We sat down with Ricky Kitay, the Head of Workforce Capability & Insights (WC&I) at Stockland and Chris Hare, one of the Founders of eQ8 to discuss Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP), Stockland’s success in this space, and what the barriers are for other businesses.
TH – Chris, please tell us a bit about eq8 and how you help businesses with their SWP challenges.
CH – eQ8 provides the basis for customers to have a better conversation about the future in order to then future-proof their business. Along with providing the leading technology Platform globally, our role is to help embed the right Philosophy and share effective Process. SWP is the vehicle for connecting People (FTE, Skills) to Purpose (Customer value proposition, revenue execution).
TH – In your experience what are the barriers for businesses and leaders in starting their SWP journey?
CH – It comes back to Philosophy and Process.
In terms of Philosophy, know that SWP is a shift in thinking, not just a better way to forecast headcount. Because SWP is a very new way to solve old problems, most senior executives have not seen it done well, if at all. Practitioners must win leaders’ hearts and minds before they race off to conduct a planning exercise. It is crucial that the key stakeholders understand SWP is a revenue play, not a narrow cost management exercise. Operational excellence is not sufficient in a world of rapid change and shocks. Leaders need to see that SWP creates the strongest basis for clarity about an uncertain future.
From a Process standpoint, we need to drive efficiently to tangible outcomes. All models are wrong, some are useful. To put the “S” in SWP, we want to gather varying views of the future and quantify them. However, we are not looking for forecast perfection, but rather a shared view on direction to help us understand a “Workforce goal. We need just enough to build the “P”, a credible action plan to secure the future.
I have seen plenty of SWP initiatives fail where either of these two pieces are missing. The Platform ends up being the glue that binds these two items together, giving a coherent path to SWP outcomes.
TH – Ricky, what made Stockland different in this regard?
RK – Implementing strategic workforce planning at an enterprise level was a transformative initiative that hinged on the support and commitment of our executive leadership team. This was pivotal in securing senior level buy-in, which was necessary in them seeing the value of the initiative to provide input into the key assumptions and business drivers that impact the future workforce.
By integrating inputs from various business units, we were able to design and build a model that identified potential longer-term capability gaps across our workforce and helped inform talent acquisition strategies to meet these requirements.
While the implementation of strategic workforce planning has yielded material benefits, it has not been without its challenges. Embedding these practices across various business units has proven to be a complex endeavour and has required us to think about workforce planning differently to how we have done so previously.
To persuade business stakeholders to engage in the process of strategic workforce planning, we needed to find early proof points of its value in terms of proactive talent management.
By demonstrating how strategic workforce planning can help lead to better talent acquisition, improved employee retention, and a more future-ready organisation, we can underscore the critical importance of evolving our workforce strategies to stay ahead in a rapidly changing business environment. Adaptability and foresight are the cornerstones of enduring success, and they must be at the forefront of our planning initiatives.
TH – And Ricky, what have been the main benefits from implementing the eQ8 platform?
RK – Strategic workforce planning can offer a multitude of benefits that extend across the enterprise. It serves as a valuable tool for scenario planning, allowing us to prepare for various business contingencies by forecasting talent needs.
This foresight is instrumental in identifying potential resourcing gaps at different organisational levels and business units which should lead to a more focused talent strategy, across the ‘build’, ‘buy’ and ‘borrow’ elements of the strategy in line with the company’s trajectory.
In our context at Stockland, our model and business drivers have become a valuable tool for forecasting and scenario planning across potential acquisitions and divestments. This has enabled more accurate forecasting of workforce size and shape, including specific roles required to support seamless integration.
Our next opportunity is to further embed the outputs of the workforce planning model into the business planning process to better forecast the FTEs required to deliver the strategy, particularly the later years. The key benefit of this approach is that it provides a consistent and data driven methodology to forecasting the future in what is an uncertain and difficult endeavour at the best of times.
TH – This is one for you both. What were some of the operating assumptions made by key stakeholders at the start of the journey?
RK – Embedding strategic workforce planning into the business requires careful explanation of what it is and isn’t to prevent misconceptions and unrealistic expectations of the outputs.
For example, it is important that business stakeholders understand that strategic workforce planning provides a directional guide, rather than a crystal ball that can predict the future with exact precision.
It’s also commonly mistaken for operational resource planning, which it transcends by considering broader talent implications for the future to enable business strategies. The misconception that SWP is easy to implement and quick to deliver results can lead to frustration; strategic workforce planning is a complex and nuanced process that benefits from taking the right amount of rigour and time to test and refine before integrating into business practice.
Additionally, where the purpose of SWP is not well-understood, there can be a reluctance to see its role in anticipating and preparing for future workforce needs. In some cases, it may require a shift in mindset in order to overcome this challenge This can be compounded by a lack of understanding of the drivers that determine resource needs, such as market trends, business drivers and internal talent development, which are critical for accurate and effective planning.
These challenges highlight the need for clear communication and education around the purpose and process of strategic workforce planning to ensure its successful adoption and execution.
CH – I love what Ricky has been saying about SWP benefits and challenges. I will echo his comments on the hurdles above and add that many leaders come into the process thinking that this is a headcount budgeting process only. Unless they properly understand the power of SWP, they quickly wonder why questions are geared towards business planning (demand, scenarios) and not just straight to their best-guess headcount bid.
SWP at its best unpacks differing assumptions about the future and gets leaders debating. This is often new and unexpected at the launch of the first project. Therefore, it takes a leap of faith by both HR to sponsor and the business to engage in the first scenario discussions. Overcoming assumptions to get this leap of faith requires some nuance as Ricky says, but has high ROI. It unpacks strategy itself, not just the resulting workforce plan.
TH – What advice would you give to business leaders who know they need to address their SWP challenges, but are unsure where to start?
RK – For business leaders, the journey begins with a clear and structured approach and should be positioned as a strategic initiative at the executive level. The clear and structured approach can be broken into 3 phases:
1. Standing up the program of work – this will include:
- Executive Sponsorship: Strategic workforce planning is an enterprise-wide undertaking and requires executive sponsorship to ‘stand-up’ the program of work.
- Aligning to Business Strategy: Start by recognising that strategic workforce planning is a key pillar of the overarching business strategy..
- Program Driver: Engagement with senior leaders to articulate the activities that underpin the strategy. This needs to be clear and understandable as it determines the parameters and assumptions of the model.
2. Pilot program – this will include an actual outcome and key cultural shifts:
- Key Business Activity: Test the activity drivers with a real case example. This could include an operating model change, acquisition, divestment, etc.
- Longer-term Mindset and Vision: Encourage leaders within the organisation to embrace a strategic, long-term view of workforce planning. This may involve moving away from short-term fixes. This longer-term vision should be directional, providing a path to future success while allowing for adjustments as the business landscape evolves
3. Embedding into the business planning cycle – this may include a shift in how things have historically been done
- Consistency: Establish consistent practices and principles across the organisation to ensure that workforce planning is standardised, which will facilitate easier implementation and tracking.
- Methodology: Develop a robust methodology that is data-led and incorporates both qualitative and quantitative analysis. This will provide a solid foundation for making informed decisions.
- Data-Led Insights: Leverage data analytics to gain insights into current workforce capabilities and future requirements. This data-driven approach will help in identifying skill gaps and talent opportunities.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all manual for executing strategic workforce planning effectively. It’s crucial to acknowledge that this endeavour is a journey, not a sprint. Achieving success often necessitates a fundamental pivot from past practices to new approaches that will shape the future.
CH – Again, I really enjoy Ricky’s answer above. I will add two additional thoughts around the robust approach he’s just outlined.
Recognize that this space is not one size fits all. There are some key components that make this “S” “W” “P” for sure, but how you go about solving them may differ depending on your company’s needs. For instance, if the Board wants to know leadership can execute its long-term plan, you need top-down, enterprise-wide SWP. If instead there is a major shift in one product or region, a bottom-up, SWP on critical skill segments may be the priority. Tailoring your SWP approach to solving specific business problems is the best pattern for success.
Finally, focus on progress over perfection. The first few cycles of SWP can be high-level and directional. You do need to quantify things or it all becomes too rubbery to action, but the models are just there to drive a better conversation. That conversation is about the highest order priority for all of us; what is the organsation’s purpose and what will it take to achieve it through people?
Interviewee Bios
Ricky Kitay
Ricky is the Head of Workforce Capability & Insights (WC&I) at Stockland (ASX top 50 diversified property company).
The WC&I Team combines learning & development, recruitment, data & insights and workforce planning & capability to deliver a coordinated and data led approach to identifying and building the talent and capabilities required to deliver Stockland’s ambitious growth strategy. Prior to this he held senior HR roles across Reward and Operating Model Design at Stockland and Lendlease and has been a consultant with Deloitte.
Ricky is a graduate of the AICD Directors Course, a Solicitor and holds a Graduate Diploma in Tax.
Chris Hare
Chris co-founded eQ8 and oversees revenue, solution delivery, and investor relations. He continues to deliver strategic advice to Boards and senior executives across the US, Europe, and Australia. Chris enjoys challenging assumptions in order to align leadership and influence action.
Chris is committed to elevating HR through the adoption of the SWP discipline. HR can realize its strategic value by driving these grounded conversations on purpose; what we need to achieve and how we will achieve it through people.
