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The Small Enterprise Guide to People and Resource Management

Quickly start getting the right people, with the right skills, at the right time.

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Thought Model: The Small Enterprise Guide to People and Resource Management

Member Challenge

  • 52% of small business owners agree that labor quality is their most important problem, and 76% of executives expect the talent market to get even more challenging.
  • The problem? You can't compete on salary, training budgets are slim, you need people skilled in all areas, and even one resignation represents a large part of your workforce.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • The usual, reactive approach to workforce management is risky:
    • Optimizing tactics helps you hire faster, train more, and negotiate better contracts.
    • But fulfilling needs as they arise costs more, has greater risk of failure, and leaves you unprepared for future needs.
  • In a small enterprise where every resource counts, in which one hire represents 10% of your workforce, it is essential to get it right.

Impact and Result

  • Workforce planning helps you anticipate future needs.
  • More lead time means better decisions at lower cost.
  • Small Enterprises benefit most, since every resource counts.

Research & Tools

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1. The Small Enterprise Guide to People and Resource Management Deck – Find out why workforce planning is critical for small enterprises.

Use this storyboard to lay the foundation of people and resources management practices in your small enterprise IT department.

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The Small Enterprise Guide to People and Resource Management – Phases 1-3

2. Workforce Planning Workbook – Use the tool to successfully complete all of the activities required to define and estimate your workforce needs for the future.

Use these concise exercises to analyze your department’s talent current and future needs and create a skill sourcing strategy to fill the gaps.

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Workforce Planning Workbook for Small Enterprises

3. Knowledge Transfer Tools – Use these templates to identify knowledge to be transferred.

Work through an activity to discover key knowledge held by an employee and create a plan to transfer that knowledge to a successor.

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IT Knowledge Identification Interview Guide Template
IT Knowledge Transfer Plan Template

4. Development Planning Tools – Use these tools to determine priority development competencies.

Assess employees’ development needs and draft a development plan that fits with key organizational priorities.

Name Actions
IT Competency Library
Leadership Competencies Workbook
IT Employee Career Development Workbook
Development Plan Template
Learning Methods Catalog for IT Employees

Onsite Workshop: The Small Enterprise Guide to People and Resource Management

Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Do-It-Yourself Implementation

The slides in this Best Practice Blueprint will walk you step-by-step through every phase of your project with supporting tools and templates ready for you to use.

Project Accelerator Workshop

You can also use this Best Practice Blueprint to facilitate your own project accelerator workshop within your organization using the workshop slides and facilitation instructions provided in the Appendix.

Module 1: Lay Your Foundations

The Purpose

Set project direction and analyze workforce needs.

Key Benefits Achieved

Planful needs analysis ensures future workforce supports organizational goals.

Activities Outputs
1.1 Set workforce planning goals and success metrics.
  • Work with the leadership team to:
  • Extract key business priorities.
  • Set your goals.
1.2 Identify key roles and competency gaps.
1.3 Conduct a risk analysis to identify future needs.
1.4 Determine readiness of internal successors.
  • Assess workforce needs.

Module 2: Create Your Workforce Plan

The Purpose

Conduct a skill sourcing analysis, and determine competencies to develop internally.

Key Benefits Achieved

A careful analysis ensures skills are being sourced in the most efficient way, and internal development is highly aligned with organizational objectives.

Activities Outputs
2.1 Determine your skill sourcing route.
  • Create a workforce plan.
2.2 Determine priority competencies for development.
  • 2.Determine guidelines for employee development.

Module 3: Plan Knowledge Transfer

The Purpose

Discover knowledge to be transferred, and build a transfer plan.

Key Benefits Achieved

Ensure key knowledge is not lost in the event of a departure.

Activities Outputs
3.1 Discover knowledge to be transferred.
  • Discover tacit and explicit knowledge.
3.2 Identify the optimal knowledge transfer methods.
3.3 Create a knowledge transfer plan.
  • Create a knowledge transfer roadmap.

Module 4: Plan Employee Development

The Purpose

Create a development plan for all staff.

Key Benefits Achieved

A well-structured development plan helps engage and retain employees while driving organizational objectives.

Activities Outputs
4.1 Identify target competencies & draft development goals
  • Assess employees.
  • Prioritize development objectives.
4.2 Select development activities and schedule check-ins.
  • Plan development activities.
4.3 Build manager coaching skills.
  • Build management skills.
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