Workforce Planning and Succession Planning

Workforce planning is the process by in which institutions ensure that they have an adequate number with the appropriate skills and at the right positions so that the institution can achieve its goals efficiently. Succession planning refers to the process of noting the vital positions within an organization and establishing plans on how to fill the positions. It aims at ensuring that the organization has the right individuals in the right job posts currently and in the future. 

In the case of Whitesville Medical Center, in scenario 2, I would recommend succession planning which would observe the steps as follows:

1. Establishment of strategic alignment

This step involves communicating the direction of the hospital and the implications for succession management and then formulating a way of allocating financial and human resources to the succession management (Rothwell, 2013). To identify the requirements, experts consider the review of the hospital’s strategic plan and performance plans along with factors such as trends, growth of the institution and the current deployment of leaders.

2.  Determine the succession targets and analyze talent

After understanding how the hospital activities are conducted, the next step would be to prioritize how to deploy resources and the rate of deployment that would help build a pool of talent and reinforcements for the future. It is also crucial to analyze the workforce to determine the leadership needs of the hospital.

3.  Build a succession Management Plan

Use the results of talent analysis and the priority list to create a succession management plan accumulating strategic requirements, the targets, and the strategies for hiring, facilitating and retaining leadership capacity. The management then provides an action plan that targets the objectives and then develops an accountability plan and guidelines for the process.

4. Implementation of the Succession Management Plan

This implementation plan entails answering and acti9ng on the “what, who, where, when, how, and to what extent the strategies should be carried out.   

5.  Evaluation of the Succession Planning Strategies   

The plan is evaluated based on the general performance of the hospital or based on the performance of the process. The evaluation planning includes data collection and analysis methods, recording and reporting processes and methods of correcting mistakes and improving the strategy (Rothwell, 2013). 

In scenario 3, I would recommend a workforce plan which includes

1.  Set the Strategic Direction

The strategic direction should show the purpose of the hospital, their vision, future functional requirement (Ono et al., 2013). The direction should also show the next generations’ strategic plan, operations manual, and guidance. 

2. Analysis of the workforce

It crucial to determine the future workforce supply, demand of the workforce in future and establish whether there will a gap or a surplus in future, that is, less supply than demand, or more supply than demand respectively(Ono et al., 2013).

3. Formulate an Action Plan

In case the management realizes a workforce gap in the hospital, they take the necessary measures to fill the gap. The action plan entails the measures to be employed in order to achieve success in the strategy.   Key elements in an action plan include the tasks to be performed, the time frame within which the task should be completed, and establishing and allocating funds for available activities.

4. Implementation of the Action Plan

Implementation involves handling all the strategies discussed earlier. The hospital management should also commit to the success of the plan. They should communicate the targets, deadlines, desired results, and the responsibilities of each participant.  

5. Monitoring, Evaluation and Corrections

 After the management communicates and implements the workforce plan, it is advisable that they revisit the whole project and identify any issues that may need adjustments.

References

Ono, T., Lafortune, G., & Schoenstein, M. (2013). Health workforce planning in OECD countries.Rothwell, W. (2010). Effective succession planning: Ensuring leadership continuity and building talent from within. Amacom.