Here at the Human Capital Institute we do a LOT of live webcasts-- nearly 300 a year. Why is that a problem? Because, unlike the Oscars, we have a structured amount of "live air" time for each subject-- and some of the great discussions that happen during CHCE programming get cut short. Not today! Last week we had a great webcast underwritten by Sibson Consulting titled: Transform Your Talent Management Capability Through Effective Strategic Workforce Planning: A Case Study. We had nearly 20 questions come in that we didn't have time to answer, but our presenters Jan John of The Regence Group and Mike Norman of Sibson took some time to answer them here:
1. Steve: How does SWP inform and compliment setting diversity targets, internal/external promotions etc?
- Sibson: SWP helps organizations to understand their current workforce and forecast their future workforce needs. This can help you to predict workforce changes such as internal promotions, retirement, or evaluate diversity targets by looking at both the internal and external labor market, and current supply and demand for positions.
- Jan: SWP focuses on the work and the roles needed to perform that work. We had to be mindful of the order: “work, roles, people” because without that focus, some areas were tempted to “build work” or keep doing the same work because of “who” was doing it instead of asking “if” the work actually needed to be done, particularly as strategies changed. So while we discussed items mentioned, our first priority was to focus on the work.
2. Cindy: What does lack of business case mean?
- Sibson: This refers to a situation where a project or initiative has not established a clear return on the investment or business benefit that the organization could expect for any financial costs associated with the proposed project/initiative.
3. Ben: What do you mean by an "analytic filter?"
- Sibson: Analytic filter refers to an organization’s ability to quantitatively analyze, forecast, and filter workforce data very quickly in a way that is meaningful for the organization. Being able to forecast how employees (who are currently in strategic roles or other criteria) might retire in 2011 and 2012 is an example of this capability.
4. Nancy: "Built internal capability of HR staff" What did that encompass? Headcount? Better skills? New software/hardware? All of the above? Other solutions?
- Sibson: It is all of the above. However, one of the most effective ways we helped
- Regence build internal capability of their HR staff is by conducting comprehensive training sessions. These sessions were focused on how to conduct both the SWP process and how to effectively lead the type of business conversations needed to gain alignment with line mangers on the segmentation of their staff and on their current and future talent needs.
- Jan: The SWP process also increased their confidence in using analytics, augmented their skill sets in writing/making observations without being prescriptive, provided additional opportunities for facilitating discussions with leaders, increased their overall business acumen and understanding of the company strategies, and expanded their involvement in different aspects of the talent management system.
5. Bill: To Jan: Did your Sr Mgt require an ROI assessment comparing using Sibson vs. using internal "expertise"?
- Jan: While we considered flying solo, we recognized that we had neither the internal capability to implement this quickly nor the credibility required to institute these practices. The cost of lost opportunities of not having the right person in the right job at the right cost would impede our ability to quickly respond to whatever came out of health care reform or changes in the marketplace…and that was a galvanizing force in making the decision.
6. Rich: What was your primary focus when you completed segmentation? Did you focus on roles or the people who are working in the roles? We have experienced some challenges when it comes to differentiating the person from the role. For example, a role may have been identified as strategic but the person currently in the role may not have the competencies necessary to be successful in the role. Alternatively, an employee may have critical skills but may not be in a strategic role.
- Sibson: Our segmentation methodology focuses on the value/impact of the role, not the people. Many organizations struggle with the segmentation of their talent because they either start with the “people” or do not have an objective process with a set of clear questions/criteria to guide these important conversations
- Jan: The SWP discussions frequently resulted in leaders also taking ownership for performance problems and/or skill deficiencies of their direct reports in strategic roles. Consequently, they set actions and investments with specific due dates in areas such as talent development or performance management. Likewise, discussions inevitably included references to top performers; this was a great segue into the need for both succession planning sessions and/or consultation with HR/OD on talent development strategies.
7. Nancy: I'm guessing they had mega-budget to do this with consulting help. Any suggestions for the littler guy with minimal budget? How do you get started and how do you know you're "doing it right?"
- Sibson: We understand that each client has different needs which is why we do not come in with an off the shelf solution, but rather we customize our approach to fit your business needs, your organization’s SWP maturity/capability, or at times to fit your budget.
- Jan: Believe me, I did not have a mega-budget, but the cost of not getting it right upfront could have easily resulted in loss of time, credibility, and unnecessary iteration. We decided that the hard dollar cost of making a few wrong hires or not having the right people in place when needed easily outweighed the cost of the consultants and the ASP technology tool investment. And top management agreed.
- My tips for getting started? Get absolute clarity on the strategies, begin identifying what work will need to be done to accomplish the strategies, and then look at what roles will do that work.
8. Greg : Have you begun comparing actual vs. forecasted data from the charts? And what has it shown thus far? Seems like it would affect SWP.
- Jan: We have some initial comparisons, and in this coming year, when all plans will be created within a three-month period vs. our first year rollout launched across 14 months, we expect to have far more robust data comparisons.
9. Teressa: What type of tools did you use to help make the "build vs buy" decision?
- Sibson: Regence is using Sibson’s web-based Talent4Sight tool. It allows you to compare the cost of “building” talent internally or “buying” talent externally for any given role.
- Jan: The tool provided great flexibility in being able to model real time views. Using the example of nurses I mentioned in the presentation (retirement eligible -- 43%; current turnover rate -- 20%; time-to-fill --4 months; time to proficiency – 9 months), we modeled the three-year impact if we were to lower the time of proficiency to 6 months or the turnover rate to 10%. We could compare external hiring costs (e.g. training, sign-on bonus, relocation, travel costs) with other internal costs.
10. Darell: What’s changed in terms of accountabilities for SWP with division leaders over the last 2 yrs? What do they own of SWP?
- Jan: Division leaders all own the accountability of completing an annual strategic workforce plan and completion of approved actions and investments for their strategic roles (e.g. role requirements, talent development plans, succession planning, improved onboarding, increased recognition and rewards, etc.). In our first year, some divisions linked completion of these plans to their annual incentive plan payouts. Additionally, the status is reported quarterly on our balanced scorecard.
11. Marc: What technology solution do you use to enable your SWP process?
- Sibson: Regence is using Sibson’s web-based Talent4Sight tool. You can find out more about the tool by visiting Sibson’s website (http://www.sibson.com/services/organization-and-talent/strategic-workforce-planning/)
12. Tracy: How did you work to make sure the positions were truly strategic? Especially when dealing with VP level positions?
- Sibson: This is truly a challenge for many organizations; however, Sibson has developed a clear methodology and process that utilizes a series of business questions and criteria that guides these important conversations and ensures both line managers and HR can agree on the value/impact of all roles, even VP level roles – which does not automatically make them strategic.
- Jan: Discussions surrounding VP roles frequently required HR to push back and I anticipate it will likely continue to be a discussion point in this second year, as well. One tip: Do not confuse “important” with “strategic.”
13. Adrien: There was a kick-off with the HRLT, but what was the level of engagement with business leaders? How did you go about soliciting their input?
- Jan: Launching SWP was a key component of “Optimize our Workforce,” one of our 2009 objectives, and our senior leader emphasized that this was HR’s #1 priority. Because of my previous role and history with Regence, I had worked with nearly every leader in the organization, which was a significant advantage, plus HRLT members joined me at the meetings with their business partners. Finally, the process itself was engaging especially given the significant changes facing the organization.
14. Andrea: Have you quantified the ROI on SWP? What was the investment required from a consulting/tool implementation standpoint?
- Jan: As mentioned above, without specific background on SWP, we knew we did not have the internal capability to implement this quickly and as a result, the ROI was simple. The cost of lost opportunities of not having the right person in the right job at the right cost would have severe ramifications if we could not quickly respond to whatever came out of health care reform or changes in the marketplace.
15. Enio: Hi -- Could the speaker elaborate on what she meant by having developed 35 talent requirements out of 110 strategic roles?
- Jan: Talent (or Role) Requirements replace the ambiguity of typical “Job Descriptions” and act as the foundation to guide current and future talent decisions by outlining the key accountabilities and outputs, performance metrics, critical knowledge, skills, abilities (i.e. competencies), and critical experience sets required to be successful in a role. The process includes interviewing an exemplar in the role as well as his/her manager, then drafting/validating the document.
- We completed 35 of the strategic roles to feed all other areas of the talent management suite from how we expedite Talent Acquisition or identify Talent Development opportunities for people who wish to pursue a career move into a strategic role. All remaining Talent Requirements will be completed by Q2 2010.
16. Lee: Hi - I have 3 questions: 1) what are "talent requirements" as referenced in your presentation and 2) how have you embedded this process into your annual strategic planning process (what systems, procedures, processes do you use)? 3) what approach would you use if you were doing this for a company of 600 people rather thn one as large as yours?
- Sibson: We can answer question #1 and #3. Talent Requirements replace the ambiguity of typical “Job Descriptions” and act as the foundation to guide current and future talent decisions by outlining the key accountabilities and outputs, performance metrics, critical knowledge, skills, abilities (i.e. competencies), and critical experience sets required to be successful in a role. As far the approach to take with a smaller organization – the fundamentals do not change. You need to link SWP to the business strategy, have a consistent process, develop the internal HR capability/expertise, and have an analytical tool to turn data into insight.
- Jan: Generally, our senior executives meet annually during Q1-Q2 to create needed strategies and objectives. Following approval by the board of directors (in late April), SWP begins and continues through the end of July with annual budgeting to follow.
17. Andrea: What advice would you give to roll out SWP globally, across many countries?
- Sibson: A few keys to success would be to ensure that you have a consistent process with consistent definitions and an analytical tool capable of capturing and summarizing the talent needs of each individual country and the organization as a whole.
- Jan: Agreed. While we launched this across four states (not globally), I assure you that the process works whether done in person or via telephone.
18. Darell : What impact has SWP had on career planning?
- Jan: The Talent Requirements completed as a result of SWP are helping leaders identify what they can do to prepare others for strategic roles. In addition, links to the Talent Requirements will soon be accessible to all staff via our employee portal, which will assist employees in identifying the accountabilities, behaviors, and competencies needed for any role of interest to them.
