Organizations today face tremendous pressure to adapt and innovate to survive—let alone thrive—amidst global instability and rapid technological change. Companies must take a strategic, forward-looking approach to workforce planning to meet these challenges rather than simply reacting to external forces. Organizations that mature from a reactive approach to a proactive one — and who do so with a transformative mindset — will gain a remarkable competitive advantage.
The Reactive Approach
Many companies find themselves locked into a reactive approach to workforce planning, watching, and trying to respond to the external forces affecting their business and talent needs. Economic shifts, political or regulatory changes, and technological disruption significantly impact their organization’s ability to tune their workforce to current realities. And when they look inward, companies often struggle to leverage data to gain the kind of people insights that can drive effective plans and implementation. All of this locks organizations in a reactive mode, where they can never get ahead to where the proverbial puck is going.
When trapped in this cycle, employees often demonstrate low engagement with learning initiatives since skills development alone has little tangible impact. When learning feels arbitrary rather than clearly aligned with real-world outcomes, it’s no wonder that employees fail to meaningfully engage. With this lack of impact from learning, organizations end up harboring major concerns about talent gaps and how they might widen in the future. But because they rely on external factors to dictate strategy, leaders can’t identify a clear path forward.
At this early stage, identifying skills gaps represents real progress, especially given limited data. Companies at this stage initiate some preliminary changes, such as implementing entry-level programs to put employees on career paths. However, the focus remains on reacting to immediate talent deficiencies rather than building a resilient workforce.
Eventually, companies must invest time and resources to move beyond reactive planning. This commitment means letting go of piecemeal, one-off initiatives and embracing continuous, collaborative work across the business. In a rapidly changing world, leaders must develop real agility. They must understand how to thrive in a dynamic environment rather than simply survive. Workforce planning enables the innovation and confidence needed to pursue audacious goals.
The Proactive Approach
Progressing to proactive workforce planning represents a crucial step for any organization. A proactive approach entails intentionally understanding the workforce’s current skills makeup. Companies in this phase take concrete steps like assessing and measuring employees’ existing competencies. They develop a standardized skills language to align perception of abilities company wide. This global skills taxonomy maps back to specific roles and tasks, enabling better tracking of how skills translate to individual and organizational performance.
With this granular view into the current skills landscape, including proficiency levels and gaps, organizations can finally start looking ahead. The focus expands beyond day-to-day considerations to include planning for future skills the workforce will need to stay competitive. One element of that planning? Designing learning and development initiatives proactively to ensure employees develop and maintain relevant skills over time, rather than having to play catch up later. This strategic preparation provides the confidence to face coming challenges.
The Transformative Approach
The most advanced organizations adopt a transformative approach to workforce strategy. Rather than merely reacting to external forces or making incremental improvements, a transformative philosophy enables companies to drive innovation and gain competitive advantage. With a robust skills taxonomy in place, leaders can leverage their workforce’s competencies as key differentiators. Companies following this transformative mindset mitigate future risks through strategic initiatives like reskilling, upskilling, targeted hiring, and investment in relevant technologies. This big-picture view allows for mapping emerging skills demands and adapting accordingly.
The result is improved business performance, greater employee mobility, and higher team and customer loyalty. Transformative organizations don’t just prepare for the future of work — they shape it to their benefit. They foster a culture of continuous learning and development, looking to people analytics for data-driven strategy. And with a workforce equipped to complement new technologies with uniquely human skills, these organizations unlock exponentially greater productivity. A truly transformative philosophy puts people first while pursuing transformational business goals.
Soft Skills and Transformation
While technical skills remain essential, organizations’ increasing adoption of automation has amplified the importance of uniquely human soft skills like communication, collaboration, and creative problem-solving. As technology handles repetitive tasks, skilled employees’ abilities to make decisions, interact constructively, and continuously learn become differentiators.
Recent Pearson research on workforce trends found that both employees and employers rank soft skills as the capabilities most in demand currently and in the future. Specifically, the research pointed to skills like decision-making, leadership, attention to detail, and personal mastery as top priorities. These findings align with the need for continuous learning, as these uniquely human abilities require ongoing refinement, especially in how they are applied in a world in which AI is augmenting and automating larger chunks of what humans do during their workday. Organizations recognizing soft skills’ increasing longevity and value will find it easier to complement advancing technologies. By prioritizing these evergreen abilities, companies can empower their workforce to reach their full innovative potential.
Continuous learning also fuels evolution across the workforce planning spectrum. Ineffective learning initiatives have led some leaders to undervalue development, but strategic, outcomes-based programs demonstrate immense value. With clear communication of learning’s benefits and alignment to individual and organizational success, mindsets shift. More companies embrace ongoing learning as integral to transforming both careers and the business. A culture and infrastructure for continuous skills development equip the workforce for the challenges ahead.
The Bottom Line
By taking a transformative approach to workforce planning, organizations can drive innovation, performance, and employee and customer loyalty. Reaching this peak requires moving beyond reactive measures and embracing continuous learning and development fueled by people analytics. The result is a human-centered workforce equipped to work with —not against—advancing technology in our rapidly changing world.
Jonathan Finkelstein is founder of Credly, the largest platform for verified skills and credentials. Credly was acquired by Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, serving customers in nearly 200 countries. Finkelstein is currently SVP, Workforce Skills at Pearson. Previously, Finkelstein co-founded HorizonLive (acquired by Blackboard) and LearningTimes, where he helped mission-driven organizations produce and launch innovative online programs, products and platforms that impacted the lives of millions of learners. He is author of Learning in Real Time (Wiley), and is a frequent author and speaker on learning, HR tech, and the future of work.