The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is changing how work is organized, how skills are developed, and how talent is deployed.

In the previous STRIMgroup post we showed that companies in the AI era need not only new technologies but also new ways of thinking.
Now comes the crucial follow-up question: How can organizations plan and empower their employees so that the right future skills are available where and when they are needed?

Key Insights on Workforce Planning

Leading consultancies such as McKinsey, BCG, and Bain paint a similar picture of the future.
Organizations that align workforce planning with competencies rather than roles are more agile, innovative, and successful.

McKinsey: The “Agentic Organization”

In “The agentic organization: Contours of the next paradigm for the AI era” Alexander Sukharevsky et al. emphasize that the value of humans in the AI era is shifting.
People are becoming designers who set goals, make decisions, and guide outcomes.
Therefore, future talent strategies should focus on judgment, systems thinking, and ethics.

McKinsey identifies five key priorities for HR leaders: redefining the human role, flattening hierarchies, building new competency profiles, modernizing performance systems, and fostering a culture that acts as an ethical compass..

BCG: The Growing AI Value Gap

In “The Widening AI Value Gap” BCG reveals that only 5 % of companies capture the full potential of AI. The main reason is that AI initiatives are often disconnected from talent development.
However, AI-first organizations go beyond that. They combine long-term goals, measurable transformation, data-driven operating models, and focused talent development.

As a result, these build new momentum. The bottleneck is no longer technology but rather the development of the right skills.
Consequently, BCG calls for AI-supported workforce planning that links upskilling and capability building in a continuous process.

Bain: HR as a Driver of Value Creation

Bain highlights in “AI Becomes a Modular Business Platform” and “Technology Report 2025: AI leaders are extending their Edge” that the boundaries between business strategy and HR are disappearing.
At the same time, leading companies are embedding competency models directly into their organization. They use AI to manage their workforce flexibly — data-driven, dynamic, and value-oriented.rate architecture.

New Strategic Directions: Linking Planning and Empowerment

To ensure that the right competencies are available at the right time and place, companies need new approaches.
Three strategic directions are particularly important.

Strategic Workforce Planning as “Predictive Workforce Planning”

According to Gartner HR Trends 2026 workforce planning is becoming a predictive discipline. AI-driven models help identify early where skills are emerging, changing, or declining. As a result, companies can simulate different scenarios and close skill gaps proactively.

Gartner therefore recommends a “Now-Next Strategy” to shape collaboration between humans and AI.
In this way, HR evolves from a reactive administrator to a strategic navigator.

Competence Management as the Backbone of HR Transformation

McKinsey underlines in “We’re all techies now: Digital skill building for the future” that digital skills directly drive business success.
In fact, companies that integrate learning into daily work achieve up to six times higher returns.

Moreover, BCG´s “AI at Work: Momentum Builds, but Gaps Remain” finds that over half of companies are already redesigning workflows through AI — with measurable gains in productivity and engagement.
Therefore, competence management should now be seen as the central control mechanism of transformation.

Empowering HR, Leaders, and Employees

According to Deloitte´s Work, reworked: What it takes to win in the age of Agentic AI” “Agentic AI” is fundamentally reshaping the HR function. HR teams are becoming architects of collaboration between humans and AI.
Meanwhile, leaders act as coaches who foster trust and promote a learning culture.
Employees, in turn, take ownership of their own future skills.

STRIMgroup describes this triad as “3D Competence Architecture”: HR designs, leadership enables, and employees learn  continuously (STRIMgroup, April 2025).

From Vision to Practice: Best Practices

So what does all this mean in practice?
Organizations that strategically manage competencies and embed learning intelligently are already shaping the future of work.
The following best practices illustrate how.

McKinsey: “We’re All Technologists Now” – Learning in the Flow of Work

McKinsey´s “We’re all techies now: Digital skill building for the future” study shows that companies focused on technological skill building outperform others by up to six times.

The concept of Learning in the Flow of Work integrates learning directly into daily activities.
AI-powered platforms, microlearning, and peer coaching support employees in this process.

Key takeaway: Learning embedded in daily work dynamically connects workforce planning and competence management.

BCG: “The Widening AI Value Gap” – Aligning AI and Talent Strategy

Only 5 % of companies, according to “The Widening AI Value Gap” fully realize the benefits of AI. These organizations align technology, talent architecture, and learning strategy in one ecosystem.
They define new skill profiles for human-AI collaboration, align workforce planning with value creation, and measure progress through innovation and productivity.

Key takeaway: AI delivers sustainable value only when workforce planning becomes an adaptive, learning system.

Gartner: “CHRO Priorities 2026” – HR as AI Leader

In “Top HR Trends and CHRO Priorities for 2026” Gartner explains how the CHRO role is evolving. HR is increasingly becoming the driver of AI transformation, using data to anticipate skill shifts and design new operating models.

Moreover, companies with agent-based HR models achieve up to 29 % higher productivity.
To reach this level, HR teams must build AI literacy, while leaders help establish flexible, hybrid work environments.

Key takeaway: The future of HR lies not in administration but in creating AI-intelligent organizations.

STRIMgroup: Competence Management as a Compass for the Future

In “Is AI transforming workforce planning?” STRIMgroup shows how competence management becomes a strategic steering tool. The STRIMgroup framework combines:

  • Strategic workforce planning,
  • Skills development, and
  • Organizational empowerment.

Key takeaway: Future-ready companies manage their workforce by competencies, not by job roles. This makes them more agile, resilient, and prepared for change.

Conclusion: From Planning to Empowerment

The future of work does not happen by chance.
It results from strategic planning, targeted empowerment, and competence-based leadership.
Companies that connect workforce planning, competence management, and continuous learning gain a lasting competitive edge.

STRIMgroup supports organizations on this journey. In our view, success is achieved through a data-driven, practical, and human-centered approach.