As organizations prioritize strategic workforce planning (SWP), scenario planning can help improve the effectiveness of their SWP efforts. Scenario planning (SP) helps envision, describe, and plan for possible—but alternative—futures an organization may face. These scenarios are generated by considering factors such as economic growth, labor market conditions, and the introduction of new technologies, to name a few. Leaders use these scenarios to determine each scenario’s talent implications and responses. Two resources that can help organizations with this effort include:
- This previously shared one-page editable PDF by Xplane that helps organizations identify four “what-if” scenarios they may face in the future, define the “conditions” that would trigger each, and develop a response for each scenario. The four scenarios include: a) A “Go Faster” scenario for accelerated growth, b) A “Pump the Brakes” scenario for responding to a foreseeable decline in revenue and a need to conserve resources, c) A “Stop the Car” scenario where firms respond to significant shifts in strategy to ensure sustainability in the face of adversity, and d) A “Break Glass” scenario in the face of a crisis that will require significant efforts for business survival.
- Gartner’s Scenario Implication Diagnostic provides over 60 diagnostic questions to help understand the implications of internal and external factors that can inform different scenarios.
HR leaders and their teams can use these resources to determine how SWP responses will vary for different scenarios.
