“A core part of what we do through strategic workforce planning is translating that purpose and strategy into what the organization needs from its workforce.”

This week on Be Customer Led with Bill Staikos, we speak with Alicia Roach, Founder, and CEO of eQ8 and a global thought leader in Strategic Workforce Planning and Analytics. Alicia has spearheaded the development of a globally unique SWP solution, "eQ8," by combining her skills in complicated data analysis and sophisticated financial modeling with attractive visualizations and tales. EQ8 is an innovative, globally-unique, dynamic, and scalable SAAS platform for Strategic Workforce Planning. Also, Alicia's passion is assisting organizations in executing their purpose by knowing their existing and future workforce potential. In this episode, she discusses how organizations can take their Strategic Workforce Planning to the next level. 

[01:37] Background – Alicia describes her path, the company she co-founded, and how it earned its name," eQ8".

[09:23] SWP – What are the Strategic Workforce Plan, its outcomes, and its impact on the long-term health of the business

[23:32] SWP and CX - If you can improve the employee experience, it will benefit the consumer experience in numerous ways. Alicia mentions how she observes businesses utilizing SWP as a basis for getting a better customer experience. 

[27:36] The Future - Alicia's vision for the future of SWP.

[31:21] Previous Guests' question - Where would you choose to live and work remotely around the globe, and why? 

[32:21] Inspiration – Alicia discusses where she finds inspiration.

Resources:

Connect with Alicia:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/aliciaroach/

Alicia Roach on Strategic Workforce Planning

[00:00:32] Bill Staikos: Hey everybody. Welcome back to another week of B. Customer led. I love this because I get to bring some of the coolest guests, not only from the US just but around the world. My guest is, is an Australian, but she lives in Austin, Texas, and one of the coolest. About, Alicia Roach is that she is the co-founder and joint CEO of a really interesting company called equate.ai or Equate, and that's EQ eight ai, and they really have built a SaaS platform around strategic workforce planning.

We're gonna get into what exactly that is today and why that's important from an employee experience perspective. Alicia, thanks so much for coming out to the show. It's great to have.

[00:01:16] Bill Staikos: excited. I know, me too. Because when I first started checking out your posts and someone that I was connected with, I think is connected to you, and then I started seeing your feet.

I was like, man, this is a really interesting topic. And I started just my, I started geeking out on s swp and I'm like, I gotta, I gotta have Alicia on the show. So, Alicia, before we get into the conversation and learn more about Equate obvious, Tell us a little bit about, your professional journey.

Mm-hmm. , what you think some of like the real differentiating factors were. And then, I wanna also just kinda get into why did you start awa? Cause I think that's just topically I, we'll focus there, but also just I think the company, what you guys are doing is really special and unique too.

Cool. Well look, I definitely start by saying, This was not what I thought I'd be doing as a career. I was just saying that to someone last week actually. It wasn't like when I was asked, at five years old or 11, what do you wanna be when you grow up? And I said, oh, strategic workforce plan. and certainly creating a tech startup, well that was not even a thing back then.

So I know I'm showing my age there, . But like most people's journeys, we never really know where we're gonna end up. but it's definitely a journey I think. For all the right reasons has led me to what, what we've created here with ewa. I started my career as a chartered accountant in finance, and I was working at an international airline.

Where the workforce was the largest cost as it is for most organizations, really. And at the time, the airline, this is going back again, I'm, showing my age again, but, going back quite a number of years when every airline around the world was putting on these large aircraft orders for the next generation of aircrafts.

the a three eighties and the seven eight sevens spending billions of dollars on CapEx. And the board at the time was rightly asking, are we actually gonna have enough pilots to fly these planes as they come in over the next decade? it's pretty critical for an airline to have pilots, to fly its planes.

You can't just click your fingers and and get a pilot overnight. So what's the supply chain of. Highly specialized people who we competing with for them. not only other airlines, but career alternatives and bringing all of these moving parts together, in an industry that was already so impacted by external events.

Cause going back then, there was already, there was things like the war in Iraq had impacted the travel industry and, and September 11, and then we also. Third flu and SARS around that time, so

[00:04:07] Alica Roach: had. Right? So, some of these things are nothing new.

But understanding all of these moving parts and bringing that together in a, a way that lifted the gaze and, answered the question for the organization. Yes, we're gonna have enough pilots by doing these proactive actions and making sure we're making the right build by borrow tradeoffs with a data led basis.

And, we went through that exercise and it was really great to get everyone aligned on where the airline was heading. And then the GFC happened, , and it all had to be revisited anyway, but we had that line in the sand to know where we'd been, heading. And so there was an easier way to ship the sales because we now had that delta to understand how things needed to shape and shift.

And that's where I fell in love with s swp. So, kind of a long-winded answer, but the, the way it integrated. The people of the organization with strategy, with finance, and it really is just such a game changer. And so that's where I've stayed and, and now built a business and a platform

Let's talk a little bit about equate. You know what, so why did you say, Hey, I'm gonna go start this tech startup SaaS company platform, . Was it more around. The work is just too manual and you wanted to digitize it in some way. Mm-hmm. or was there something else there that you were like, I love this work, passionate about it clearly, but there's a better way.

And, and how did you kind of go into it being saying, Hey, we could do this in a platform, from a platform perspective?

What's our purpose? And what will it take to get there? And it's about recognizing that the, to get there part is through the workforce as the execution vehicle for an ORs purpose, its vision, strategy, operations, really anything it's trying to do. So I started my career earlier in corporates, in large corporates.

And left to start a consulting business with my co-founder. But we knew that software was the end game cuz there was such a gap in the market for true end to end dedicated s swp. And I'd been to the market several times globally to try and find something that could enable me as a practitioner from within organizations.

And in the end, Ended up with my own DIY solutions in various forms. Excel with a front end visualization tool or one company. I even built a an S SWP from system from scratch using a large e r P platform. Now that is not recommended. We were, I still have, some therapy over that one, but, but we wanted to understand, through our consulting and.

Understanding the dynamics of many organizations in different industries shape sizes, because s SWP is not a one size fits all modality, so we needed to understand what orgs needed. Flexibility on what they needed on rails, and how we could kind of bring in something that was grounded in deep practitioner led expertise that met the needs of all those different types of customers.

And we, we've seen where tech created by tech can fail because it can become detached and not practically solving the real problems of an org. So we needed to kind of, struggle both of that. Really equate is now a platform led business because we hold the absolute and utter belief that S SWP must be owned by the organization itself.

The S of ssw P'S Strat strategic, strategy. So, Fundamentally S SWP captures the org strategy. So the org has to own its strategy. Can't outsource that. That's right. And so it has to own, its s wp and that's what we're enabling with aqua. It really is putting that in the hands of the organizations to drive, as I said, the most fundamental questions for them, making sure they can achieve what they need to.

[00:08:21] Alica Roach: right? Yeah. It's, well, fundamentally we're about bringing balance to an organization and coherence.

So a core part of what we do through strategic workforce planning is translating that purpose and strategy into what the organization needs from its workforce. So it's workforce demand, and then equating that with what it's got. So it's workforce supply. So we're bringing that equalization of supply and demand.

We're equating supply and demand so that the organization can fulfill its purpose strategy. And operations. So

Like when I, I'm like, I need a strategic workforce plan. Like how do I start to go into.

And often that's where the disconnect happens, because, Someone from operations goes, okay, this is what it means for me. Finance, this is what it means for us, and and so on. And so you get that disconnect. So fundamentally, we're about stepping back, understanding the key strategic imperatives of the organization, translating that into a value chain, which breaks down what activities do we need to be doing as an organization to support the fulfillment of this strategy?

Who needs to be doing them? What skills do they need to have? And that really answers the fundamental question for an organization that most don't have a view. if we say to most organizations, what workforce size, shape skills do you need today? Most organizations, the overwhelming majority don't have a clear view of that.

And as I've said, the workforce is the execution vehicle for everything it's trying to do. So it's crazy. And so we bring that through that methodology, through that process, through the platform. The way to answer that question, this is the workforce you need today. This is how it's gonna shape and shift in the future as your volumes, your business volumes change your business drivers, but not only your core kind of volumes and business drivers.

What step changes are coming your way? What transformation initiatives, what digitization do you have going on? How are external forces going to impact you? We need to overlay that as well and bring that together to get that holistic view. What the workforce need is today, how that needs to shape and shift, and then compare it to the workforce we've got today.

And that's the other fundamental disconnect is that most organizations just kind of go with what they've got today and kind of just bumble along and change off that, and they don't even know that they've got it right today in the first

Maybe that's show too, how like this can really be strategic Workforce planning specifically can be the connector between employee experience and customer experience, right? So they think about sort of the business outcomes from a customer perspective, the business outcomes from an employee perspective.

Can this be sort of the mesh between the two? So if I'm a CEO and I'm listening to this episode and I know for a fact we've got, a bunch of CEOs who listen. What kind of outcomes should I be expecting, right? If my organization does strategic workforce planning correctly, like what should I see? Yeah.

And then the main thing is as well around that cost perspective, organizations are investing millions, if not billions in their people and people related programs. They're investing in huge change and transformation and customer delivery that is enabled by the people they have and their skills, and they're flying blind.

So they've got no way to really understand how what they're trying to achieve is gonna manifest. Mm-hmm. , we see something like 70% of digital transformation initiatives fail. It's like $900 billion. Yeah. A year wasted. And a lot of that can be attributed to not having the right execution basis for that transformation, the skills in place and so on.

So that's one thing we're enable. Through wp. The other thing I'd say is foremost as CEOs, CEOs, CTOs, whatever, we're all in our jobs to make sure our org achieves what it needs to purposefully, strategically, operationally. So we need to be able to ensure we can drive the execution of those. And for most organizations, that's left to chance.

But the ones that intentionally and optimally create a coherent and forward looking approach to. The way they lead their organizations. they're lifting their gaze and planning for the future. They're moving out of that reactivity and that problem of the di day kind of mindset that many of us get stuck in.

there's always going to be a problem of the day. We can't get away from that. But if you don't step back and lift your gaze, these organizations are always wondering. Why are we in this same situation? a year later the manifestation may be different, but the outcomes are the same. We're missing our targets.

It brings that clarity and coherence. So yes, we're optimizing our costs and getting our arms around that as well, but actually this is enabling us top line impact because without having that execution fecal in place as it's needed, that is where we have that revenue impact. Lost digital and transformation opportunity.

So it's huge. This is not just bottom line optimization of a cost base. This is top line stuff

Are they taking the. Of what the Equate platform delivers and then saying, okay, here's how I optimize my team, or whatever that might be, or like tell us a little bit about that. Yeah,

As I said, most dogs do not have that view, which is crazy. The second thing is an action plan. The P of S WP is a plan. So how are we going to get the org where it needs to be? And that's a coherent set of actions for all initiatives across the organization. whether they're employee lifecycle and workforce related, or they're things that enable the workforce, like our digitalization, transformation, productivity, process review, those kind of things.

so that's the second output. And the third output's alignment. We're, we're getting through a key element of s swp, which is dynamic scenario planning. We're getting our leadership around a table. We're looking to the future under multiple what if trajectories, and we're getting alignment on where we think the orgs heading.

Alicia, how do you measure success of this? So are those also embedded in the platform or like, if I'm, if I'm a senior executive, C H R O as an example. Mm-hmm. How am I looking at SWP and saying, we're on the right path, it's all green. Like what kind, what are the typical metrics that I might be looking

Yeah, so one of the main metrics is making sure you've got the workforce size, shape skills as you need it. So that's a, a key way to, you've got this forecast, are we meeting it? It's similar to a finance process. we've got our financial plan over three years, then we translate that into the 12 month forecast, and then the budget.

On a monthly basis. So that's the same kind of thing. So that's, that becomes a very clear and tangible line in the sand. The other thing that we do is, Bringing through every action that we create to create that alignment, that equate quoting of the supply and the demand. Every action is treated like a project, but also like a business case.

So we look at the costs and benefits of every action that we're doing around the workforce. So we're optimizing those build by borrow decisions and we're able to really measure the benefit and impact the organization of, implementing those effectively. So that really also, A strong commercial discipline to the HR function and how it's prioritizing its investment around the workforce.

And then the third way I'd say that we measure through the platform, we've got these really cool algorithms. That look at what a role is, what skills it has, where it sits in the value chain, how attached it is to transformation and digitization, and what the orgs trying to achieve, and a bunch of other factors.

And it actually generates a financial exposure. So what is the potential cost to the organization from not having this role, this workforce segment in place? And that's a real fundamental. For organizations from that view that the workforce is a cost, I'm a chartered account X finance and the, the general view there is the workforce is aligned on our p and l cost that we generally are trying to get down.

if we don't have that role in place, we're saving money under budget. whereas we're actually trying to shift it to, if we don't have the role in. Actually, depending on what that role is and where it sits, there's significant commercial impact to the organization. So they, we may not be able to meet revenue targets.

[00:19:09] Bill Staikos: I love how you're taking a very business outcome oriented view on this and saying it's, it is about the metrics, but it's not necessarily, and you're shifting that mindset completely around. And that's not something that a lot of organiz. think about their employees, right?

It's just a line on the p and l, it's a cost where we bring it down. And as markets get more challenging, obviously kind of given, the market environment that we're in today. How do we reduce that number in tech? I mean, thousands and thousands of miles, right? Versus if we did this, what is the impact on our business from a long term viability

It gives us a different view because what we have, instead of those decisions that we're seeing in every headline at the moment, these layoffs and it's this short term. Reactivity, the knee jerk, because we don't have that longer line of sight. So we're going, okay, well panic. We don't, we just feel this kind of external pressure.

So we're reacting and dealing with things in not in the best way because we don't have the best data at hand to make the better decision. Whereas if we lift the gaze and look to the future, we can say, okay, yes, we've got this short term dip, but we think things are gonna bounce back actually if we hold this work.

The cost is less than the layoffs and the impact to our employees, to our evp, our culture, our employee experience. And then the customer experience is such a different vibration for the organization. Like it's a different vibe because you've got that clarity and that coherence and it's not knee jerk.

And suddenly the doors are closed, the org charts are on the wall with the Sharpies out, crossing the boxes. It's awful. We've all been affected by that or we know someone in our family or friend who has been affected by that. It is a huge detrimental impact to organizations, to economies, to humanity.

We need to lift the gaze and get organizations to do things differently. That reactive fire and rehire MO is not gonna cut it.

We're gonna really turn, flip the script, so to speak. When you think about, and I wanna bring maybe back the point earlier about tying, s swp being kind of the, the mesh between employee experience and customer experience. Mm-hmm. are the companies that you're working with that, bring equate in, are leveraging the platform?

Do you generally feel like there are organizations that get it or is it they're trying it out because like, if you can really figure out how to continuously evolve and improve the employee experience, that will translate into a better customer experience in so many different ways. How are you seeing companies kind of think that way to tie it together and using SWP maybe as a, as a basis or a framework to get there?

Or like what are you seeing from that per. Yeah,

there are others that are doing it to try and see, and it's still, it's still really is an emerging discipline. I s wp and I've been in it for a number of years. I think what I have seen shift with s SWP is that people aren't asking why do we need to do it anymore? They're kind of morgue moving to how do we get going on this?

and we're certainly seeing a lot of, a lot more interest in s SWP come from outside HR functions because the leaders of organizations are recognizing, through what we've been through the last two years, the situation we've had is finally kind of given. Talent issues a, a platform and the leading cause for concern in, in our C-suites mind, in a way that I don't think we've had before.

It's better customer outcomes, but it's better for humanity. we, we can all kind of. Get caught in this social responsibility and these ESG functions that are now being created, but they can still be a bit tick the box and, and the same organizations in the next are those ones behind the door doing the mass layoffs.

But what we are doing here is really creating that, fundamental understanding that for an organization, Our people are not a separate entity to our organization. The organization is our people. The people are our organization. There is an innate knowing that the organization cannot get where it needs to go without its people.

So it's, it really is a different energy and we're creating an alignment, I think, of the personal good and the collective good in a way. So it's a really different, as I said, a different vibe for society, and I think the orgs that do it, We do see research showing that when we create that alignment of an authentic purpose, that permeates business strategy and decision making, and we have that forward looking view collaboration increases learning, accelerates, performance, climbs.

We get not only improved financial outcomes and people outcomes, but we also, are just getting that inherent. Kind of better experience for everyone because we are consciously responsible for humans as an organization, and that's what drives me in this space. But I, I don't think everyone's there yet, but that's where I'm trying to

I think that's one, one of the silver linings of the pandemic is I think that a lot of organizations have come to realize that. I think they're probably still struggling with, how do I figure that out? Right. SWP certainly seems like the way to start to do that or to start to go down that path at the very.

Alicia, you mentioned it's sort of a newish discipline. Maybe let's say five or maybe 10 years old on the high end. Maybe it wasn't even called SWP 10 years ago much, right? Customer experience was market research 20 years ago, right? When you think about wheres SWP is headed or maybe where you would like it to see it go headed, right?

[00:25:52] Alica Roach: Yeah, well, my overarching vision is that s SWP becomes such an integral part of an organization's planning cycle, that it becomes a core process.

So no organization's strategy can be set without it. It, s SWP is actually a business planning process that happens to be nominated in the workforce. I've seen, industry leaders attribute every issue in the economy to a problem with training, reskilling recruiting, or business management.

And the disconnect is that so many orgs base these issues with that short term, siloed, reactive basis. S WP lifts us out of that tempo, creates that inherent alignment of the workforce to the purpose and strategy, and brings that coherence to the entire business. And so I think that is where it can and should head.

It should become embedded as a core process. It should be just something like we do with our financial planning cycles and our financial budgeting forecasting. It becomes that inherently part of our fabric. And so every organization. Realizes they cannot do what they need to do without their workforce.

And again, I just has, is something that's always really amazed me is that most other functions have been great or better, varying degrees of, of doing this. But, using data and planning for their functional direction. Finance, obviously, marketing. Sales ops, they're all very data driven and using that planning.

But when it comes to the workforce, it's not done in the same way, and it's certainly not done in a holistic way across the organization. So some pockets of orgs we see in customers may, oh, we've got our own workforce plan over here, and we've got our own, because no one else has done it for us. So we've had to do it.

It just is something that's always amazed me, as I said, for what is usually the biggest cost for an organization. Arguably the biggest asset as well. the source of our delivery, our execution, our innovation, our customer experience is the workforce that comes from that. So how are we not getting our arms around this and planning it?

So, so that's where I really see s SWP heading, where organizations get it. They have.

That is really complicated, but so incredibly necessary and I, I just love what you guys are trying to do there. Alicia, I ask each one of my guests to ask a question of my next guest. Okay. It's something that I start to do at the top of this year. The questions have been really interesting and different and, my previous guest who asked this question of you is a founder as well.

Okay. Completely different industry actually created a platform to purchase shares in like rental and vacation homes. So like own to Share and Airbnb as an example on the beach. And you and other investors in that house kind of get, revenue from. Right. Really cool pla, really cool platform. Yeah.

But he wanted to know if you could live and work remotely, anywhere in the world, where would it be and why Now? You're from Australia. You live in the States ? Yes. Is that the mo, are you already living that dream or like would you pick a different location?

But, now look, Austin's awesome, but I still go into the office here, so it's not truly. Remote, if I would probably say Greece, I'm actually half Greek, so it's a place I've never been and I really am feeling such a pool to go there. So I would love to just set up there, immerse myself, pick up the language again, visit long loss relatives and yeah, that, that would be amazing.

[00:30:04] Alica Roach: special. Oh, amazing. Yes. I'll hook you up with some

[00:30:13] Alica Roach: Mostly I go within, that's a weird, an a weird answer I guess. but for me, I think the biggest thing to be inspired is to be kind of in the right mindset and be balanced and, and, mind, body, soul, and have everything kind of humming along cause we can get so caught up. You. in, just so work focused or whatever, and we sacrifice other things.

So getting that holistic balance through, taking some time each day. setting up a few things throughout the day, whether it's a morning practice of meditation or exercise or whatever, and a few pockets of joy throughout the day, even if it's just sitting in the sun for five minutes with a coffee.

that's how I kind of get in the right head space and, and then kind of feel more inspired to do what I need

And I, that is my favorite answer. Oh, yay. My favorite answer. I wish more people would look internally for their, for inspiration versus finding it elsewhere. Right.

[00:31:23] Bill Staikos: A hundred percent. Alicia, this has been an incredibly inspirational show for. I'm incredible on a learning for me as well.

I am very grateful for you to join us, on the show. And, thank you so much.

[00:31:37] Bill Staikos: Absolutely. All right, everybody, really super amazing show. If you are not familiar with Strategic Workforce planning checkout equate.ai. That's EQ eight ai.

We're also gonna put it into show notes. We'll put Alicia's, LinkedIn profile in a show notes if you want to get in touch with her directly as. Another great show everyone. We're out. Talk to you

Be sure to visit us@becustomerled.com. For more episodes, leave us feedback on how we're doing, or tell us what you want to hear more about. Until next time, we're out, out. Out.