Through a strategic, step-by-step approach, the method enables long-term results. Through intelligent performance measurement, the process feeds itself with new input and can be continued flexibly. Supported by AI and other technologies, learning new skills can not only move the company forward, but also create successful experiences for employees and experts. This is not just about expertise, but about a culture of skill development and personal achievement. Lifelong learning is anchored in your company and becomes a recognizable advantage.

Do you need advice on your personnel planning strategy?

Arrange a intro with one of our skill architects and get free advice on the state of your strategy, processes and learning environment.