So Demanding!

15:53:00 Learning Boffins 0 Comments

October will soon be here and as scary as Halloween is, demand planning has much more of a fright factor! Screams echoing through the hallways of “I can’t plan I don’t know my budget” and the seasonal shout of “how can I possibly see that far ahead?”

It’s not funny, but it is scary how something so important to the business is bemoaned so much. The Learning and Development team are positively demonised for making people think ahead about one of the most critical activities a company can plan. The truth is…. Demand Planning has nothing to do with the budget. People need what people need. If you don’t put it down on paper how can the strategic decisions be made about what is a priority and what is not a priority to the business? Budget does play into it, of course it does but that is not what your business units need to think of in the beginning. There are two firsts, ‘what is the business direction and strategy and direction for the year’ and ‘what development do my people need to support the strategy’.  When that is settled then you overlay your budget, prioritise and become creative with solutions (not problems) for your business.
Demand Planning sounds like something the National Grid have to do with our electricity, it sounds functional, tactical and quite regimented. Perhaps it should be called Strategic Alignment of Development Needs perhaps that would give it the attention it deserves? That’s the other thing that happens in the business isn’t it. They ignore your demand planning process and then say they don’t have time to do it because they have to do their financial forecasting …… but this is equally important. Without the right skills in the business you won’t need to forecast let alone hit those targets. So where to start? KnowledgePool have helped large organisations on a Global and National basis and we have also helped small ones too. We know it starts with raising awareness of the importance of the process, dispelling myths and simplification of everything!
We can’t lie, it’s not always simple, it is generally quite a massive challenge but it’s essential, it is a fundamental function of learning and development and you can do it better and smarter and make it so much less scary.
 






Rachel Kuftinoff

Strategic Learning Consultant


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