Transforming IT Culture: How to Use Social Intelligence, Human Factors and Collaboration to Create an IT Department That Outperforms

Chapter 13

Workforce Planning

Maximizing the Productivity of Your Talent—Today and Tomorrow

Tell me and I forget.

Teach me and I remember.

Involve me and I learn.

—Benjamin Franklin

The dehumanization of the workforce has produced many negative consequences, for both corporations and knowledge workers. I have covered these extensively throughout this book. The prior chapters focused on how to manage the workforce better by applying the human factors of productivity; this chapter focuses on how to plan it.

Corporate America thinks short term. In fact, the planning horizon often does not extend beyond the next quarter. One of the most significant problems with this short-term bias is the negative effect it has on the growth and development of the workforce. Add to this the notion that professionals are just replaceable parts, and management is absolved of responsibility to care deeply about its workers. This explains why workforce planning is missing in most companies. Organizations remain tactically focused on short-term project staffing needs, choosing to be reactive rather than proactive. In addition, many have embraced a commodity view of labor, looking for the cheapest parts, not the most productive and talented ones.

But this is way off the mark. Information technology (IT) is a talent business, more than anything else. Winning companies acquire and grow the best talent, letting it fully express itself within supportive cultures and work environments. Yes, there are some commodity ...