Planning for growth: Is your organisation designed for what's next?

With budget season upon us and planning underway for 2027, many organisations are setting ambitious goals around growth, productivity, digital transformation and workforce capability. The challenge, however, isn’t defining the strategy. It's ensuring the organisation is equipped to deliver it.

Over recent years, businesses have faced economic uncertainty, changing workforce expectations and rapid advances in technology. As a result, many have reassessed how work is structured and delivered. AI is accelerating this change, prompting a rethink of roles, skills and operating models.

Leaders are increasingly facing an important question: Is our organisation designed for where we're going next?

As you plan for 2027, four areas deserve particular attention:

1. Organisational capability vs business strategy

As priorities evolve, organisations often need different skills, leadership capabilities and ways of working. Yet workforce planning doesn't always keep pace, leaving structures that reflect past needs rather than future ambitions.

The result can be a gap between strategy and delivery. Business plans may be forward-looking, but the capability needed to execute them might not yet exist.

For HR leaders, the challenge is understanding whether the organisation has the capacity and skills needed to achieve future goals. Where gaps are identified, organisations may need to invest in development, redesign roles or recruit new expertise.

Organisational design should be viewed as an enabler of strategy, ensuring people, structures and processes support business objectives.

2. Critical roles and skills

A common mistake during organisational reviews is focusing on structure while overlooking the roles and skills that drive performance.

Not all roles carry the same strategic importance. Identifying critical positions and understanding the capabilities needed for future success helps organisations focus investment where it will have the greatest impact.

Key questions include:

Which roles are most critical to business performance?
What skills will be needed over the next three to five years?
Where do capability gaps currently exist?
How can employees develop into future roles?

Job families, career pathways and competency frameworks can help organisations build a clearer picture of current capability and future requirements.

Organisations that align workforce planning with future skill needs are often better placed to navigate change and support sustainable growth.

3. Succession planning and talent gaps

Organisational growth depends as much on talent readiness as it does on business planning.

While recruitment remains important, organisations should first take stock of the talent they already have. Effective succession planning helps reduce risk, strengthen leadership pipelines and create development opportunities for employees.

A robust review should consider:

Succession risks in critical roles
Leadership pipeline strength
Current and future skills shortages
Internal development opportunities
Areas where external recruitment may be needed

Investing in employee development not only strengthens organisational capability, but also supports engagement, retention and career progression.

Some future skills will inevitably need to be sourced externally. However, organisations that understand their existing talent are better placed to make targeted recruitment decisions that support long-term objectives.

4. Reward implications of organisational change

Organisational change rarely affects structure alone. It often has significant implications for reward, grading and pay frameworks.

As roles evolve and new capabilities become more valuable, existing reward arrangements can quickly become misaligned with business needs. Without regular review, organisations may experience:

Pay compression
Retention challenges in key roles
Difficulties attracting specialist talent
Inconsistencies in pay and grading structures
Misalignment between reward investment and organisational priorities

Therefore, organisational change should be considered alongside a review of pay structures, market competitiveness, benefits, incentives and retention strategies.

Organisations must also balance business requirements with increasing expectations around pay transparency, fairness and compliance.

When reward is considered alongside workforce planning and organisational design, it becomes a powerful tool for attracting, retaining and engaging the talent needed for future success.

Looking ahead

The pace of change shows little sign of slowing. Whether organisations are focused on growth, transformation, productivity or workforce modernisation, success will depend on more than strategy alone.

Organisations best positioned for the future will be those that regularly assess whether their structures, critical roles, workforce capabilities and reward frameworks remain aligned to business priorities.

As you plan for 2027 and beyond, the key question is not whether your organisation is fit for today. It's whether your organisation is designed to deliver what's next.