Peter Krammer
To be successful in workforce development and long-term planning, leaders must get department heads, managers, and supervisors involved. The leader’s role is to provide the roadmap, while the managers and supervisors handle the tactics. In this way, the best leaders teach their managers to think strategically and act tactically.
The key is for leaders to answer this question: “How many of what kinds of people over how many years will we need to complete projects safely, on-time, with exceptional quality and profitability?” The answer serves as a vision—a long-term view the entire organization should work toward for each project, quarter-by-quarter.
Develop a Plan
The toughest part of long-term planning is to renovate your system and develop the plan. Managers and supervisors need to understand their jobs exist to make or save money—the results go to the bottom line in many different ways. And saving money, like reducing fuel and maintenance costs due to the idling of engines, can free up funds for people development.
- Redefine the long-term outcome—what does workforce development need to look like in your company? How many people in each sector of your business will you need in order to survive, and how many more will you need to grow?
- How will you get there—given the competing demands of finances, projects, customers, and employees? What needs attention and how can you innovate to solve the problems?
- Prioritize the work—if you have a turnover problem, what needs to happen to fix it? If you need training, how will you fund it? If you need funding, how will you create it? Developing leadership down to the field level is critical to success. How will you do that?
Remember, every company is unique, and another company’s design won’t work for yours.
