With competition for skills placing businesses under increasing strain, an ad-hoc approach to hiring and keeping the right people will no longer make the grade.

A best practice approach to your people, and the culture they operate in, not only improves workplace harmony and productivity but also recruitment and retention – ensuring you have the right people, with the right skills, in the right jobs when you need them.

Although your approaches to people and culture planning are fundamentally linked, for ease of understanding and clarity around the process, we will look at each separately.

Developing a people plan for your business

A key part of the strategic planning process in any business is to consider current and future resource requirements – including your people. In planning for growth, it’s important to factor in the staff and skills you will need to succeed, and when.

The following considerations will help guide a best practice approach to your people planning.

You may choose to invest a lot of time or a little, or seek input from external experts.

While your approach and requirements may change, it’s important that businesses of all sizes put effort into considering and planning for their people – one of, if not the most, valuable resources they have.

• Current and Future Staffing: First, map the current staff you have by role, experience and skills. Then consult your strategic plan to consider the number and type of people you think you will need in the future, and when
• Employee Value Proposition (EVP): In a competitive market, you need to consider more than just salary. Your EVP is what will attract staff to your business. These days, employees are looking for training, flexibility, career progression and autonomy as part of their overall package
• Attraction: It is best to use a range of strategies to attract applications from potential staff. Use both traditional and new media methods, including employment sites, professional bodies and social media. Ensure you ask existing staff to activate their networks too
• Selection: It sounds obvious, but make sure you select people who will best fit the role, the team and your organisation. Make sure you interview potential staff against the skills and qualities you are after and even get a colleague to do the same, but separately. It is also important to use psychological testing to determine their fit, as humans are often poor judges of one another
• Induction: Allocate sufficient time to induct staff so they know what to do, how to do it and feel part of the team. As much as possible, make this formal and gradual to set your new starters up for success
• Training and Re-training: All employees, but younger generations in particular, want to know they are making progress in their roles and career. Invest time to train and re-train your people at least once a quarter. This may include both current and new skills, across the organisation. This will help internal flexibility as well as see you become an “employer of choice”
• Pay and Conditions: A fundamental role of an employer is to make sure people are paid correctly and lawfully, and that you have suitable employment details and contracts in place.

Developing and managing your culture

Renowned researcher and management writer Edgar Schein said “if you are not managing culture it is probably managing you”.

In other words, you need to be shaping the culture of your organisation so that it supports your strategic direction.

A healthy, strong culture pays dividends not only in terms of staff satisfaction and retention, but flows into the experience your customers or clients have in dealing with your business.

Ensuring your business is trusted in the market, for example, starts from the inside.

The following steps form the basis for a best practice approach to intentionally planning the culture you want to foster in your business.

• Assess your existing culture: Sit down with a cross-section of your leadership team and staff to define the positive and negative aspects of your current culture
• Consider your desired culture: Consider the cultural aspects that you would like to see introduced or more of
• Define your future culture: Following the ‘prep work’ completed above, define the future culture of your organisation using approximately eight ‘hallmarks’. Each one should have a clear description of what it will look like in the workplace. For example, you may identify ‘respect’ as a hallmark of your culture. An action to illustrate this might be: “We will listen to the views of others before making a decision”
• Publish and spread the word: Once you have decided on the characteristics of your future culture, be sure to publish and promote it across the organisation so that all staff know and understand what is expected. Senior leaders must be effective role models of the culture
• Put it in a plan: Develop a plan for the next 12 months, scheduling a series of actions and activities which align to and reinforce the cultural hallmarks. These might be formal – like an award for people displaying the desired behaviours – or informal – such as a team lunch
• Align across the business: Once your plan is operational, make sure that you include the cultural elements in job and person specifications, performance reviews and when promoting your firm on websites and in brochures.

Re-assess and evaluate

People and culture plans, like others in business, aren’t “set and forget”. They – and your progress towards goals – should be evaluated at least quarterly and adjusted when necessary.

Remember that by nurturing the right culture and looking after your people, they will return the favour by looking after you.

This is the eighth article in our Best practice for SMEs series, designed to ensure that you, and your business operations, are at the top of your game throughout the year. No matter which industry you’re in, we’ll help equip you and your team with the resources and information to help you thrive.

This article was first published at bdo.com.au on 30 November 2022.

Scott Way leads the Industrial & Organisational Psychology team at BDO in South Australia. He has over 25 years of experience working with multinationals, governments and family businesses and is passionate about improving the performance of organisations and their people.