APPLYING THE STEPS

These examples are designed to give you a sense of how the planning process would work.

EXAMPLE 1.
NARROW SCOPE: THREE BUREAU DIRECTOR POSITIONS

1. Scope

   • With the advice and counsel of the personnel director, the agency chooses to start by focusing on the bureau director positions of a program division that consists of three bureaus. The division is headed by a director who reports to a deputy commissioner.

   • The division director wants to ensure that they have excellent candidates to fill these jobs because the incumbents will be eligible to retire in two to three years.

   • The division director forms a team with an HR representative, budgeting analyst, and the bureau directors.

   • Throughout the process, the bureau director keeps the deputy commissioner informed of progress.

2. Context

   • They assess the direction of the agency and the role the division will play. They consider the division's impact with respect to the organization as a whole, its customers, and its stakeholders.

   • Since the agency's strategic plan is up-to-date and included an environmental scan, they already have the answers to some of the questions about the external environment.

   • They look at potential legislation and changes in other jurisdictions and organizations (other State agencies, federal agencies, localities, and other states) that might impact upon what the division does.

   • They also look at how their customers are faring and what emerging needs they may have that the division could address.

   • They consider the likelihood of restructuring in the agency and conclude that their division is likely to continue in its current form for the next several years.

3. Work

   • Considering the context, they define the functions of the division and three bureaus in two years and five years. This gives them a short-term and long-term perspective to anticipate future needs.

   • They consider whether the bureau's organizational structure would have to change and conclude that the three-bureau structure will continue to work well, whether in two or five years.

   • In light of these functions, they itemize the future duties of each of the three bureau directors, noting in particular how they will change in the long term.

4. Demand

   • Considering the duties to be performed, they determine the KSAs and personal characteristics that candidates will need to be successful in the job.

   • They profile the KSAs of the existing three directors to build the model. The competency model describes the ideal candidate.

5. Supply

   • They already know the qualifying titles for the jobs, but recognize that others may need to be considered to ensure an ample supply of candidates with the needed competencies.

   • They request reports on the demographics of people in the qualifying titles. They learn that 23 percent will also be eligible to retire in two years.

   • Many of those eligible to retire may not do so for several years, especially if they are able to obtain a promotion. Their analysis also tells them that incumbents in the qualifying titles leave for other reasons besides retirement, but that those numbers are fairly stable and not significant.

   • They do a high level assessment of the competencies of the incumbents in the qualifying titles by holding two focus group meetings and then validating them by surveying the total population. In the process, they learn about other competencies that exist in the candidate field.

6. Gaps

   • They determine that most of the competencies are likely to be provided by the candidate field based on attrition assumptions and the competency analysis.

   • They identify the competencies that will likely not be provided by the candidate field.

7. Priority

   • They determine the priority order of the needed KSAs in terms of how critical they are to success in the position, considering both the short and long term.

   • They determine that all are important; none should be dropped from the list.

8. Solutions

   • After personnel staff has discussions with Civil Service, the team investigates the possibility of expanding the promotion field to include other titles.

   • Based on a scan of the possible titles, they conclude that expansion may be beneficial but the new candidates may need further screening. They are less likely to have the needed competencies than candidates in the existing promotion field. The personnel person tells the rest of the team that this would mean changing the exam for all candidates.

   • With the cooperation of other division directors who have incumbents in the other titles, the team explores further to define the KSAs of these incumbents.

   • They find that these other incumbents also would be lacking most of the "gap" KSAs and lack some of the KSAs of the existing promotion field.

   • They conclude that expanding the field would not be cost-beneficial.

   • The team decides that their strategy will be to develop people in the existing promotion field. This includes:

     • Assessing individual KSAs;
     • Determining the gaps;
     • Determining specific development opportunities that can be provided individually and in groups, depending on the KSA;
     • Devising individual development plans; and
     • Assessing results through a periodic assessment process.

   • After analyzing the resources and potential benefits, they decide that they will focus on only the five most critical KSAs.

   • The other missing KSAs will be addressed through job assignments and coaching.

EXAMPLE 2.
BROAD SCOPE: PROGRAM DIVISION

1. Scope

   • The agency chooses a division that anticipates considerable change in services delivered and the way in which they are delivered. The division is comprised of three bureaus reporting to a director who reports to a deputy commissioner.

   • The division director wants to be sure that the division is positioned to have the staff they need to implement, manage and operate the new programs and systems.

   • The time horizon for planning is three years.

   • The division director forms a team with personnel, training, and organization development representatives, a budgeting analyst, IT representative, and the bureau directors.

   • The division director and deputy commissioner agree that they will confer at the when decisions are made on what solutions to pursue.

2. Context

   • They assess the direction of the agency and the role the division will play.

   • They analyze a number of external factors, such as potential legislation, impact of federal legislation and regulations, etc. They note some uncertainties in these areas that could impact their planning efforts. They find that their customer needs are continuing to change in much the same ways that were found in the strategic planning process.

   • They consider the likelihood of the need to restructure the agency in light of the changes projected in the strategic plan. They conclude that their division is likely to remain intact for the next year or so, but may need to restructure or be a part of a larger restructuring later on. There are no current plans to restructure. They know that the division will expand services offered and enhance existing services through new technology.

   • Spending plans in place mean that staffing targets will remain constant or decline slightly. The division will need to increase automation of routine functions and provide enhanced technology support to other functions to meet the new demands.

   • Union representatives are aware of the changes set out in the strategic plan. They say that the anticipated changes are making the employees nervous. Many have been doing the same job over a long period of time, have been doing it the same way, and like it that way.

3. Work

   • The team details the service enhancements and new services.

   • They develop three possible organizational scenarios, including the current set up, to account for possible agency restructuring.

   • For each of the scenarios, they define the functions of the division for three and five years out. They consider potential organization, technology and process changes.

4. Demand

   • They decide to adopt the most ambitious scenario. Even if functions move out of the division, the functions will need to be performed and staff will need to be prepared.

   • They need to account for the demand for division and bureau management, the professional title series, telephone center paraprofessionals, and support staff. They recognize that the existing title series may or may not be what they will need.

   • They determine that the management positions will require management skills along with several other new competencies.

   • They combine the supply and demand steps with respect to identifying core and potentially new competencies. They compile lists of competencies by holding focus group meetings and benchmarking other organizations that perform similar functions.

   • Based on information they have on the existing titles, they tentatively determine that the existing titles will work, with the possibility of adding one or two positions in a special title to manage the new call center technology.

   • They have been told that their FTEs (full-time equivalents) will not increase. Based on the total number of fills, they work out an initial projection on the numbers of staff they will need in each title and level, given the work to be done.

5. Supply

   • They assemble demographic and separation data to get a profile of the existing work force in the division. Then they develop assumptions about the future of the work force, such as the likelihood of retirement eligible employees to retire, by title series and level.

   • They develop work force projections based on the current data and projections of attrition.

6. Gaps

   • They do a gap analysis to show the adequacy of the supply in light of likely promotion and separation numbers. As expected, they discover that the call center is the most problematic, followed by the professional series.

   • They can see that the outflow of staff at most levels threatens the ability to have a healthy supply of highly qualified candidates.

   • They already identified the competency gaps for each of the titles in the demand step.

   • They analyze exam cycles and eligible lists. The length of lists and timing of exams/lists may create problems for some of the target titles/positions.

7. Priority

   • They have two sets of gaps to deal with. One concerns the number of staff needed in each title, the other, the competencies needed in each title.

   • They determine the order of priority by title in terms of each of the gap types.

8. Solutions

   • They develop solutions to address the separations by developing retention strategies like flexible work schedules and telecommuting.

   • They explore whether expanding the minimum qualifications to include other titles is an option in any of the titles, similar to example 1. They also identify options for developing staff, similar to example 1.

   • They identify possible recruitment/selection strategies to address the entry-level gap and to ensure that the new people will have some of the new competencies or have the aptitude to develop them.

   • Through employee development and careful appointments that anticipate work changes, they conclude they will be able to meet their needs with the existing lists and exam cycles for at least some of the titles. The personnel representative confers with Civil Service to develop strategies to address the other problem exams/lists.

   • They decide to develop retention, development, and recruitment programs for the professional and call center series. They develop a plan to address the most critical gaps in the first two years and the others in years three and four (thus expanding the planning horizon from three to four years.)

   • They devise a communications strategy to help allay employee and union concerns.

Previous Page

Next Page