Workforce planning is strongest when it starts with business demand, not headcount. The real question is what work the organization will need, which capabilities will matter, and where the gaps will emerge.

Course Overview

This program is designed for women in HR, People, Talent and workforce-planning roles who need to connect business strategy to future workforce requirements. It builds a practical approach to demand, supply, capability, scenarios, critical roles and workforce actions.

Participants work through a current business or functional scenario, translating future work into role, skill and capacity implications rather than relying on static headcount plans.

Organizations can use the course to develop HR business partners, talent leaders, workforce planners and future Heads of People who need stronger strategic planning capability.

B2B course snapshot

Where this program fits

Best fit

Women HR leaders, HR business partners, workforce planners and talent professionals

Delivery

Live classroom, live online, or private in-house delivery with flexible duration.

Built around

Business demand, workforce supply, capability gaps, critical roles, scenarios and build-buy-borrow decisions

Take back to work

A strategic workforce plan for a selected business area or capability

Built for Corporate Cohorts

Private delivery can be aligned to the sponsor’s capability goals, participant roles, internal frameworks, business priorities and real workplace scenarios. HR, L&D, Talent and functional leaders can use the program as a standalone cohort or as part of a wider academy, succession pathway or women-in-leadership portfolio.

What Female-Forward Means Here

The program supports women moving into strategic People roles where credibility depends on connecting workforce decisions to business direction, economics and execution.

What Participants Will Learn

Translate strategy into workforce demand
Identify what work, capacity and capability future priorities require.

Assess workforce supply
Understand current roles, skills, demographics and internal movement.

Identify critical gaps
Prioritize shortages, bottlenecks and role risks.

Use scenarios
Plan for different growth, technology and operating-model possibilities.

Choose workforce responses
Compare build, buy, borrow, automate and redesign options.

Communicate workforce decisions
Present evidence, risks and actions to business leaders.

Capability journey

From insight to workplace application

Read the strategy

Map the workforce

Find the gaps

Choose the response

Course Outline

Module 1: Business Strategy to Workforce Demand

Connect strategic priorities to work and capacity.

Business drivers
Future work
Demand assumptions
Critical capabilities

Module 2: Workforce Supply Analysis

Understand the current talent base.

Roles
Skills
Capacity
Internal mobility

Module 3: Critical Roles and Capability Gaps

Prioritize where workforce risk matters most.

Critical-role criteria
Scarcity
Bench strength
Succession risk

Module 4: Scenario-Based Workforce Planning

Prepare for uncertainty.

Growth scenarios
Technology impact
Location choices
Operating-model shifts

Module 5: Workforce Actions and Trade-offs

Design responses that fit the business context.

Build
Buy
Borrow
Automate and redesign

Module 6: Workforce Planning Action Plan

Apply the method to a real population.

Demand
Supply
Gap
Action roadmap

Who Should Attend

Women HR business partners
Women in workforce planning and talent strategy
HR managers preparing for strategic roles
Organizations strengthening People-function capability

Organizational Benefits

Improve strategic workforce planning quality
Connect HR decisions more directly to business strategy
Strengthen succession and critical-role planning
Develop women for senior HR leadership
Create clearer workforce investment priorities

Work products

Tools participants can use at work

Workforce demand map

Supply and gap analysis

Critical-role matrix

Scenario plan

Workforce action roadmap

B2B Deployment Options

Use the program as a private cohort, as one component of a structured Women at Work pathway, or inside a function-specific academy. Multi-location live-online delivery can support geographically distributed teams.

Delivery Format

The program is live and instructor-led. It can be delivered in a classroom, live online, or in-house. Duration is flexible and should reflect participant level, selected depth, organizational objective and the amount of applied practice required.

For HR, L&D and business leaders: Explore in-house training or request a customized cohort.

Business Problems This Program Is Designed to Address

This course is designed around workplace problems that organizations can observe in real roles. The aim is to give participants a structured way to diagnose situations, make stronger decisions, practise difficult conversations and return to work with tools that can be used immediately.

Headcount planning is mistaken for workforce planningThe program starts with future work, capability and capacity requirements rather than simply projecting current organizational charts.

Critical roles are identified by seniority rather than business riskParticipants develop criteria for scarcity, impact, replacement difficulty and dependency so planning focuses on roles that truly matter.

Workforce gaps are discovered too lateScenario planning helps HR and business leaders anticipate capability, location, technology and capacity changes before hiring pressure becomes urgent.

Workforce actions are limited to recruitmentThe course compares build, buy, borrow, redesign and automate choices so leaders have more than one response to a capability gap.

Applied Practice and Scenario Work

The learning design uses realistic management situations rather than abstract discussion alone. Private cohorts can calibrate the scenarios to the participant population, industry and operating context.

A function expects rapid growth but lacks a reliable demand forecastParticipants translate business scenarios into workforce implications instead of selecting one unsupported headcount number.

Automation will change several rolesParticipants map tasks, skills, capacity and redeployment options before deciding that roles should simply be removed or replaced.

A critical capability is scarce externallyParticipants compare internal development, contingent talent, partnerships, location changes and work redesign.

A business leader wants immediate hiring while strategy is still uncertainParticipants frame what should be committed now, what should remain flexible and what signals will trigger the next decision.

Application principle: participants should leave each major topic able to explain what they would do differently in a real role, which stakeholders they would involve, what evidence they would use and how they would know whether the action worked.

For HR, L&D and Program Sponsors

Strategic Workforce Planning for Women HR Leaders can be delivered as a standalone private cohort or embedded inside a broader capability pathway. The sponsor can define the target population, role level, business context, expected behaviours, priority scenarios and work products before delivery.

A stronger deployment does more than count attendance. Participants can apply one tool to live work, discuss the result with their manager and bring the learning into an existing talent, performance, project or functional review. This connects development to execution without making unsupported ROI promises.

Before the cohort: define the capability gap and participant profile.
During delivery: use role-relevant scenarios, practice and work products.
After delivery: reinforce application through manager conversations, peer review or sponsor follow-up.
At pathway level: combine this program with adjacent courses where participants need broader capability.

Pricing

The public-course fee below follows the current Women at Work offering structure for Saudi Arabia and the GCC. Program length and structure can vary by cohort and delivery context. Public fees exclude VAT or other applicable taxes.

$4,500

Per delegate
Individual booking

$3,825

Per delegate
3 delegates (15% off)

$3,750

Per delegate
6 delegates (pay for 5)

For in-house or customized delivery, request a proposal.

How This Fits Into a Wider Development Pathway

For corporate cohorts, the tools and action plans from this program can feed into development plans, talent reviews, project reviews, functional academies or sponsor debriefs. The course can also be paired with adjacent programs so the learning journey reflects the capability the organization is actually trying to build.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we use our own organizational scenarios?

Yes. Private cohorts can be calibrated around your operating context, role levels and common workplace situations while protecting sensitive information.

How should managers support participants after the course?

Agree one or two work applications, then review what the participant tried, what changed and what further support is needed.

Can this be combined with other Women at Work courses?

Yes. It can sit inside a multi-course pathway for managers, high-potential women, functional leaders or another defined population.

Part of the Women at Work pathway. Explore the full Women at Work professional development pathway.

Can this be delivered only for our organization?

Yes. Private delivery can be calibrated to the participant population, business context, capability priorities and internal terminology.

Is the duration fixed?

No. Delivery depth and schedule are adapted to the cohort and organizational objective.

How Participants Work During the Program

Strategic Workforce Planning for Women HR Leaders is designed as an applied learning experience rather than a sequence of lectures. Participants move repeatedly between concept, diagnosis, practice and workplace application. The exact balance can be adjusted for the cohort, but the learning design should keep participants working with decisions and situations that resemble the responsibilities they actually hold.

1. Diagnose

Participants begin by defining the real problem, decision or capability gap rather than accepting the first description at face value.

2. Practise

They test language, analysis, tools or decision approaches in a low-risk setting and receive challenge from the facilitator and peers.

3. Build

Participants create a work product linked to their role rather than leaving with notes alone. Relevant outputs can include Workforce demand map, Supply and gap analysis, Critical-role matrix, Scenario plan, Workforce action roadmap.

4. Challenge

Assumptions, blind spots and trade-offs are surfaced through peer review, facilitator questions and comparison with alternative approaches.

5. Apply

Each participant identifies where the learning will be used, who needs to be involved, what action happens first and what evidence will show progress.

The core pathway covers Business Strategy to Workforce Demand, Workforce Supply Analysis, Critical Roles and Capability Gaps, Scenario-Based Workforce Planning, Workforce Actions and Trade-offs, Workforce Planning Action Plan. For private cohorts, examples and practice can be weighted toward the modules most relevant to the sponsor’s capability priorities without reducing the integrity of the wider program.

Manager Reinforcement and Evidence of Application

A course becomes more valuable when participants have a clear opportunity to use the learning after delivery. For employer-sponsored cohorts, TheSkillGrid can design the program so managers and sponsors know what participants are expected to practise without turning development into unnecessary administration.

Before delivery: the participant and manager can identify one current situation where the course is likely to be useful. This gives the learning an immediate workplace anchor.
Immediately after delivery: the participant selects one or two tools or behaviours to use first, rather than trying to apply every concept simultaneously.
During the following work cycle: the manager can ask what was tried, what response it produced, what became clearer and what still needs adjustment.
At sponsor level: patterns across the cohort can inform future learning priorities, manager support or pathway design without claiming that attendance alone caused a business result.

What Good Application Can Look Like

Evidence of application should be appropriate to the topic and role. Useful signs include clearer decisions, better-prepared stakeholder conversations, stronger use of a practical tool, improved escalation, more explicit trade-offs, better role clarity, or a work product that is being used in a real process. These are observable behaviours and outputs, not guaranteed performance claims.

Related Programs

Related programs in TheSkillGrid’s wider capability architecture include:

Build the Right Development Pathway

TheSkillGrid can combine this course with adjacent programs into a coherent private cohort or development pathway.

Discuss a Cohort

Upcoming Dates & Venues

Explore proposed 2027 dates and venues for this course. The city, trainer, venue, duration and fee are subject to confirmation. Use the proposed-date link to request availability, not a confirmed booking.

No sessions currently scheduled.
Request course availability with your preferred date, location and group size. We will confirm available public-session and private-team options before any booking or payment.

Strategic Workforce Planning for Women HR Leaders