How to take a skills-based approach to workforce planning

Skills adds a new dimension to workforce planning, (and helps us answer questions such as): How can we deliver on our business strategy? How can we set up our employees with the right skills??

The unpredictability and pace of change facing organisations today is a major challenge – one that has only been exacerbated since the start of the pandemic. The word on many people's lips is skills, and perhaps not surprisingly HR leaders see building key skills and competencies as their number one priority .

As such, a skills-based approach to workforce planning has the potential to position the HR function as a strategic partner to the business, by addressing business priorities as they arise. Many companies recognise this, but as our research at Insight222 into?the future of workforce planning identified, while nearly all companies want to build a skills-based workforce planning process, only a quarter are actively doing so.

One company that is adopting a skills-based approach is Zurich Insurance. So, I am delighted that Ralf Buechsenschuss, Global Head of Org Design, Analytics & Digitalization at Zurich Insurance, is my guest on this week's episode of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast . As you'll hear, Ralf has worked in the people analytics, workforce planning and org design fields for over ten years in roles at Telefónica and Nestlé before his current role at Zurich Insurance. Ralf has also lectured on people analytics at a number of institutions including INSEAD, Stanford and Mannheim.

The role of people analytics in many companies is helping people to understand how they can stay relevant in the labour market. It can provide a clear view of where you are as a professional, where you have to upskill or reskill, new requirements for your role and tailored recommendations to close any skills gap.

You can listen by clicking on the image below or by visiting the?podcast website here .?

(People Analytics should) always start with what are the business priorities and how can we bring the right insights to support decision making

Throughout this episode, Ralf and I discuss:

• How technology has helped to elevate people analytics during Ralf's decade in the field to an extent that today we can: “Use machine learning at scale and tailor recommendations to individuals because we know what the skills are of an individual and what are the skill gaps. And at scale, we can actually bring certain recommendations to an employee, the same way we bring specific marketing campaigns to our customers.”
• Why it’s high time to stop viewing workforce planning as a cyclical process, and instead view the starting point to any workforce planning activity as the business strategy, and, in particular, specific business challenges as they arise.?
• We also discuss Ralf’s ingenious use of organisational network analysis in workforce planning, to understand the flow of expertise throughout the organisation: "We are applying organisational network analysis on two types of networks. One is the expertise network - so, to really understand, what is the capability we have and who is part of that network? And (second, the) collaboration network - so how do people work together and get work done?"
• Finally, we take a look at workforce planning and org design, how these two activities can be viewed as two sides of the same coin and how bringing both under the same umbrella can help HR deliver more value to the business.?

Analytics is an enabler to help people navigate through these times of uncertainty

Enjoy - and please let me know in the comments section your thoughts and any questions after listening to the episode.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

To listen to the Podcast and read the transcript of my discussion with Ralf, head over to myHRfuture by clicking on this link: How to take a skills-based approach to workforce planning .

WATCH THE VIDEOS

As well as the podcast, there will be a couple of videos available on the?myHRfuture YouTube channel ?highlighting highlighting two of the topics Ralf and I cover in our conversation. In the clip below, Ralf outlines how workforce planning delivers business value .

THANK YOU

A huge thank you to Ralf for sharing his time and expertise with listeners of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast. You can connect with Ralf on LinkedIn , and also follow him on Twitter @Ralfbuec .

Thanks to?TechWolf ?for sponsoring Series 16 of the podcast, and also Ian Bailie, Manpreet Randhawa, Caroline Styr and the myHRfuture team for creating the Digital HR Leaders podcast and video series.?

GET INVOLVED

If you enjoyed listening to this week's podcast episode, I'd be grateful if you could take the following steps:

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3. Who would you like to see me interview in future episodes? Let me know in the comments below.
4. Lastly, don’t forget to share on social media with your friends and colleagues, your support is always greatly appreciated!

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CATCH UP ON THE DIGITAL HR LEADERS PODCAST

If you haven't listened to all of the episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, you can catch up now by clicking on the links below.

• EP 78: Mika?l Wornoo - How Do You Understand the Skills of Your Workforce?
• EP 77: Rob Cross -?How Can You Reduce Collaborative Overload?
• EP 76: Dave Ulrich, Jonathan Ferrar and David Green -?How to Build Excellence in People Analytics
• Bonus Episode: Kathleen Hogan -?Microsoft's Chief People Officer on Creating a Data Driven Culture in HR
• EP 75: Toon van der Veer -?How AB InBev uses Data, Analytics and AI in Talent Management
• EP 74: Joanne Kuipers -?How Tata Steel uses skills data for learning and workforce planning
• EP 73: Rick van Echtelt -?What are the benefits of measuring employee skills data?
• EP 72: Tertia Wiedenhof -?How Rabobank Has Created an Agile HR Function
• EP 71: Ron Friedman -?How Can You Reverse Engineer Success?
• EP 70: Steven Baert -?How is Novartis reimagining Performance Management?
• EP 69: Melissa Corwin -?How Does AT&T Link Business Transformation, Culture and Performance Management?
• EP 68: Greg Harris -?Why Employee Experience And Performance Management Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin
• EP 67: Jolen Anderson -?How BNY Mellon Supports Employee Wellbeing and Resilience
• EP 66: David Rock -?How neuroscience can help organisations drive meaningful change
• EP 65: Jimmy Zhang -?How Vertex has build a world-class people analytics function
• EP 64: Jignasha Grooms -?How to build a culture of trust and measure its impact
• EP 63: Ian White -?How to manage and visualise people data to create actionable insights
• EP 62: Isabel Naidoo -?How to design HR programs for impact and personalised experiences
• EP 61: Claude Silver -?Building a culture that drives business success and wellbeing
• Bonus Episode: Arianna Huffington & Donna Morris -?How Walmart is helping its associates achieve healthier habits
• EP 60: Alexis Saussinan -?Creating business impact with people data and technology
• EP 59: Karen Powell -?Getting started with a skills-based talent strategy
• EP 58: Ruslan Tobulatov -?What are the business benefits of a Talent Marketplace?
• EP 57: Jeroen Wels -?How Unilever has created a culture of internal talent mobility
• EP 56: Ina Gantcheva -?Why Are So Many Companies Building Talent Marketplaces?
• EP 55: Guru Sethupathy -?How Capital One delivers value at scale with People Analytics
• EP 54: Ethan Bernstein -?How Can HR Help Organisations Prepare for Hybrid Working?
• EP 53: Wagner Denuzzo -?How HR enables business transformation at Prudential Financial
• EP 52: Wenshan Xu -?How Singapore uses skills data to support lifelong learning
• EP 51: Dave Ulrich, Brigette McInnis-Day and Rupert Morrison -?The Future of HR: How can HR can be more value and business focused?
• BONUS EPISODE: David Green & Ian Bailie -?'All Eyes on HR' - HR Predictions for 2021
• EP 50: Renil Kumar -?How Wipro uses People Analytics to enable hyper-personalisation
• EP 49: Michael Arena -?How ONA can help understand the impact of virtual and hybrid working on innovation and wellbeing
• EP 48: Daniel West -?How to Democratise People Analytics to Drive Agile Decision Making
• EP 47: Melissa Harper -?How Bayer is redefining the workplace around Purpose, Innovation & Culture
• EP 46: Chin Yin Ong -?How people data can drive better business and employee outcomes
• EP 45: Vidya Krishnan -?Making learning a habit that matters at Ericsson
• EP 44: Simon Brown -?How Novartis promotes learning curiosity to drive business value
• EP 43: Kat Kennedy -?Improving Employee Experience through Learning, Skill Development & Mobility
• EP 42: Gianpiero Petriglieri -?How Do You Create a Learning Culture in the Workplace?
• EP 41: Lynda Gratton -?How can HR help shape the re-skilling and learning agenda?
• Bonus Episode: Diane Gherson -?How IBM is Reinventing HR with AI and People Analytics
• Summer Special #5: Sophie Rwegera Khadhraoui -?Building a People Analytics Function in a Humanitarian Organisation
• Summer Special #4: Dan Cable -?How to help people love what they do at work
• Summer Special #3: Torin Ellis -?What is HR's Role in Creating Diverse and Inclusive Organisations?
• Summer Special #2: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic -?What is the role of leadership in times of crisis?
• Summer Special #1: Amy Edmondson -?How to create Psychological Safety at work
• EP 40: David Green -?How can People Analytics drive business value?
• EP 39: Jeremy Shapiro -?How People Analytics has progressed in the last ten years
• EP 38: Heather McGowan -?How Covid-19 is accelerating the Future of Work
• EP 37: Thomas Rasmussen -?How National Australia Bank has scaled People Analytics
• EP 36: Ravin Jesuthasan -?Six imperatives for HR in the Future of Work
• BONUS EPISODE: Amit Mohindra & Dawn Klinghoffer -?What is the future of People Analytics?
• EP 35: Peter Hinssen -?What is the role of HR in driving and enabling innovation?
• EP 34: Bruce Daisley -?What do business leaders want from HR?
• EP 33: Dirk Jonker -?Why People Analytics needs to behave like a start-up
• EP 32: Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic -?The role of storytelling in People Analytics and Data Visualisation
• EP 31: Piyush Mathur -?How Johnson & Johnson uses People Analytics to drive business outcomes
• BONUS EPISODE - Heather Whiteman, RJ Milnor & Ian Bailie (Live at PAFOW) -?How to develop the HR skills of the future
• EP 30: Katy Gray -?How Arup uses reward data to drive behavioural change
• EP 29: Uri Ort -?What is the future of talent assessment?
• EP 28: Zara Nanu -?The role of People Analytics in Gender Pay Analysis
• EP 27: Julia Shaw -?How can technology reduce bias in the workplace
• EP 26: Stela Lupushor -?How HR can be a Catalyst for Change
• BONUS EPISODE: Volker Jacobs -?How to scale Employee Experience
• EP 25: Julie Digby -?How HR Drives Transformation and Org Design at Mars
• EP 24: RJ Milnor -?How McKesson uses ONA to identify what drives high performance in sales
• EP 23: Rupert Morrison -?Rethinking Workforce Planning & Organisation Design
• EP 22: Dawn Klinghoffer -?The Evolution of People Analytics at Microsoft
• EP 21: John Boudreau -?Reinventing Jobs: The Future of Work and it's impact on HR
• EP 20: Tanuj Kapilashrami -?How Standard Chartered designed an exceptional Employee Experience
• EP 19: Anna Tavis:?What is Agile HR and how are companies adopting it?
• EP 18: Sarah Johnson:?How to use employee surveys to create strategic value
• EP 17: Leena Nair -?How HR drives business value at Unilever
• EP 16: Keith McNulty -?HR 3.0: more data driven, more agile and more business focused
• EP 15: Jason Corsello -?The Shift From HR Tech to Work Tech
• EP 14: Jill Larsen -?How does the CHRO successfully partner with the CEO
• EP 13: Frida Polli -?How AI and Behavioural Science can reduce bias in recruiting
• EP 12: Ian O'Keefe -?The Workforce Analytics journey at JP Morgan Chase
• EP 11: Dave Ulrich -?The role of HR in the Digital Age
• EP 10: Jordan Pettman -?How Nestlé uses People Analytics to measure Gender Pay Gap and Equity
• EP 9: Catalina Schveninger -?The Evolution of Corporate Learning at Vodafone
• EP 8: Richard Collins -?How is Automation, AI and Analytics changing recruiting?
• EP 7: Katarina Berg -?Spotify's CHRO on Leading HR in a digital world
• EP 6: Nick Holley -?How HR can become more business relevant ?
• EP 5: Eden Britt -?How to build a People Analytics team in a global organisation | The People Analytics journey at HSBC ?
• EP 4: Yvette Cameron -?How Blockchain will disrupt the Future of Work and HR Technology ?
• EP 3: Didier Elzinga -?How to Create a Culture First Company ?
• EP 2: Edward Houghton -?The Head of Research at the CIPD on Driving Business Performance with People Data ?
• EP 1: Sharon Doherty -?How to transform HR to be more digital and building a culture of diversity

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a globally respected author, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work.?As Managing Partner and Executive Director at?Insight222 , he has overall responsibility for the delivery of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, which supports the advancement of people analytics in over 70 global organisations.?Prior to co-founding Insight222 and taking up a board advisor role at?TrustSphere , David accumulated over 20 years experience in the human resources and people analytics fields, including as Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations increase value, impact and focus from the wise and ethical use of people analytics.?David also hosts the?Digital HR Leaders Podcast ?and is an instructor for Insight222's?myHRfuture Academy . His book, co-authored with Jonathan Ferrar,?Excellence in People Analytics: How to use Workforce Data to Create Business Value ?will be published in the summer of 2021.

SEE ME SPEAK AT THESE EVENTS

I'll be speaking about people analytics, the future of work at a number of upcoming events:

• 28-29th September -?Insight222 Global Executive Retreat ?(Virtual - invite only)
• 6th October -?People Analytics for the Future of Work? (Virtual - webinar)