AI workforce planning for the C-suite

Last week HotTopics ran an event in central London for leaders looking to sift through the opaqueness of hybrid working policies. What is working? What is not working? Why? Together, with our partner, Shure, we heard lessons in hidden behavioural biases from Author and Behavioural Scientist Nuala Walsh, the latest (and upcoming) AI solutions poised to be unleashed to the market, by top-ranking US-based executive Ilya Bukshteyn at Microsoft, and shared success stories alongside AXA’s CIO Natasha Davydova.

Throughout the event, I was interested in dissecting the relative objective and subjective factors impacting a successful (productive) hybrid workforce. Reflecting on what we learned over the weekend, however, and one theme we touched upon that deserves more attention was workforce planning. Those organisations that had been more proactive—and circumspect, it has to be said—regarding the impact remote and hybrid work would have on its workforce, the more confident leaders were to curate their own version of a distributed workforce. That confidence was important because it signalled to their team and the wider group that any hybrid working policies had purpose, or, were intentionally created.

The uncertainty of hybrid working is now better understood; businesses are still experimenting, yes, but the shifting ground on where people work and why is beginning to solidify.?

Not so for AI and its potential impacts on workforce skills and capabilities. The C-suite needs to employ an even more thorough and circumspect approach to workforce planning than ever before. And if my calls and conversations with leaders are anything to go by this year, few are confident they are doing enough.?

Here are some practices to roadmap:

1. Prioritise talent investments

AI is already impacting talent skills, but we know human talent is at a premium—especially today. Lipservice would say the workforce is a strategic asset and investing in talent development and retention is essential for long-term health. Walking the talk would put talent investments on the same par with financial investments, and possibly making this a CFO priority, too. Employees represent both an organisation’s largest investment and its deepest source of value, so it makes sense to put it under the future Chief Value Officer.

2. Flexible modelling

Past workforce planning has reshaped workforces to meet future market requirements. But if the plan is too rigid, that proactivity will be for nought. Reshaping workforces for one year, three years, and more, is actually quite a humbling process as one realises how little one can predict so far ahead. Flexible workforce modelling therefore incorporates technology-based predictions, policy, governmental and compliance, and geo-political forces.

3. Capacity vs. capabilities

The type of workforce is one thing; what about their specific skills or competencies? Mapping out the critical business roles (what I would call ‘keystone roles’) that are likely to drive deeper strategic impact or generate more value, are a good place to start. Then, map out where those people are likely to be found.

4. Plan Z

Remember the rhyme: Plan A will never see the light of day. And, given the unpredictability of certain news stories right now, it is unlikely B-D will get airtime, either. Scenario-based approaches allow organisations to consider rapidly changing industry conditions. A good place to start is in the past. For example, trade wars are by no means a 21st Century phenomenon.

It shouldn’t take a pandemic or a once-in-a-generation technology to force leaders to better plan the future workforce, yet here we are. One anecdote I heard during last week’s event was how the hybrid work debate has in fact made leaders be more intentional about their team’s working structures, which I agree with. We should keep that intentionality going.

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