Learn Vishwanathan Anand’s Four Moves for Unfailing HR Planning

At HROne PROPEL-Bangalore Chapter, everyone listened to the living chess legend, Vishwanathan Anand. Yes, the five-time World Chess Champion had some unique insights to share with the audience. And in case, if you weren’t a part of the HROne’s flagship HR event, you have landed on the perfect page.

This blog essentially summarizes what Vishwanathan Anand has learned in his 30+ year long career long journey and how HR professionals can use those insights to create an HR strategic plan.

So, are you ready to learn from the Grandmaster’s wisdom?

Let’s take a dive.

Table of contents:

• Don’t Expect Growth in Linear Fashion in Strategic HR Management
• Just Take a Break During the HR Planning Process
• Learn from Different People in Your Team for Effective HR Planning
• Be Consistent in Your HR Planning Process Even If It Gets Challenging
• Key Takeaways for Your Next HR Planning

Don’t Expect Growth in Linear Fashion in Strategic HR Management

Yes, strategic HR management doesn’t happen in a straight line. Sometimes there is continuous progress like innovative wins, high performance, and at other times, there will be back-to-back failures like mass resignations or disengaged employees. But that should not dim your light. It just indicates things are working in the backend and need a little time to show results.

The question is how do you beat this mindset? And the answer is to deliberately create a routine that looks beyond instant results.

• Set quarterly outcomes, not weekly perfection.
• Review strategy every 60–90 days. Re-align with business shifts.
• Strengthen processes that stack value like manager capability, DEI, or succession.
• Look at 6–12-month patterns, not one-month dips.

Just Take a Break During the HR Planning Process

HR planning can be overwhelming because you are the one who must juggle between multiple departments and keep things flowing. From finance data to workforce information, you are never resting. And rarely even on weekends!

This often leads to burnout, outdated perspectives, and lowered productivity, eventually impacting your HR planning negatively.

So, what do you do when you are simply addicted to work and taking no days off? You follow these 5 actionable lifestyle changes:

• Take a 10-minute reset every 90 minutes step away from screens and people.
• Block “thinking time” in your calendar for strategic work without interruptions.
• Pause decisions when mentally drained. Revisit them with a fresh mind.
• Use micro-breaks to review assumptions and catch gaps in your HR plan.

• Start journaling and clarity check every evening. Ask, ‘What the day was like?’

Learn from Different People in Your Team for Effective HR Planning

This is true! When you start including more people with diverse backgrounds in your HR planning, you’ll realize it comes out as effective.

For example, using employee surveys to know how the culture is like or checking up with the finance teams for unnecessary expenses will help you add other people’s perspectives in your HR planning, making it not to miss any aspect of business function.

If you are wondering how to do that, here’s your action plan:

• Run micro-listening sessions with recruiters, managers, and employees.
• Collect role-specific insights—hiring challenges, skill issues, culture blockers.
• Map recurring themes to find workforce risks and strengths.
• Use these insights to refine forecasts and capability-building plans.
• Invite 2–3 team members to plan reviews for real-world grounding.

Be Consistent in Your HR Planning Process Even If It Gets Challenging

Consistency is the key, especially when the talks are about Human Resources. Yes, you need to be consistent with your actions, policy changes, HR initiatives, and culture rituals even if they don’t seem to work currently. Because HR is not about overnight results but small disciplined steps toward real success like employee loyalty, stable revenue & profits, acquiring more market share, or becoming a brand.

And if in case you wish to have a cheat sheet to stay consistent, here’s it is:

• Set 3 weekly non-negotiables (reviews, follow-ups, planning).
• Break big goals into tiny monthly tasks.
• Maintain a simple progress tracker you update daily/weekly.
• Block 1 hour weekly for deep strategic work.
• Review wins & gaps every Friday to reset your plan.

Key Takeaways for Your Next HR Planning