Building strong foundations
Effective strategic health workforce planning relies on robust leadership, engagement, and governance. Establishing these elements at the start of the planning process ensures a solid foundation for future planning cycles.
Key elements for success
- Leadership: Strong leadership drives the planning process and ensures alignment with organizational goals.
- Engagement: Active engagement with stakeholders fosters collaboration and buy-in.
- Governance: Clear governance structures provide oversight and accountability.
Integration with other frameworks
Integrate leadership, engagement, and governance with other strategic planning frameworks, such as capital works and digital and medical technology. Shared governance committees and multi-purpose engagement channels can:
- Enhance integration of planning processes and outcomes.
- Reduce duplication of effort.
- Minimize resource wastage.
- Prevent stakeholder fatigue.
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Senior management leadership is crucial for successful strategic workforce planning.
Strong, positive leadership actions include:
- Endorse the process: Highlight the importance of strategic workforce planning to the organization.
- Champion the effort: Promote the planning process among managers and staff.
- Drive outcomes: Ensure robust governance and accountability, such as regular performance reporting, to achieve planning goals.
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Effective stakeholder engagement is crucial for successful workforce planning. Key actions include:
- Create a stakeholder matrix: Develop a detailed matrix to identify and understand stakeholders.
- Plan consultation and engagement: Design a well-considered plan to guide engagement efforts.
- Tailor messaging: Use targeted messaging to enhance clarity and stakeholder commitment.
Shared responsibilities
Engage key stakeholders to take ownership of the process and lead strategy development and implementation. This approach ensures that responsibilities and successes are shared
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Robust and transparent governance frameworks are essential for effective workforce planning. Key elements include:
Clear accountabilities: Establish clear accountabilities and delegation arrangements.
Formal committee structure: Set up a formal committee with well-defined roles, responsibilities, and processes.
Consultation and integration: Implement mechanisms for consultation, integrated planning, reporting, decision-making, and issue resolution.
Monitoring and reporting: Strategic workforce planning teams should agree on expectations and monitor activities related to implementing actions, managing risks and resources, and measuring and reporting outcomes.