There is an old saying that if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. While planning alone can't lead to success, it is the first and foremost step for achieving organizational goals. To execute best business plans and ideas, employers require skilled work force. Without the presence of a dedicated HR department that focuses on the most vital assets of the firm - its employees, it is not possible to gain a competitive edge in the business world. Strategic human resource planning is the key to unlock the potential inherent in the employees and make an organization a highly efficient team working for common goals and objectives. Human Resource Manager - The Principal HR Strategist In the past couple of decades, human resource management (HRM) has evolved to become one of the most critical aspects of a firm's policies. There has been a major shift in the attitude of employers with respect to employees. This has been due to several government laws and regulations that guides employers to make sure that employees are receiving adequate pay and their health and safety is not challenged in the work area. Moreover, the economic boom in the developed and developing countries has created immense opportunities for people to find their dream jobs. Brain drain or talent retention, as we all know, has become a major issue for companies. It is indeed a professional loss for companies, if young, dynamic and skilled candidates leave the company due to issues that can be easily solved, if there are HR teams working on keeping the employees happy and motivated at work. Undeniably, your employees are your greatest assets. Now, if they feel neglected, unappreciated and unrewarded for their efforts, they won't second guess to switch jobs. If your firm spends significant resources in training an employee, high attrition rate can cause potential losses to the firm. To avoid all this, a firm requires a guide in the form of human resource management team. A HR manager, trained in the art of human management, is the principal strategist in a firm who decides what is best for an employee. He helps senior management leaders to understand the issues concerning employees. He is the communication bridge between employees and senior management. That's why we call a HR manager, the representative of employees. An organization that is not engaging in the best human resource practices is committing a blunder that is bound to negatively affect the company's future growth. What is Strategic Human Resource Planning? Strategies are the blue print of a firm's decision to achieve its goals. Strategic human resource planning is a step by step procedure to manage the needs, career aspirations and goals of an employee in alignment with the objectives of the firm. In strategic planning, employees are considered as resources that can be channelized for maximum performance and output. It regards employees as the front runners of the company and focuses on benefiting them, in certain possible ways. By following strategic planning process, HRM department and company management is able to brainstorm as to what is in the best favor for an employee as well for the company. Process of Strategic Human Resource Planning Following are some fundamental steps taken in HR strategic planning. Understanding the Potential of Human Resource Closely Based on what your organization wants to achieve within months and years, you have to gauze in the capacity of your human resources. You have to short list the employees who are an asset from performance point of view. You have to identify the weak links in the company. You will have to estimate, if you require more staff to meet the objectives of the firm, or you need to cut short the employee strength, to meet your budgets. You may like to increase the strength of your HR team, to ease the workload on the HR department. All decisions must be properly evaluated and strategies must be backed by sufficient research. To strengthen the company, it is important to firstly build a strong HR team. The HR team must work to understand the company goals properly and based on that, it must decide as to what all should be done to boost the employee performance. Where You Stand and Where You Want to Be After the analysis, HR team and management can take the next step, that is they can analyze where they stand in the efforts to reach to their goals. If it is required to hire more employees, adequate tests and interview plans must be prepared. Hiring right candidates with right sets of skills is very important if the firm wants to achieve its goal, within the limited time. If it is required to provide some advanced training to the current employees, external help may be needed. Further, HR managers can suggest management some policies and methods to improve working conditions for employees. Areas where employees can be benefited can be discussed with the strategic management leaders. Formulation of the Strategies After you have thought well over the entire agenda, it is the time to formulate concrete strategies. As a HR team head, you can assign roles to your teammates for working on individual strategies. You can prepare various business reports analyzing each problem. Your recruitment strategies, training methodologies and salary structure must be discussed with the senior managers. Your ideal plan should be conveyed to the company heads. Any changes suggested by them must be incorporated, further. Once all strategies are formulated, you can be ready for implementation task. The benefits of strategic human resource planning process for a firm goes beyond recruitment of employees. A dynamic HR team makes the task of employee management extremely simple for the management team. It connects employees to the firm by keeping them in touch with the values, missions and goals of the company. In a world, where the human potential is valued at the highest price and respect, every employee is a storehouse of talent and HRM ensures that employees are always the central focus of their efforts!!