Planning People Needs

Organisations facing growth often find themselves asking the question: “how many people and what sort of skills do we need to get the job done?”

Planning workforce requirements is an important part of the strategic management of an organisation.

Twyford Consulting has conducted several projects that have demonstrated to clients the value of workforce analysis and planning:

Centacare Ageing and Disability Directorate - Liverpool
The Directorate was formed through the merging of four program areas into a single division to improve service coordination and to find ways of maximising the resources available for client services. Twyford Consulting analysed the current workforce and matched current capacity against future skill requirements and various work group options.. Improved ways of working - and ways of reducing costs in staff travel time - were considered before a final, preferred model was developed.

Fairfield Division of General Practice
This organisation, which represents doctors in general practice in south-west Sydney, needed to review its senior management structure to keep pace with growth in funding for programs. It was decided that a full-time Chief Executive Officer would be needed and Twyford Consulting worked with the Division to determine the scope of this new position and the skills a person would require to perform this role effectively. Assistance was also given to the Directors of the organisation in running a recruitment process to find and appoint a suitable candidate.

Maclean Community Services
For more than 10 years, community services have been successfully operating within Maclean Shire Council, especially in the areas of aged and disability services. Increased funding and organisational growth prompted a review of the organisational structure for community services to meet future demands. Twyford Consulting provided advice on possible options for a structure and identified the staffing composition needed.

For any organisation, decisions made about the appointment of staff and the organisation of the workforce to perform the work represent major investments - in dollar and people terms. Taking time out to review requirements and explore options often results in better decisions. Sometimes options about the people needed and the organisational structure emerge that were not previously considered.

Twyford Consulting Newsletter May 2001