Developing a Strategy

The research for developing this guide was completed in late 2008 and early 2009. At the time, there was limited knowledge about how the nonprofit sector was undertaking the development of labour force strategies. Do groups start with a vision and roadmap before beginning to develop a plan? Is it more effective to begin with a tightly focused project to build momentum? How much does opportunity factor into the process? Does the amount of collaborative infrastructure influence the scope and scale of the Labour force strategy?

A range of networks and umbrella organizations were interviewed to learn from those active in the field. These organizations used many different processes and starting points for undertaking labour force strategy activity. It is important to note that even the most experienced practitioners in Canada feel like they are just beginning to learn how to do this work. Collectively, their ideas and work informed the development of this guide. Their experience was supplemented with information obtained from labour force initiatives in the United States and the United Kingdom.

From these diverse approaches, a number of common patterns and insights emerged which are offered in the spirit of shared exploration. Together, the stories of individual networks and umbrella organizations suggest a way forward that is intentional and flexible enough to accommodate a range of starting points. The steps that follow are well-grounded in the field experience and supplemental research and are compiled here for the first time. Continued exploration will help us collectively refine the processes and tools required to do this work well.

Important

This Labour Force Strategy Guide is needed to fill a gap in planning tools. Existing labour force planning tools are intended for the use of individual organizations. Creating and implementing a labour force strategy across multiple organizations in a sector or particular area of activity requires additional steps and planning skills to reflect the collaboration required and the complexity of the shared work.


In this section:

An ongoing process

The experience of labour force 'explorers' suggests that nonprofit networks and umbrella organizations will benefit from using an expanded version of labour force planning processes used by individual organizations. This expanded process is shown in Figure 1 below. The steps are blended from well-established labour force planning models, developmental evaluation models, and analysis of success factors from the labour force strategy case studies.

Figure 1

Process Loop

While there is a natural flow from one step to the next, it is important to regularly reflect on progress. Labour force strategies are developed in complex environments where planning is an ongoing process rather than a linear, one-time event. As groups complete a step, they often learn something that is unexpected and causes them to pause, reflect and course correct. As they draw more people into the initiative, it also becomes important to educate new participants so that they can be effectively engaged. Another way to visualize this flow of activity is over time (Figure 2). Reflecting, educating and course correcting needs to happen at least between major transitions.

 

Figure 2

Process line

Figure 2 is adapted from the theory of change over time developed by Pat Steenberg in Gorman, Cheryl. (2006.) Orienteering Over New Ground: A Neighbourhood Theory of Change. Ottawa: Caledon Institute of Social Policy. p.14.

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Getting started

An over-arching pattern

It is helpful to consider a question most groups ask early in their labour force strategy work, "Where do we start?" Recruiting, developing and retaining talented people within an organization can be a daunting task – it is even more so across a range of organizations. Once initial awareness of the complexity sets in, groups quickly move to discussing the scope and scale for their shared labour force activity — how much can we take on at once? The operating environment has an important influence on this scope and scale. The greater the urgency, the degree of pre-existing collaboration and the level of commitment, the more likely a group is to have an ambitious vision and a comprehensive labour force strategy.

During the case study interviews it became apparent that there is creative tension between the 'big' vision and 'chunking and sequencing' the work to build momentum within the resources available. This tension is an important dynamic to manage for any group undertaking shared labour force activity. On the one hand, having a vision, roadmap and labour force strategy at the outset is very helpful in guiding the work, even if the strategy needs to be implemented in stages. In their absence, the work can become unfocused with little leveraging among labour force activities. On the other hand, it is easy to get stuck if the gap between the vision and current reality is large. There is a natural temptation to try to do everything at once. If collaborative governance and infrastructure are not in place, it is wise to focus attention on a small number of targeted activities that can build trust and demonstrate the value of working together. Those interviewed for case studies frequently spoke about the importance of building momentum and capacity.

 

The people

Whether your group is developing a comprehensive labour force strategy or implementing discrete activities, leadership usually comes from a small handful of people who are excited about the potential of working together on something that they cannot do alone. These initial leaders are usually self-identified — rarely do their own organizations have an official mandate to develop collaborative labour force activities. These individuals act as stewards in the early days and this role often continues long-term.

As the group gains momentum, they will engage others in a variety of roles. Large initiatives will often utilize working groups or standing committees with their own leadership teams.

A common rule of thumb seems to be work with the willing.

 

The process

It is important to emphasize that this is a labour force strategy guide. Your group can be confident that the process described below is well-grounded in research and successful practice – it is a solid foundation to build your specific pathway on. The guide is also flexible - it will stand up to a myriad of customizations, so you can feel free to adjust the process to your unique environment.

 

The product

The ultimate product is engaging the required employees through the development and implementation of a comprehensive labour force strategy for paid staff. However, this ideal is not attainable for many groups. In these cases, success will be a series of targeted labour force activities developed over several years that focus on specific aspects of recruitment, development or retention. The product(s) that your group chooses to develop will be determined by your capacity, need/drivers and vision. Groups will find the Awareness-Collaboration Framework helpful in determining a good starting point.

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Strategy steps

The following steps assume that the initial group is made up of individuals described in Making the Case. These individuals have come together because they recognize that the solutions to labour force challenges will only be achieved by joining up with others to get at the root causes of the problem. They also know that they must work with others because they just don’t have the knowledge or the resources to do it on their own.

There are three steps for developing a labour force strategy:

  1. 1. Discover and orient
  2. 2. Share the vision and develop a roadmap
  3. 3. Plan, act and evaluate

 

Step 1: Discover and orient

There are six action areas that will increase your likelihood of success:

Action #1: Determine your awareness-collaboration status

Once a group identifies an interest or concern about their labour force, it is helpful to begin by determining the potential scope and scale for shared activity.

Questions to help you:

  • Where are we on the Awareness-Collaboration Framework?
  • What does this tell us about how ambitious we should be in our vision and the kinds of activity we will undertake together? (i.e. our potential starting point for scope and scale of labour force activity)

 

Action #2: Educate yourself about labour force planning models

Much has been written about the growing sophistication of the HR function within organizations and, accordingly, the sophistication of labour force planning at both an organizational and sectoral level. HR is now taking a seat at the executive table and expanding its operational focus to include links with the organization's over-all strategic activity. A number of good resources have been developed to explain the basics of labour force planning models. These are readily accessible on the internet and can be found using search terms such as ‘strategic human resources management’, ‘strategic human resources planning’, and ‘talent management’.

Questions to help you:

  • What level of HR expertise do our individual organizations have?
  • Do we having a concern or interest about a particular portion of our Labour force? If yes, what HR practices should we be exploring?
  • Do we have relationships with HR experts that could help guide our thinking and exploration?

Case studies that may help you:

 

Action #3: Educate yourself about the relevant labour force environment

Using your knowledge from the previous two steps, you now want to form a picture of the environment and the drivers that will change your environment going forward. If information already exists about the portion of the labour force your group is interested in, you will be able to analyze the material from your own perspective and move to the next step. If this information doesn’t exist, most groups pause to gather it (Awareness-Collaboration Framework – Row 1). In this case, it will be to your advantage if the research concludes with recommendations for action that have been tested with potential participants.

Questions to help you:

  • What portion of the labour force are we interested in? To what level of detail do we want to analyze?
    • Who are we focusing on? (e.g. executive leaders, job families or categories, all staff)
    • What areas of activity within the nonprofit sector are we focusing on? (e.g. sports, the arts, community and social services)
    • What communities are we covering? (e.g. a geographic place, a community of interest)
  • What do we know about the labour force population we are interested in? What research is available? Do we need to commission custom research?
    • For the labour force population we are interested in, what is the current capacity? (e.g. absolute numbers of people with these skills, numbers by age groups, median age to retirement)
    • What are the key drivers of change that are influencing that portion of the Labour force?
    • What does this tell us about anticipating future labour force needs? (gap analysis)
    • What recommendations have been made about strategic activity to address gaps?
    • Are there others engaged in similar or complementary research?

Case studies that may help you:

Consult the Tools & Resources section: Step 1 for additional resources.

Action #4: Determine champions, leaders and sponsors

Throughout the case study interviews, people emphasized the importance of leadership. A range of champions, leaders and sponsors are required — people who publicly communicate the importance of the labour force activity being considered; stewards who rally people together, inspire collaboration, and pay attention to the process and governance; individuals who secure resources to support the project beyond the visioning activity.

As mentioned above, in the early days of an initiative it is usually a small number of people who take on all of these roles. These responsibilities are shared as more people are engaged in the work.

Case studies that may help you:

The section on Collaboration and Leadership will also be useful.

Action #5: Define the process for developing your vision and roadmap; identify who will lead the process

The specific pathway for each network or umbrella organization will vary according to the group's assets and needs. It is important to build on what is already working. You will also benefit from starting with initiatives that can create a positive experience at the outset. For example, if the issue of wages in your area of activity has been contentious for a number of years, beginning with an advocacy project to increase wages is likely not the best labour force activity to begin with. Getting underway with an activity that is new territory increases the likelihood of people coming with a creative mindset.

Ideally, people who will be impacted by the shared work will be part of designing the vision and roadmap. It is easier to engage people in the work if they have been part of the process from the beginning. Should this not be practical, it is important to take time to bring new and old participants together to develop shared understanding of the vision and roadmap.

As well, a number of people interviewed for case studies recommended the use of external facilitators and content experts early in the process — this allowed the group to benefit from a neutral observer who could ask tough questions. Whether the process is facilitated by a group member or an external individual, determining who has responsibility for driving the process needs to be clearly articulated.

Questions to help you:

  • How will we develop the vision, the roadmap, the required action plans and reflection sessions? Who will be involved?
  • Do we have resources to support this work?
  • Do we need financial support? If yes, what funding is available and how will we get it?
  • Who will be responsible for designing and leading this process?
  • Have we identified all the 'stakeholders' of the system we are trying to influence? Are they appropriately involved in the process?
  • Who will make final decisions? Who is the person leading the process accountable to?

Case studies that may help you:

Consult the Tools & Resources section: Step 1 for additional resources.

Action #6: Assess your current readiness

By this point, networks and umbrella organizations have put a great deal of thought into how to move from awareness to collective action. Pausing to make one final assessment about whether your group is ready to move to step 2 will increase the likelihood for a smooth transition.

Questions to help you:

  • What are we interested in doing together? Is our understanding and knowledge of this labour force need or opportunity good enough to develop action plans or is more research needed?
  • Does the group feel a sense of urgency to find solutions?
  • What is already working that we can build on?
  • Is there sufficient enthusiasm, will and commitment to undertake a collaborative approach?
  • Are there any non-negotiables or things we cannot or will not change?
  • Do we have the leadership/stewardship and other resources required to take the next step?
  • Are we clear about roles and responsibilities?
  • Are we clear about who makes decisions and how we make them? Is the process transparent?
  • What will we do to maintain momentum if there is a gap in time before we begin Step 2? (Note: Most gaps are related to securing resources.)
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Step 2: Share the vision and develop a roadmap

Using the process developed in Step 1, your group is now at the point of expanding the circle. In this step you are actively working to move people along the aware-interested-engaged continuum. (This term is often used among broad community collaboration practitioners to reflect the different stages stakeholders are guided through in order to become active participants.)

Be aware that as you bring in new participants, it is important to help them understand what has already happened in the shared work to date. In particular, ensure that common language is developed. As well, be ready for questions that the original planning group did not consider. For example, why was a particular organization included or not included in the planning to date?

Turf issues will often surface. This is the challenge of collaboration — in the words of Harlan Cleveland, "How do you get everyone in on the act and still get some action?" Anticipate and be patient with the time this process takes. Be open to changing the scope and scale of activity — it is better to build momentum with a number of small successes in rapid order than stay wedded to a grand plan that can’t get rolling.

Some groups have found it helpful to formalize the collaboration at this stage, others have found this to be premature.

Questions to help you:

  • Are key leaders engaged? Do we agree on the purpose and importance of working together on this labour force issue? Do we agree on the underlying causes for our Labour force issue? Are we clear about what is motivating us to work together?
  • If we take a moment to pause and reflect, does our ‘chunking and sequencing’ of activity still seem achievable?
  • Do we have sufficient support and resources to move forward?
  • Given where we are (baseline) and where we want to go, what are the foreseeable decision points and timelines at which we will determine how we’re doing? What information will we want at those decision points to make any needed adjustments?
  • Are we clear about roles and responsibilities?
  • Is our group ready to formalize our commitment? Do we have key messages and a communication plan that all partners are using?
  • Have we thought about measuring how well we work together and our progress as a group? What data do we need and want to collect about our collaboration?
  • Do we anticipate a gap in time before we begin Step 3? If yes, how are we keeping people informed and motivated?

Case studies that may help you:

The section on Collaboration and Leadership will also be useful.

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Step 3: Plan, act, and evaluate

The degree of structure for this step will depend on the scope and scale of activity being undertaken. If a comprehensive labour force strategy is to be developed, this will precede detailed planning for major activities embedded within the strategy. Groups interviewed for case studies found it helpful to have:

  • Some form of advisory committee for each major activity
  • A steering committee/leadership team to track over-all progress of the full strategy
  • Dedicated staff to move things forward between meetings of advisory/steering committees

Plan

There is a significant amount of information available to assist you in completing this step. If your group is developing a comprehensive labour force strategy, please refer back to Step 1: Educate yourself about labour force planning models. For those groups undertaking specific labour force activities, please refer to the Case Study and Tools & Resources sections of this guide and do a internet on the specific activity you are undertaking. (e.g. leadership development). There are many sources for general project management tools and references. One of the most widely recognized is the PMBOK® Guide, available through the Project Management Institute.

If your group has not raised resources for specific labour force activities during Steps 1 or 2, this must be included in Step 3 planning. The plan also needs to include details about evaluation (see below).

Act

Not surprisingly, a number of groups experienced difficulty in moving from the planning to action phase. Shared leadership was identified as a critical success factor in moving to action. It is often necessary for people who were public champions in Steps 1 and 2 to come forward again. Other ideas brought forward during the case study interviews include:

  • Engaging members directly in the development of products and tools
  • Ensuring that the development of new tools or products be paired with training opportunities
  • Asking people to trust the process, to re-commit to the vision, and to reflect on whether they are attached to an old mindset or position that is a barrier to going forward
  • Celebrating success along the way
  • Looking for and engaging new leaders (as some of the early champions get tired or need to move on)
  • Being on the lookout for moments of serendipity – what opportunities can be taken advantage of that weren't planned for?

Evaluate

There are two things that require evaluation — the results of your labour force strategy and/or activities and the process and relationships your group uses to achieve these results. This section addresses the measurement of results.

Making changes in a labour force system is a complex process. Many activities involve the voluntary participation of individuals and organizations that can't be controlled or imposed upon to participate. This has a significant impact on how a group structures evaluation. The complexity of the many moving parts requires methodologies that account for the dynamic nature of the labour force system. In general your group will want to consider a mix of qualitative research and quantitative research methodologies. It is important to note that in the past five years, experts in the field of HR measurement have been creating tools that reflect this complexity and the strategic importance of the labour force.

In addition to the type of methodology, your group will also want to consider formative and summative evaluation. Formative evaluation is any type of measurement that is done to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an initiative, program, product or tool that is reasonably well-developed within small test groups and before full implementation is undertaken. It is used to fine-tune the initiative, program, product or tool and to provide a baseline if summative evaluation is anticipated. Summative evaluation is any type of measurement that permits conclusions to be drawn about impact, outcome, or benefits of an established initiative, program, product or tool.

Individual labour force activities may also require a developmental evaluation approach if they are new and innovative. For example, if a customized leadership development program is initiated, it may take a few rounds of training to land on the final program components and delivery methods. Once the pilot or prototyping phase comes to an end, more traditional formative and/or summative evaluation approaches will be appropriate. (Prototyping is a business term referring to the launch of several experiments or models at the same time. Prototypes are used when there is great uncertainty as to whether a new design will actually do what is desired. In contrast, a pilot project generally is designed using a single model.)

Questions to help you:

  • What results are we trying to achieve? Has our work to date contributed to the desired results? (intended or unintended)
  • What have been the strengths and weaknesses of our collaborative labour force activities?
  • How can our collaborative labour force activities be improved?
  • What was the experience like from the participants’ perspectives?

Case studies that may help you:

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Reflect, educate and course correct

A second focus for evaluation is the process and relationships used to achieve the results of your labour force strategy and/or activities. This form of evaluation should be used regularly. At a minimum, reflection-education and course correction should be undertaken at the end of each major step in developing a labour force strategy and before any major transition in the shared work (as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 above).

A labour force strategy is designed to change a large and complex system. Discrete labour force activities take place within this same large and complex system. Research and successful practice show that system change usually begins with a number of small experiments that point to promising pathways. Once these small experiments start to influence the bigger system, conditions change intentionally and unintentionally. As well, environmental factors completely outside the planned scope of work can create an unexpected opportunity or challenge. Regular reflection sessions help the group use new learning and the changing environment to adapt their roadmap and in some cases, the vision as well. It is common for groups to re-visit a previous step as experience sheds new light on assumptions used to make earlier decisions.

It is important for your group to take a systems perspective — knowing that a change in one part of the system will affect all other parts of the system. Learning how results are achieved is as valuable as knowing what the results are.

The following guidelines will help your group implement this approach to evaluating process and relationships:

  • Keep things simple — focus on a small number of questions to pay attention to over time
  • Reflect — ensure that reflection sessions are structured and documented
  • Educate — share the learning from the experience to date with people who have influence over or who will be involved in the future activity
  • Course correct — make adjustments to the roadmap, labour force strategy (if using), activity plans, evaluation methodology, and, introduce new activity that needs to be undertaken that was not initially anticipated

Questions to help you:

  • Is there anyone else trying to do what we are trying to do? Can we work together and learn from each other?
  • Do we have enough information to act?
  • Have we 'chunked and sequenced' our activity effectively?
  • What new understandings have we developed? How does this affect our plans going forward?
  • Have we increased our capacity? If yes, can we use this capacity to increase the speed of implementation and /or the scope and scale of activity?
  • Are we maintaining momentum? If not, why? Do we need to recharge? If so, how?
  • Are we effectively engaging new players? Are they quickly becoming oriented and able to contribute?
  • Are we planning for leadership succession?
  • Do we need additional or new competencies or information?
  • Are we preparing the collaborative governance and infrastructure for the next step?
  • What outcomes are we achieving? What difference is it making for our members/partners?
  • Is everyone gaining benefit from the shared work? Enough to keep them engaged?
  • Have we defined our desired outcomes for our group and our shared work? Who are we accountable to? Do we agree on how to capture and report progress?

Consult the Tools & Resources section of this guide for additional resources.

Next Section: Case Studies