Hi,
We are going to run a workshop for our line managers on resource planning and would like to get them thinking how to plan ahead in the next 5 years in terms of their teams.
I am looking for some excercise to get them thinking of the bigger picture, structure, head count to allign with the business plan. Do you have any practice and a general excercise which we could try on the workshop?
the company has 195 employees.
thank you
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Replies
Hi Szabina,
I hope you are well.
My recommendation would be the following:
Think of a scenario that requires Line Management to think critically (try to make it fun and enjoyable). A scenario I would use is that all the Line Managers are the captain of a cricket team. The objective for them is to win the cricket world cup, which is being held in 5 years’ time. However, their respective teams are currently incapable of achieving this goal.
You then ask the Line Managers to form 4 groups of 5 (20 Line Managers per session) and to take 15 - 20 minutes to come up with a series of questions and ideas they think would be pertinent given the scenario they are dealing with. Groups of 5 should facilitate greater reflection and more reasoned ideas.
After the 15 - 20 minutes, you ask each group what their questions and ideas are and note these down on a white board. After taking down all these ideas, you initiate a Q and A where you ask each group what they think about these ideas and questions on the board. This is to help Line Managers check and test the rationale and thought process of their colleagues as to how they can attain their objective of winning the world cup.
What you really want to see from the Line Managers, when you ask them what their questions and ideas are, is if they are following the Kernel of good strategy (Diagnosis, Guiding Policy and a set of Coherent Actions).
Are they asking questions that will help them accurately diagnose what is preventing the team from reaching their overall goal (is it a lack of working chemistry between team members or are there too many team members who possess similar core strengths)? Are they asking questions that help them identify what their current team / individual players are capable of (benchmarking)? Are they outlining ideas that will help them take the necessary steps they would need to, in order to obtain their key objective (training and development for team members who possess the potential to be part of the world cup winning team, redundancies for those who possess an obsolete set of skills or are performing poorly and hiring new talent based on skill shortages / future demand).
That is how I would approach the workshop because it would give Line Managers a practical understanding as to what they will need to consider, from a resourcing planning perspective. It would also get them to think strategically.
Hope the above is useful for you.
Thanks,
Soheil