First published in 2016 - updated in February 2023
I have a very poor sense of balance. Ask me to stand on one leg and I’ll topple over pretty quickly. So the art of tightrope walking or “funambulism” is completely alien to me. However, in my career as a resource planner, my sense of balance has often been severely tested. At times this has left me feeling very much like a funambulist – and I find that pretty uncomfortable!
In many ways, as Resource Planners we are very fortunate. We get to engage with an incredible range of stakeholders - often people at very senior levels in our organisations. It’s a great opportunity to learn about and to influence different parts of our business. However, quite often our different stakeholders want different things from us, and our roles become challenging balancing acts.
I’ve worked with many companies in recent years, and many are struggling to get the right sense of balance across their organisation. So let’s look at a few of these potential challenges…
Finance
We may have a top down budget setting process. That’s something many resource planners throw their hands up in despair at – but it is a reality in many organisations. What is often the key driver in Finance? Of course, it is to keep costs under control.
How does this materialise? Often it means cuts to our operational budgets each year. The annual budget process: a process that seems to engulf the whole organisation beyond all reasonable proportion. A mad dash to find “change initiatives” to justify savings that have to be made next year!
And how often do we, as resource planners, join in that mad game; finding savings that don’t exist, cutting FTE numbers from our plans, fretting over service levels – all things that find little favour with some of our other stakeholders!
The tightrope is starting to wobble.
Human Resources
Our friends in HR have a slightly different primary focus. Usually, they will want to understand the “people” implications of your planning. If you’re growing numbers, it is all about recruitment plans and skilling of people. If you’re cutting numbers, it’s about restructures, redundancy programmes, re-skilling plans and location strategies. This is very meaty stuff – so we’d better get it right!
Then there’s another level of interest – they are often the guardians of our employee satisfaction surveys – so they want engaged and happy people. What are you doing in planning that might make people less than satisfied? Are you giving them the shifts they want to work? Do you allocate them enough time to develop their skills and receive their coaching? Are you even hindering their wellbeing?
In some organisations they may be the main interface with a strong Trade Union body. What is planning doing to keep the TU on board? Are you ensuring that all official policies are being adhered to? Have you done anything to upset their “members”?
Have you done all that at the same time as keeping your Finance friends happy and cutting costs?
My tightrope is swaying in the breeze right now!!!
Business Change (Projects)
These folks are great! They have a project, and they want to deliver it! Better still – they have a benefit case (hopefully), and it is going to be realised…no matter what!! Guess what? They want Resource Planning to prove those benefits have been realised too!
But there’s not just the one project (or one project manager). There’s a multitude of them. All of them have their vital change initiatives and benefit cases. Never mind that if you stacked up all their benefit cases together, you’d actually need no people in the business at all!! Those projects have to be delivered and reflected in your planning – just as they want them to be.
That’s a seriously crazy world. But I’ve seen it happen – time and time again – and the Resource Planners are caught up in the middle of it…at the same time as keeping their Finance and HR friends happy.
My balance is seriously starting to falter!!!
Our People
Now it becomes really tricky. What you do for this group of stakeholders will fundamentally impact on their lives!! “Work/life balance.” Wow – one of the most powerful phrases in resource planning…and we need to get it right for them.
But that’s no easy feat! You’ve got customer demand to meet – and we know how hard that is to predict. You’ve got efficiency and cost targets to meet. Flexibility means something very personal to each individual (and then something quite different again to your senior stakeholders!). Then there’s “fairness” to achieve. Plus they want certainty and security of when they are working – they’ve got busy lives to plan.
But it’s not just about work/life balance. What about when they are in work – they want a consistent workload – not boom and bust. It needs to be the right work to match their skills as well. Then there are breaks and lunchtimes to factor in.
On top of all that, there are all the metrics and performance reports you’re creating. Have you got all the correct data, are you focusing on the right things – are you driving the right behaviours?
This is critical stuff – on top of what you’re already doing for Finance, HR and Business Change…and trying to drive costs down, make efficiency savings and keep people happy…
I think I’m falling now…
Operations Managers/Directors
This group of stakeholders just wants everything. Why shouldn’t they?!!! They have one of the toughest jobs of all – running the business. Importantly, they want you to help them to do it. That’s a great privilege and well as a great challenge.
They might want you to help them challenge Finance – at the same time as Finance wants you to help them challenge the operation. They may want you to push back on some of those benefit cases in Business Change – at the same time as Business Change are telling you those benefits have to be realised!
Where’s my safety net!!!
Getting the Balance Right
It doesn’t have to be like this and of course, in some organisations they have managed to strike the right balance already. So how can avoid this becoming an impossible balancing act?
Here at Select Planning we strongly believe that there are some critical steps that can help you to walk the tightrope with balance fully intact! Look at them as your balancing aid…
Firstly - we must recognise that resource planning is about far more than people numbers, models, reports, and shifts. Resource planning is a fundamental part of the strategic planning for any business. It should inform, influence, and support your Target Operating Model. It should inform and drive the right KPIs for the business and its people – focusing on, planning, and measuring the things that really matter.
It must do these things by putting its people and the customer at the heart of all thinking, planning and decision making. It is only by doing this that the tools of our resource planning trade can come to life and engage ALL of our stakeholders.
Secondly – having a fully embedded resource planning lifecycle is paramount. However, again it is not just about the numbers. Your cycle must have a clear governance and engagement strategy to bring it to life and to enable it to become an influence in your business. Our numbers are simply the hygiene factor now – it’s the way we use them to tell compelling stories to our stakeholders that sets us apart.
It's not easy and it is why Resource Planners should be specialist professionals. It is also why great planning can make such a difference.
If you’re struggling to walk that tightrope, then why not have a chat with us.
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