CATEGORY 5: WORKFORCE 5.1 Workforce Environment 5.1a Workforce Capability and Capacity 5.1a(1) Capability and Capacity
While IPM has made a concerted effort to acquire more consultative (and less tactical) work, senior leadership recognized that some of our clients nonetheless seek more administratively focused PM support. In 2014, IPM introduced the Project Management Associate (PMA) role, for candidates with a strong skill set but minimal formal PM experience or expertise, allowing us to cost effectively fill these more tactical roles. For Corporate Services, the BPP identifies capacity and capability constraints that need to be addressed to support business growth. Functional leaders define organizational capability and capacity requirements to fulfill the Strategic Goals and Strategic Objectives, and carry out the resulting Strategic Initiatives. When reconciled with any budget constraints, functions develop or hire the necessary expertise to deliver the Strategic Plan. Corporate functional staff are cross trained to ensure no lapses in support occur. 5.1a(2) New Workforce Members Recruiting is based on forecasts of future resource needs within each region, which include job postings in several venues, including IPM’s website, third-party employment sites (e.g., LinkedIn), and other appropriate job boards. Employees are encouraged to refer candidates and receive a $5,000 referral bonus when the new hire has completed three months of employment. Figure 5.1-2 shows the processes for recruiting, hiring, and retaining employees. We ensure our workforce represents the diverse ideas of our customer community by seeking backgrounds that align with our clients’ needs. To ensure diverse thinking overall, though, we don’t set strict parameters around what experience is relevant, meaning that we welcome candidates from industries outside of our business segments.
During the Business Planning Process (BPP), IPM leaders perform a gap analysis to assess workforce capability and capacity needs to support the Strategic Plan requirements for business growth and development. Input to the BPP includes Organizational Planning (Org Planning), which considers industry and region support requirements to achieve critical goals. Functional leaders analyze their teams and provide input on departmental staffing needs, from both capacity and capability perspectives. Through their support of Project Management Consultants (PMCs), the Centers of Excellence (CoEs) also identify capability gaps. PMC competencies are measured against the PM Competency Rubric, developed by IPM in 2017 in alignment with the PMI’s Talent Triangle for the ideal PM skill set. A new tool known as the Service Line—Industry Matrix (SLIM) was also introduced, and it captures PMCs’ work experience in each of our industries and service lines. The SLIM essentially replaced our previous tool, the Capability and Skill Assessment (CASA), which was too subjective and required extensive validation. Using these tools, Operations (Ops) can assess existing skill levels against current and projected needs to determine company-wide development opportunities, and administer the appropriate training, or direct HR to adjust the hiring criteria. Org Planning (Figure 5.1-1) is used to assess gaps in the capacity and capabilities of the Company’s workforce to achieve the objectives of the Strategic Plan, particularly as it relates to leadership succession. Org Planning is conducted in depth during the April Management Meeting and revisited for significant changes during the October Management Meeting. In preparation for the meetings, managers complete a detailed assessment of the skills, competency, and leadership potential of each direct report (AOS). Capacity needs are determined by evaluating the sales pipeline, headcount status, and budget on an ongoing basis, notably through weekly regional resource planning meetings where headcount requirements are determined relative to the pipeline and current portfolio of client engagements. Monthly metric reports, which include current Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount as compared to budget and sales forecast, are created by Finance. The review of these metrics was enhanced with the establishment of a monthly Supply & Demand Meeting in 2017. The meeting was part of a change in our process for managing supply and demand, as we moved to a first come, first served model to more aggressively assign resources to approved projects, rather than holding a PMC for a potentially better fitting but not-yet-under-contract opportunity. The monthly recruiting metrics measure activity and recruitment success toward meeting capacity requirements. Project activity forecasting derived through Deltek facilitates recruiting efforts so capacity needs are met.
Figure 5.1-1 Organizational Planning Process (Org Planning)
Page | 20
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator