What to do after the results of the SWP Readiness Assessment

In summary, what you need to remember from this article …
✦ After completing the SWP Readiness Assessment, use the results to develop concrete action plans, focusing on your organisation’s strengths and weaknesses.
✦ Prioritise initiatives according to their impact on the company’s strategic objectives, considering the importance, feasibility and resources required to implement them.
✦ Define key milestones to measure progress and adjust your action plan over time.
✦ Engage stakeholders to ensure the success of the SWP project. Manage change challenges effectively through transparent communication.
✦ Ongoing monitoring is essential to measure progress against the success criteria you set out in your action plan. Keep an eye on the key performance indicators (KPIs) you have defined for each initiative, and be ready to make adjustments to adapt to internal and external developments

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🚨 Please note: this article will only be useful to you if you’ve carried out a SWP Readiness Assessment. Well … actually, you can still read this article to get some ideas on how to use the results of a Readiness Assessment you’ve carried out for a completely different project … but hey, this is the last part of a series of articles on Strategic Workforce Planning. It would be a shame to miss the starter and the main course 😉.

If you know what I’m talking about, you can go straight to the introduction to this article.

If not, I invite you to take a look at two previous articles where :

• I explain theimportance of carrying out a SWP Readiness Assessment when embarking on the implementation of a SWP project
• the 7 items that make up this Readiness Assessment document.

Introduction

So if you’re here, you’ve probably completed your Readiness Assessment.

So what’s next? What next? …

Yes, there is a sequel, because let’s not forget that the purpose of this document is to help you prepare for the launch of your SWP project. You don’t fill in a project document just to fill it in … it has to serve a purpose.

And that’s what I’d like to show you in this final article!

So.
Once you’ve completed this SWP Readiness Assessment, you may realise that certain actions need to be taken before you can launch your SWP.

Hence the importance of using these results to draw up concrete action plans. These plans will be based on an analysis of your organisation’s strengths and weaknesses, focusing on the areas that require particular attention on your part in order to anticipate the risks you identified in the previous stage. And you’ll find that starting certain actions now will make your SWP project easier later (for example, thinking about setting up a skills catalogue to assess the skills of your teams, etc.).

So be careful!

Again, the aim is not to fix everything at once in a few weeks. That’s not possible and it’s not the objective. The initiatives you identify must be prioritised according to their impact on your strategic objectives. And some of these initiatives may still be in progress when you launch your SWP project.

1) Using the results of the Readiness Assessment

The results you obtain will constitute useful information that you can use in your SWP project. It is therefore important not to leave these results in a cupboard and to transform them into a concrete action plan that you can share with the stakeholders in order to give yourself every chance of success.

All this data will help you to guide your SWP approach.

a. Analysis of results

The results of the Readiness Assessment will give you a clear picture of your organisation’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to Strategic Workforce Planning.

You may have identified, for example, that you don’t really have any tools for identifying the skills of your employees, or that you need to create a common skills catalogue that is shared by everyone, or that you don’t have all the elements relating to the challenges and impacts of a SWP project.

Use this information to define actions or even projects to be implemented in order to reduce the gaps in the various areas you identified during the self-assessment phase.

b. Prioritisation of initiatives

It is rare for an organisation to be able to tackle all the issues identified at the same time.

You will therefore need to prioritise the initiatives you have identified according to their impact on the company’s strategic objectives. Consider the importance of each issue, as well as the feasibility and resources required to resolve it.

Remember that it is not necessarily necessary to have 100% of the items green before launching your project. Focus on the ones that could jeopardise your project if you don’t find solutions to them.

The other, less critical items can be dealt with as you progress. A SWP is like a marathon, it’s not a 100 m sprint.

c. Definition of key milestones

Remember that the SWP is a long-term process that you will need to monitor regularly in order to readjust your roadmap if necessary.

From this Readiness Assessment phase onwards, you will be able to determine the key milestones that will enable you to measure the progress you are making as you go along. These milestones will serve as benchmarks for assessing whether your action plan is effective and whether it needs to be adjusted over time.

They will also enable you to communicate with your sponsor and stakeholders on the progress of the project.

2) Engage stakeholders and get change management underway

Once your action plan has been drawn up, it’s time to move on to implementation. You’re going to need to enlist the help of a number of players and, as I think you know, the success of your project will be correlated with the active involvement of stakeholders and effective change management.

a. Collaboration with the Operations, Finance and HR departments

As I have already said, the SWP is not an exercise that takes place in a vacuum, solely between HR.

Yes, HR plays a central role, in particular by providing essential data and contributing to the implementation of recommendations. But it is important that the operational departments are also involved in this process. Remember that these departments will be directly affected by the decisions taken (after all, the aim is to support the company’s strategy).

We mustn’t forget that every business needs to manage costs to ensure its long-term survival and success. Involving the Finance department can also be a wise move, as it enables us to gather financial data to ensure not only the success of the project but also its profitability.

b. Managing the challenges of change

Change is a source of resistance within the organisation.

And that’s normal; it’s the natural evolution of any change. You’ll have to go through it … but you can shorten that time.

And that’s why you need to start thinking about your change management strategy now. This strategy is likely to evolve over time … but you’ll have it in mind throughout this SWP deployment project.

With the Readiness Assessment, you’ll be able to identify a number of elements to bear in mind when building this strategy, in particular communicating clearly about the reasons for the SWP project, sharing the expected benefits of this project or even what the consequences will be for employees.

Transparent communication is essential to reduce resistance to change.

So use the results of the Readiness Assessment to start your assessment of the impact of such a project on your organisation, but also on the company’s employees.

c. Maintaining stakeholder commitment

Remember that stakeholder engagement is not limited to the initial implementation phase. It must be maintained throughout the SWP process.

For example, organise regular meetings to keep stakeholders informed of progress and to gather their feedback. Ongoing engagement will encourage long-term commitment to the process.

What about organising a meeting to present the results of this Readiness Assessment and the first actions you have identified to launch your SWP project? If you have involved people during this assessment phase, this is a very good way of giving them feedback on the results of their contributions.

3) The importance of ongoing assessment and adjustments

When you start work on the SWP, bear in mind that it is a constantly evolving process. Once you have initiated your action plan and involved the stakeholders, simply plan how often you will evaluate the project and review the actions taken for possible adjustments. This will help you maintain long-term effectiveness.

Ongoing monitoring is essential to measure progress against the success criteria you set out in your action plan. This simply means keeping an eye on the key performance indicators (KPIs) you have defined for each initiative.

Remember that no plan is perfect from the start (that’s the beautiful mon of project management 😉 ). Adjustments will often be necessary to adapt to internal and external changes. This may mean reallocating resources, reprioritising identified actions, or adapting objectives in line with changes in the company’s overall strategy.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can put every chance of success on your side in implementing your SWP project.

This will enable your company to strengthen its ability to adapt to market changes and manage its workforce effectively.

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