SWP DOESN'T HAVE TO BE HARD.
LET'S MAKE IT SIMPLER.
Simple, practical advice and guidance from "a pioneer in workforce planning".
The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook
A totally new perspective
Foreword by Peter Cheese, CEO, CIPD
In this refreshingly candid and deeply practical book, David brings Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) down from the whiteboard and into the real world.
Written for practitioners, business leaders, and anyone who’s wrestled with the challenge of preparing a workforce for an uncertain future, this isn’t a book about theory or frameworks. It’s about what actually works – and what often doesn’t – when trying to make SWP stick.
Combining humour, insight and hard-earned experience, David explores what makes SWP effective, what gets in the way, and how to navigate the human, political and structural barriers that are so often overlooked.
Packed with contributions from 60 practitioners and experts, case studies and some stuff about fish cakes, this is SWP as you’ve never read it before: honest, grounded, and actually useful.
This book won’t teach you how to run a workshop. It will help you make a difference.
"This handbook is everything a treatise on Strategic Planning usually isn't - clear, practical and refreshingly funny. Drawing from his years as a practitioner, David blends real stories, clever analogies and just the right amount of humor to make the concepts easy to understand and apply."
Jane Datta, former Chief Human Capital Officer, NASA
WFP is good for you and your business.
The case for WFP is rock-solid. In a world where talent is in short supply and skills needs are changing at dramatic pace, WFP helps you to remain competitive, to make significant cost savings, and improve your employee value proposition.
Why do over 40% of WFP implementations fail?
- Data Quality issues
- Methodology
- Stakeholder/divisional buy-in
- Ownership disputes
- Lack of vision
- roles and responsibilities
I could go on.
It doesn't have to be this way.
Knowing where to focus, where to start and what to avoid will help you plot a path through the minefield.
But you'll need a guide - someone who's been there before, done it, and who knows what it takes.
How I can help you
- Defining the vision
- Setting achievable goals
- Value-slicing and realisation
- WFP maturity assessment
- Business case building
- Implementation construct
- Implementation cadence
- Stakeholder engagement
- Communication
- Change Management
- Process analysis
- Process redesign
- Governance & controls
- Benefit tracking
- Operating Model design
- Vendor rationalisation
- Smart Fulfilment
- Hiring Channels
- Internal Mobility
- Unit cost reduction
Don't take my word for it.
“Workforce planning is a combination of science and an art. You have mastered the art.”
“You gather the information, understand the issues and find solutions.”
"David is a wonderful communicator and is one of the rare folks I know of who would come across as very humble, while really knowing his stuff in great detail."
“Dave's military calm approach provides valuable helpful relief to the individual he's working with.”
"Thank you so much! It was such a good session and it was exactly what we all needed to hear. We’ve had some amazing feedback from our delegates already."
“You envisage what Senior leaders need to make a decision.”
"David's in-depth knowledge of the vast and varied workstream complexities and requirements - both from inside the programme and stakeholder needs - never ceases to amaze me."
“David Edwards is a pioneer in workforce planning.”
So contact me.
Telephone: +44 783 187 1961
E-mail: david.edwards@darkartistry.net
Address: Dark Artistry Ltd, 15, RG27 8RB, United Kingdom.