Strategic Human Resource Planning at Island Garden: An Interview

Opened in 1998 and based in West Hempstead, NY, Island Garden is a 53,000-square
feet sports facility that provides individual baseball and basketball instruction to children.
The facility is also available for hire by teams and is designed to host up to three basketball
games simultaneously. I sat down with Jim Fox, the Executive Director of Island Garden, to
find out about the state of a specific area of strategic planning – strategic human resource
planning – at the organization. Strategic human resource planning is an especially pertinent
issue for Island Garden, given that its staff is aging; for example, among senior management,
the average age is fifty-five. The following is a transcription of the interview.
Me: There is human resource planning on one end, and then there is strategic human resource
planning. What is your understanding, in practical terms, of the two concepts?
Jim: I think traditional HR involved defining roles in an organization and then outlining how
those roles would be filled. However, with the surge in popularity of strategic planning since
the late 1990s, strategic HR planning has also become quite popular. In my view, strategic
HR planning takes a broader view than traditional HR planning. It is about identifying
current, and future HR needs if an organization is to achieve its strategic goals. It is also
about seeing the effective management of people as a source of competitive advantage.
Me: Why is strategic HR planning important to Island Garden?
Jim: Honestly, we could say we are an aging organization. The average age for our top
management is fifty-five, and that of the staff is close to fifty. If the organization plans to be
sustainable, we need to do something drastic, including bringing in younger talent. We
believe strategic HR planning is an important tool to this end.
Me: What steps will Island Garden need to take to implement strategic HR planning?
Jim: We will need to take four major steps: assess the current HR capacity, forecast HR
requirements, undertake an analysis of gaps, and develop HR strategies to support the

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strategic goals of the organization. In assessing the current HR capacity, among other things,
we will develop a skills catalog: a list of the skills we believe we need to achieve our goals,
as well as a statement of the adequacy of each skill. Forecasting HR requirements will entail
projecting our future HR needs based on our strategic goals. Some of the issues we will need
to address at this stage include the jobs that will need to be filled in the future; the skillsets
staff we will need; how many staff we will need to meet our strategic goals; what we will
need to do or change to appeal to younger employees; and how our community and clients
are evolving and expected to change over time.
In undertaking gap analysis, we will compare our HR projections against our current HR
capacity to determine remedial measures. Finally, we will need to develop a raft of HR
strategies that will facilitate the realization of our organization-wide strategies. These will
include restructuring, training and development, recruitment, outsourcing, and collaboration
strategies. Recruitment strategies will be particularly important given our need to attract and
retain younger workers.
Me: Who will be responsible for the implementation of strategic HR planning?
Jim: Karen Cammer, our Administrative Director, will undoubtedly lead the process.
However, in the interest of eliminating silo-thinking and promoting organization-wide
perspectives, the Administrative Director will work closely with other members of the
executive team, notably Rosemary Nies, our Director of Operations, and Tom Sigismonti, our
General Manager. Indeed, HR departments that practice strategic HR management do not
work alone in a silo; they work with other departments within the organization to understand
individual departmental needs and goals before creating strategies that address those specific
needs and goals and those of the whole organization. That way, the goals of the HR
department reflect and support those of the rest of the organization.

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Me: What challenges do you envision in this endeavor, and what is your plan to address
them?
Jim: Well, up until now, we have been practicing traditional HR management: attract,
develop, reward, and retain employees for the benefit of both individual employees and the
employer. The strategic role of HR management and planning has largely been missing from
our purview. So, I guess we’ll have quite a bit of culture and mindset changing. We also
believe that bringing onboard new minds with fresh perspectives will go a long way to
creating this cultural change.
Me: Thanks, Mr. Fox, for granting this interview, and good luck with your plans.
Jim: You’re most welcome. Pleasure.