Staffing and Sourcing Strategy
Challenge:
A division of over 400 software developers had too many staff on some projects and not enough staff on other projects.
Solution:
Established a “Resource Center” that was responsible for hiring, staff rotation, interfacing with Corporate HR and managing staffing strategy.
Implemented a website where managers post project opportunities and job openings and staff post their availability. The Resource Center acted as a broker to bring staff and project opportunities together.
Defined a plan to implement a skills inventory database combined with reporting from the project reporting database to forecast staffing needs and strategies to fill those needs.
Challenge:
Finding skilled technology resources to staff projects and ongoing system support.
Solution:
Developed a sourcing strategy based on skills, business needs, and location of resources. The strategy included short, medium and long term needs. Resources were located in the US and India and included a mix of employee hires, consultants and off-shore staff.
Hired a manager to be the point person for all offshore work. They were responsible for ensuring a constant pipeline flow of work offshore, working with vendors and captive offshore group to staff projects and ensure quality and timeliness of work.
Developed processes to support virtual collaboration, such as project wiki’s, video-conferencing, instant messaging and use of the “Interwise” product to present and record systems knowledge.
Core Values, Communication and Culture Strategy
Challenge:
An organization treats their employees inconsistently with regard to hiring practices, promotions, performance management, and recognition.
Solution:
Defined core values based on focus groups representing a cross-section of the organization and measured the importance of the chosen core values to the entire organization through a survey.
Established a program around core values to recognize demonstrated behaviors and include evaluation of core values in hiring and promotion decisions.
Challenge:
Geographically dispersed teams are having trouble working together toward common goals and project deliverables.
Solution:
Implemented consistent culture, reward and recognition programs across all teams.
Implemented video-conference technology on desk-tops and in conference rooms for frequent team meetings. Brought staff from different locations together periodically for face-to-face meetings and brought staff from India to the U.S. for training and direct interaction with counterparts in the U.S.
Utilized wiki's, InterwiseTM and other technologies to increase collaboration and communication.
Career Development and Performance Management Strategy
Challenge:
Lack of clarity regarding career paths and expectations for each job title within an organization.
Solution:
Developed a detailed competency model for all positions within the organization. Implemented application of the model to all hiring, promotions and career development. Career paths were defined and communicated to the organization.
Promotion review panels, comprised of peers, were established for management positions and higher levels of technical positions.
Challenge:
The organization did not have a consistent process to evaluate employee's performance.
Solution:
Defined a quarterly performance plan process that compared actual performance to pre-established goals and job title competencies. Established team and project metrics to provide input into the quarterly performance plan evaluation results.