Workforce Planning Books, Training For Dummies 

Deepen your expertise by reading foundational books on workforce planning.

Key titles include: 

“Strategic Workforce Planning” by Ross Sparkman, which provides a modern guide for leveraging analytics and competitive advantage. 

“Introduction to Workforce Planning” by David Weightman & David Bernard offers a practical, step-by-step approach. 

“Forever Skills” by Kate O’Neill explores the skills needed for the future. 

“Workforce of One” by Susan Cantrell and David Smith discusses personalizing talent management. 

These books provide valuable frameworks, case studies, and advanced theories that can transform your approach to building and executing a strategic people plan.

Workforce Planning for Dummies

 “Workforce Planning for Dummies” simplifies a complex topic into its most essential parts. 

Think of it as ensuring you have enough employees with the right skills to run your business tomorrow and in the future. 

It starts with looking at your business goals. Then, you take a snapshot of your current team—who they are, what they do, and what they’re good at. 

Next, you figure out what skills you’ll need later. 

If there’s a mismatch between today and tomorrow, you make a plan to fix it—by training people, hiring new ones, or changing how work gets done. 

It’s proactive people management.

Workforce Planning Training 

Workforce planning training provides the practical knowledge and skills needed to execute the process effectively.

Training programs can range from introductory workshops to advanced courses on data modeling. 

They typically cover how to facilitate strategic alignment sessions, conduct a current state analysis, build a demand forecast, perform a gap analysis, develop actionable strategies, and create a compelling business case. 

Training can be found through professional associations (SHRM, CIPD, HCI), consulting firms, and university extension programs. 

Effective training is hands-on, using real-world data and case studies to ensure learners can apply the concepts immediately.