On the blog HiringExchange, there is an excellent article about how to achieve success when implementing a new Contingent Workforce Management program. The same principles apply to Project Workforce Management as well. And, by applying these principles to both, we can elevate our thinking to a Workforce 2.0 level.
The post, authored by CWM consultant Elaine Taylor, is here:
http://hotgigs.typepad.com/hiringexchange/2007/06/achieving_100_u.html
Taylor states: "Achieving 100% adoption of your program by the managers who engage contingent workers" is the critical success factor. I would add that the same is true of any type of workforce management system. Just as I discussed in this post about using and re-using "Your Go-To People," you aren’t really managing any type of workforce effectively unless you use the tools to leverage the whole workforce–not just your own "usual suspects."
Taylor recommends four strategies for implementing contingent workforce management, which I believe apply equally well to Project Workforce Management or any other system that helps the enterprise make the best use of its internal and external talent pool. Taylor’s strategies are quoted below, and my additional comments are in brackets.
a) Simplify the user’s life. Reengineer and streamline business processes with the goal of reducing the manager’s administrative burden rather than complicating it with low-reward, convoluted processes.
b) First and foremost, consider the users’ needs. Choose a supplier model that ensures client satisfaction. [The "user" is the workforce manager who uses the system. The idea of a "supplier model" applies, whether the "supply" of workers is an internal talent pool or a contingent workforce.]
c) Use a "carrot and a stick" approach. Market the benefits of using corporate contracted suppliers; but put “teeth” in your program for those who will “resist out of principle." (Once they understand the risks and costs they personally assume by working outside the official guidelines, managers are likely to become enthusiastic supporters of a well-designed CWM program.) [Again, the risks of working outside the system also apply to an internal workforce. Managers must feel the pain of managing less-than-optimal teams because they don't leverage the entire talent pool.]
d) Listen to what the users say. Incorporate a formal feedback loop that ensures the continual process improvements inherent in any successful program.
The real Workforce 2.0 model is to create a uniform system for managing both contingent and internal workers on projects. Companies tend to place more value on contingent workers–and manage them with more care–because they are perceived to be more expensive. But why not give the same attention to internal workers as well?
When we start to "think globally," a worker is a worker, no matter whose bank his or her paycheck comes from. The processes for finding, engaging, managing work, and tracking costs all deserve the same care and attention. Project Workforce Management can be implemented to help workforce managers assimilate these processes for all workers, and compete effectively in a flat world.
