22 & 23 October 2026
Toronto, Canada
AI is rewriting job descriptions faster than most organizations can update them. Roles are splitting, merging, and disappearing. Skills that were critical two years ago are being automated, and the skills you will need in two years may not have names yet. Guessing is not a workforce strategy.
The Strategic Workforce Planning Certification Program, delivered live in Toronto on 22-23 October 2026, gives senior HR and business leaders a proven methodology to plan through exactly this kind of disruption. Delivered in partnership between The P World and the Human Capital Institute (HCI), and built on HCI's eight-step SWP model updated for an AI-shaped labor market, the programme moves workforce planning out of theory and into tools you will start using in the room.
Over two intensive days, in a cohort capped at 12 participants, you will work through real cases with a certified facilitator and a table of peers facing the same decisions.
Every module now runs through an AI lens. Our facilitators have updated the case studies, examples, and group exercises to reflect how leading organizations plan for a workforce where humans and AI work side by side. Expect live discussion on skills-based planning, automation exposure by role segment, and how to use AI tools in the planning process itself. The certification, the HCI model, and the recertification credits remain exactly as accredited.
All participants receive the official HCI Strategic Workforce Planning Toolkit, a comprehensive set of job aids that turn the methodology into everyday practice: environmental scanning, current state analysis, risk mitigation, talent segmentation, cascading competencies, and scenario planning. You will use these tools during the programme, so the work you start in Toronto continues on the job.
Brochure download
The Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) curriculum is built for HR leaders, talent and people analytics professionals, and business leaders who own headcount, skills, or capability decisions.
Type of certification:
This certification is approved for 13 Business recertification credit hours toward aPHR, PHR, PHRca, SPHR, GPHR, PHRi, and SPHRi recertification through the HR Certification Institute. SHRM has pre-approved it for 13 Professional Development Credits (PDCs) toward SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP certifications. It also carries 13 continuing education credits for ATD (CPTD and APTD) and 13 HCI recertification credits.
Certified by: HCI, Human Capital Institute
"The content was excellent. I have gained so much new knowledge that will help me not only with HR strategy, but to have a better voice at senior management level."
Government of New Brunswick
"The course content was well-structured and highly relevant, and the in-person setup was exceptional for networking. The facilitator's expertise and practical examples energized my workforce planning journey."
IESO
"This program challenged me to think outside the box and approach workforce planning differently. The facilitator's energy and insights made the experience one of the best I've had in professional development."
VHA Home HealthCare
"Thoroughly enjoyed my time on the course. The learning was excellent, and the facilitator's expertise made a significant difference. This program truly stands out."
BC Pension Corporation
SWP in context. What strategic workforce planning is, and what it is not. The evolution from operational to strategic planning, why AI has collapsed the difference between the two, and HCI's perspective on planning as risk mitigation, with real cases from VF Corporation, NASA, and NCR.
Your readiness. A self-assessment of your organization's workforce planning maturity: an honest look at what would make SWP stick in your company, and what would make it stall.
Business strategy alignment. Strategy first. Mapping competitive differentiation, reading strategic statements, and connecting workforce planning to what your organization is actually trying to do.
Role segmentation. Not all roles deserve the same planning effort. The four stages of workforce differentiation, identifying critical roles and their competencies, and testing each segment for automation and augmentation exposure.
Environmental scan. Reading the quantitative and qualitative signals across internal and external supply and demand, including the AI and labor market shifts moving fastest, and assigning risk to what you find.
Current state analysis. The data requirements of SWP, working with imperfect talent information, and a hands-on current state exercise, with cases from GE, Procter & Gamble, and Husqvarna.
You leave Day 1 with: a maturity assessment of your organization, a draft segmentation of your own roles, and a scan of the forces acting on them.
Futuring and scenario planning. Possible futures, the limits of forecasting, and building a scenario matrix for your organization, from aggressive AI adoption to talent market shocks. Defining your targeted future state.
Gap analysis. Comparing the workforce you have with the one each scenario demands. Gap dimensions, gaining consensus on which gaps matter, and working with the SWP Toolkit gap template.
Action planning. Closing gaps through the 6 Bs of skill acquisition and development: when to build, buy, borrow, and when the answer is a tool rather than a person. Work design, development, retention, and rewards as planning levers.
Telling stories with data. Turning your plan into a case leadership will fund. The elements of compelling workforce stories, influencing skills, and visualization techniques, with cases from Grant Thornton, Conagra, and McGraw Hill Federal Credit Union.
Bringing SWP to life. The competencies of successful workforce planners, roles and responsibilities of the SWP team, and sustaining the practice through perpetual change: the ongoing scan, a common data vernacular, and continuous review.
You leave the training with: a draft action plan for one strategic role segment, your 90-day next steps, and your certification.
Sponsoring a P World event places your brand inside a high-trust environment with influential decision-makers who shape strategy and opinion. Sponsors are positioned as credible partners through meaningful visibility, thought-leadership alignment, and direct engagement, creating lasting brand value beyond the event itself.
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This program can also be delivered as a tailored in-house training for your organization. We adapt the content to your industry, objectives, and level of maturity, focusing on real challenges your teams face and the decisions they need to make. In-house formats allow your people to align on a shared approach, work through relevant scenarios, and build skills they can apply immediately.
If you’re exploring an in-house option, tell us a bit about your team, priorities, and timing, and we’ll recommend the right format.
Contact us about in-house training
