Strategic Workforce Planning
Diagnostic Assessment
For each of the following questions, please evaluate your own organization’s current talent planning processes and then examine the overall effectiveness of these processes by using the scoring guide on page 2.
I. Identifying Strategic Talent Needs
• Are strategic plans and projects that have significant talent implications always supported by a workforce plan? (Yes/No)
• Does HR engage in regular two-way forward-looking interactions with line management to identify future strategic priorities and the talent implications? (Yes/No)
• Do workforce planning interactions between HR and line management occur during the line’s strategic planning cycle? (Yes/No)
• Does the organization prioritize workforce planning on the most critical talent groups/capabilities? (Yes/No)
• Does the organization forecast demand scenarios for critical talent groups/capabilities using assumptions derived from business strategy? (Yes/No)
II. Diagnosing Internal and External Gaps
• Does your organization collect information on internal talent supply, external talent supply, and organizational constraints to talent supply? (Yes/No)
• Does HR compare internal and external talent supply against talent demand in critical talent segments/capabilities to surface talent gaps and surpluses? (Yes/No)
• Do HR insights into strategic talent needs and gaps direct talent and HR resource decisions? (Yes/No)
• Are workforce planning insights communicated to line management to inform decisions? (Yes/No)
• Are workforce planning insights for line management customized and targeted for individual leaders, and do they highlight financial implications? (Yes/No)
III. Creating a Talent and Organizational Response
• Does HR examine the costs and benefits of different solutions to talent constraints, such as recruiting, training and development, organizational/job redesign, and reward and recognition? (Yes/No)
• Has your organization identified potential risks to execution of the workforce action plan (e.g., lack of internal labor mobility)? (Yes/No)
• Does HR communicate its strategy for closing strategic talent gaps to key stakeholders to jointly take action against implementation barriers? (Yes/No)
• Does your organization monitor and update the workforce plan based on changes to the strategic direction
of the organization, ineffective execution, or successes in closing strategic gaps? (Yes/No)