But technological innovation is not just new software or new data. You need processes and people to use the software, to glean transformative insights from the data. That means that “digital transformation” is not just an IT strategy; it’s also an HR strategy. When Robert Leduc, president of Pratt and Whitney, opened 8,000 jobs in Connecticut, he told The Hartford Courant that keeping up with tech wasn't what troubled the aerospace manufacturer: “The thing that keeps us up at night is, ‘Are we going to have enough people, and are they going to have the right skill set?’”
So what does a CEO need from HR to develop and deploy a technology-focused workforce strategy? There are three key elements: Data, process guidelines, and employee adoption.
Data: Internal and external perspectives
It’s well-documented that HR struggles with the quality and availability of people data. Industry estimates put the amount of “dark data,” at 80-90 percent. HR needs to work out the tools and processes that will give it the cleanest, most complete data possible about its employees.
There are several questions that need to be answered when developing a holistic, data-driven workforce strategy:
- Is the current shape of your workforce well-suited to meet the future needs of the organization?
- Does the HR organization understand at a deep level what skills and competencies to develop to meet the future needs?
- If there is a gap between current talent shape and future shape, what is the most effective method to close the gap? How big is the development lift? Where and how should HR recruit?
- How does a traditionally nontechnical organization (or traditionally nontechnical departments/teams) attract talent that meets the emerging technical requirements?
- What organizations are competing for the talent you need?
Regarding that last question: Even in a world of perfect internal information, some of the deepest insights can be found by looking externally, toward market competitors, talent competitors, geographical trends, and labor market projections. HR must learn to incorporate that data into its long-term strategy.
Change management: Turning learning into behavior
People analytics are great—organizations focused on digital transformation may put considerable effort behind improving their data. But that investment is only as valuable as the decisions and changes those insights drive. When you’re facing wholesale changes to the core function of HR, the real effort of implementing a workforce strategy lies in the day-to-day change management. Specifically, organizations must use analytics to align incentives properly.
Bring transparency to what success looks like. People like doing things they’re good at, and, when given the opportunity, typically are good at the things they like. Define the specific skill sets required to succeed in a new opportunity, allowing individuals to flow toward areas of interest and passion.
Remove the internal friction associated with internal mobility. The best organizations make it easy for people to move throughout the company. This cross pollination of culture and talent across business units builds agile, innovative teams. In addition, as jobs increasingly hybridize, this mobility positions the organization for technical evolution.
Use data to make different, better decisions. Don’t use today’s data to legitimize yesterday’s HR functions. Rather, use data to create new risk profiles associated with entirely new types of decisions. The new HR organization should not resemble what we’ve come to know.
Put the “development” back into “talent development.” Business development teams are measured on how much business they develop. You should have the same expectations for talent development. Invest in employee success; to merely evaluate talent without taking positive action will stifle innovation, drive unwanted attrition, and hurt your talent brand. Rather, people manager success should be contingent on their team’s development and growth, in addition to delivery.
Employee adoption: Value over effort
Longstanding research has found that engaged employees are 22 percent more productive than their disengaged counterparts, and organizations with engaged employees see up to 25 percent higher profit margins. And worse, only 32 percent of U.S. workers are engaged. The challenge is that any workforce planning platform must accomplish two things: It must be easy to adopt and it must give the employee something personally beneficial.
We’re all used to the ease of using consumer technology. Your employees expect similar convenience from workplace programs and interfaces. In particular, users expect to port their online profiles to a new application. Users will not “start from scratch” for a program whose benefits aren’t even evident (yet). Any workforce planning tool must minimize adoption pain.
Workforce planning has to benefit the employee as well as the organization. The company is likely to have good insight into the business value of its workforce strategy, but most employees are not motivated to participate simply for the good of the company. Make it clear to employees that participation delivers personal value, driving significant career development at your business and in your industry.
Every job is a tech job
Digital innovation is redefining every business. Whether an organization is faced with a new challenge of securing its digital assets or a new delivery model, the impact on its talent requirements is broadly distributed across the entire organization. With every new innovation, organizations that have not invested in strategic workforce planning fall further behind their competition and face higher risk of disruption.
Successful organizations will recognize that this talent development must be informed by new data sources, and driven by employee adoption. Because when you come down to it, every job is becoming a tech job.
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