Who defines your purpose for workforce planning?

But does that mean that each part of the system can’t learn from one another or share best practices? In this article we explore how to understand who defines the purpose of your workforce planning, and the stakeholder management needed to take a collaborative approach within and across organisations.

Establishing the foundations

The purpose, scope and ownership of a workforce plan are the foundations it will be built on. It is important to spend time defining this carefully to ensure everyone involved understands the basis of the plan and are committed to achieving it.

The driver of workforce plan often flows from a specific problem or challenge that needs to be solved, such as poor performance in an area or the need to adapt and future proof the service (often by analysis of changing population demographics).

Thinking about what a good plan will enable you to improve or achieve in practical terms is central to defining its purpose. However, it is also important to consider that any plan should take direction from and align with the strategic aims of your organisation.

The importance of stakeholder engagement

Involving the right people to engage in meaningful discussions and gather differing opinions will help prevent jumping to potential solutions too early. Stakeholders should be identified and involved in outlining the purpose and scope of the plan. A stakeholder is anyone who impacts or will be impacted by a plan – as the first steps of your plan evolve you will identify more stakeholders.

By creating a fluid engagement plan, you can adapt it when more stakeholders are identified, ensuring the right people are engaged and informed at the right time and with the right level of information. Good stakeholder management categorises and groups people depending on their level of influence and interest i.e. some will just need to be informed, some consulted with, and others partnered with.

Defining the scope of your workforce plan

There must be integration between operational/service plans, financial planning, and workforce plans for them to be successful. Even with a realistic scope, the scope of a workforce plan is more than just the workforce area in focus. The geographical area needs to be identified as this will denote the population demographics of service users , and the estates and facilities that will be covered.

Only when you’ve gathered this insight and engaged the right people can the workforce scope be defined, whether it is a whole service or a discrete area. The roles, skills, and levels of the workforce in scope should also be stated and agreed. Once agreed, interdependencies with other departments/organisations need to be explored. There could be increased demand implications for other areas from a workforce plan. It might also be necessary for other areas to make changes before your workforce plan can be fully implemented. It’s also useful to identify areas that are not within scope to ensure they are not included from the start and to have a clearly defined focus area.

Establishing ownership and leadership

The ‘owner/owners’ for a workforce plan will differ depending on scope. It will typically rest with the senior leadership team; they can help set the strategic direction and allocate resources championing workforce planning activities and initiatives. There may also be a dedicated workforce planning function within the organisation who can support, as well as involvement from HR and OD teams (if available and appropriate). The right approach to ownership depends on the organisation’s structure, culture, and resources. Certain stakeholders will have a level of ownership within the plan, and once they take ownership, they are more engaged and committed to the plan’s success.

Throughout a workforce plan, services needs must be one of the driving forces, these can be identified by focusing on what the service should deliver not what it is delivering. Service specifications and legislation can help define this, along with any targets and feedback from service users. An understanding of the population demographics the service supports is needed along with the ability to interpret this to predict how the population will look in the future.

In summary, effective workforce planning in the justice sector requires clear purpose, stakeholder engagement, defined scope, and strong ownership. By aligning with strategic goals, involving key stakeholders, and focusing on service needs, justice sector organisations can build a robust workforce plan that adapts to changing demands and improves overall service delivery.