How do you involve employees and stakeholders in the talent mapping and forecasting process?

People generate the best ideas when they know what the purpose of the session is. Make the purpose explicit. Provide examples.

Talent is the supply side and serves a specific need on the demand side. You need to know the purpose and scope of the need to satisfy it. An example workforce need would be an increase in workforce size to respond to an increase in market share or market demand; a change in the services offered to customers; or a change in process that requires different or more skills. This information should come from executive management. It is important to quantify the scope of the direct need (e.g., 10 welders) but also the supporting elements (10 welding machines, 1 supervisor, more parking, onboarding process, etc.). You may be surprised by the amount and complexity of supporting elements that are needed to acquire and sustain the talent supply.

Key stakeholders may include those roles who can a) validate the general resource/labor need b) validate the actual tasks or work required c) has a good understanding of how the competition or market is seeking same talent (such as Strategic Workforce Planning) and d) ideally can represent all of these in the same team or business function of need.

Employees want to know how they can grow. You should be able to answer their questions. If you can't, work with them to map out appropriate career paths.

Employee engagement in the process of talent mapping is essential to success. Many employers look toward talent attraction first and not retention, forgetting that current employees have the knowledge of the workplace culture, performance needs and gaps to help map and forecast for the company. Being included from the start, having open dialogue, and being able to take ownership are important for employees to know their voice is heard. As they say actions speak louder than words, so setting up a process that includes them, allows for adaptability to their needs and entails follow-through and follow-up will ensure meaningful support to the cause.

To involve employees in talent mapping and forecasting, this is a collaborative approach that I used at FedEx: Engage a diverse range of employees from various levels in creating and executing a Gap Analysis. Conduct interviews to identify perceived skills gaps and areas for development. Use this feedback to construct a matrix, pinpointing low-staffed skill areas and employees interested in reskilling. This participatory method not only provides concrete data for team reorganization but also ensures that the process is transparent, inclusive, and respectful of employee input. It's an effective way to identify growth areas and involve employees in shaping the organization’s talent strategy.

Once you have defined the purpose and scope based on strategic information provided by executive management, you need to increase the level of detail by incorporating the tactical information from the operational line and busines support functions (e.g., HSE, HR, maint.). One powerful way to do this is to create a cross-functional team made up of operational employees and members from the applicable support functions. Create a Terms of Reference that identifies the members of the team, what their roles are, what the deliverables and key outcomes are, how decisions are made (i.e., concensus, majority, leader-informed, etc.) and how conflict is resolved. Add the tactical detail to your purpose and scope statement.

I have found that incorporating ONET and MyFuture NC (local example) into your talent mapping process can provide valuable insights into the skills, competencies, and occupations relevant to your organization's workforce planning. Utilizing ONET allows you to explore detailed information about various occupations, including required skills, education levels, and job duties. Additionally, ONET can offer detailed skill descriptions to map the skills required for specific roles within your organization. Compare these skills with the existing skills of your workforce to identify gaps and areas for development. MyFuture NC provides access to regional workforce data, education programs, and career pathways specific to North Carolina.

Download GenoPro as a mapping tool. Identify your current capabilities by having employees complete a series of free assessments to identify occupational interests, values, and character strengths. Go to O*Net Interest Profiler for interests; CareerOneStop work values matcher; and VIA Character Strengths for a strengths assessment. You will have to create a way to collect and store the outcome of these assessments. Go to GenoPro and start to map out your current talent. Next, go to O*Net Online and conduct an occupational search for the occupations that you need to fill. Scroll down and read the abilities, interests and values sections. Correlate the talent you have with the talent you need. Can you develop what you have?

Actively involving employees and stakeholders in the talent mapping and forecasting process, not only enhance the accuracy of your predictions but also foster a culture of collaboration and engagement within the organization. This can be achieved through clearly communicating the purpose and importance of talent mapping and forecasting to employees and stakeholders. Additionally, providing regular updates on the progress of the process and share relevant information to keep everyone informed.

Ensure you are mapping findings against some external benchmark of skills such as O*net, WEF or better Lighcast as it's more open source.

Forming cross-functional teams that include representatives from different departments to collaborate on talent mapping and forecasting. Leverage the collective expertise and diverse viewpoints to identify potential skills gaps and solutions. I found this useful in career pathway implementation.

Regarding validation of skills required, explore options with "Skills Intelligence" such as retrain.AI, TechWolf and others so you have (ideally) accurate data to make decisions on skill validity, importance, alignment with existing skills and competency models, and especially skill alignment with available or missing learning content.