IB Woman
Issue No. 35 - June/July 2007
Blueprint for a better business
by Penelope Herbert
Many business managers understand that the attraction and retention of good staff is of primary importance when seeking to grow a successful business. But Wendy Perry also understands the workforce implications when skills and competencies do not align with strategic business plans.
“Many organisations do not consider the workforce gaps that may occur when planning for their growth and development,” she says.
“Workforce Blueprint is a company that helps businesses take stock of their current workforce, build a profile of the desired workforce and analyses where gaps may occur.
“Unlike, say, a financial planner who deals in monetary capital, business owners deal in human capital but often fail to make the same detailed and future-proof plans. Yet there are logical steps that can achieve a customised approach.”
Workforce Blueprint - Wendy is the MD - is one of only three companies in SA that provides such detailed and time-effective services. She says the analysis and workforce development strategies are not in the form of traditional training or presentations but interactive discussions that identify issues to be worked on or improved and actioned.
“Much of our work involves a knowledge sharing and ‘community of practice’ approach where groups share a common set of issues with a solution based approach,” says Wendy.
“This means competitors, say across an industry, can work together on workforce issues because it’s about common ground, not competition. There is a great strength to the consultative process but often the strategies have to be translated to an operational level otherwise people may not understand the implementation plan.”
Education, communication and collaboration have formed much of Wendy’s working life. As a teenage mother, she juggled baby Aimee, work and study to complete her State Government business administration traineeship early. At just 21, Wendy married Sc...
