Cornell University Division of Planning and Budget

• Workforce Planning Overview
• Objectives
• Process
• Functions Reviewed
• Accomplishments
• Key Principles Learned
• Resulting Actions

Workforce Planning Key Principles Learned

As we continue to move forward with implementation activities and future reviews, we must strive to develop a deeper understanding of the similarities and differences in support requirements across units.

Efforts to improve support systems and operating practices should be driven by the following key principles:

• Unit-specific needs and university needs are inextricably linked, and neither can be fully satisfied separately.
• The integration of support activities across organizational boundaries and functions should be optimized. Rigid one-size-fits-all approaches are generally not the solution in our complex
  environment.
• Accountability must be based on clear expectations jointly defined and regularly evaluated by all relevant stakeholders.

Key Principles in Detail

The workforce planning reviews have highlighted the fact that support operations, both centrally and at the unit level, have often suffered because, across organizational units, dependencies have not been built and activities have not been integrated.

Future efforts toward expanding collaboration and establishment of shared accountability should be driven by the following key principles:

Unit-specific needs and university needs are inextricably linked, and neither can be fully satisfied separately.

Actions that optimize the functioning of a particular department or central unit without addressing the needs of other stakeholders (i.e., local optimization) are typically counterproductive and costly. Just a few instances of local optimization at either the department or central level can cause significant missed opportunities to establish more efficient and effective solutions university-wide.

Decisions that lead to local optimization should be made with an awareness and assessment of any costs to the greater community, including the cost of minimizing the potential for university-wide integration.

The integration of support activities across organizational boundaries and functions should be optimized. Rigid one-size-fits-all approaches are generally not the solution in our complex environment.

The integration of support activities across organizational boundaries and functions should be optimized. Rigid one-size-fits-all approaches are generally not the solution in our complex environment.

We must strive to achieve greater integration of university support operations without calling for centralization or for the elimination of all unit differences. Common needs should be met with common systems, processes, and services. Unique unit differences and requirements should be addressed to the extent possible by building upon common solutions rather than creating entire individualized systems.

Support functions and offices campuswide need to be accommodating when those they serve present valid business reasons justifying the need for flexibility and adaptation. All university departments, units, and central offices must be discriminating when differentiating between a local need (i.e., a mission-critical requirement) or merely a local preference against perhaps an unwelcome change but one that could lead to a higher level of optimization for the university as a whole in the long run.

Accountability must be based on clear expectations jointly defined and regularly evaluated by all relevant stakeholders.

Without clear expectations understood and accepted by all relevant stakeholders, individual performance accountability will generally be self-defined and often based solely on meeting local needs. This is ineffective in the long run and is counter to building a culture of trust, collaboration, and shared accountability.

Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of support operations not only is a worthy goal, but it is a fundamental stewardship responsibility essential for ensuring that limited resources are used most effectively and high-quality support is provided for core mission activities. Institutional and individual unit leaders must set the example and establish the expectations of those they work with to transform the organizational culture.