A famous quotefrom Management Consultant Peter Ducker – “ If you can’t measure it, you can’tmanage it,” applies to HR as well. Every HR function has the measurementcapability but in different capacity and purpose – from a tribal capability toan innovation leader. Likes of Google, Amazon, and Facebook – founded on dataand technology, are the innovation leaders who define the industry bytransforming the business and workforce models. These organizations havemastered the art of data-based decision-making process and operationalize tothe core of their organizational DNA.
Is HR Analytics a reality? From a surveyand experts panel discussion, SHRM in collaboration with Economist IntelligenceUnit concluded use of HR Analytics as one of the critical competitive advantagefor the organizations. In another Global CEO study by IBM, the CEOs indicatedHuman Capital as the top contributing factor for the sustainable economicvalue. To detail further, CEB has found that average improvement in crucialtalent outcomes (bench strength, employee performance, quality of hire, andemployee engagement) by leading analytics organizations are 12% higher thanaverage organizations. It is evident from the above that data-based peoplerelated decisions have direct impact on the business outcomes, irrespective ofthe size, industry, and vision of the organization. So, are there silverbullets to democratize the journey with a motto to build insight-based peopledecision making as organization DNA? Point of Entry: Establishthe purpose – solve what – operational or strategic problems, and for HR orbusiness. While the focus areas may vary for the different organizations, thehot-spot that gets c-suite interested, is the one that drives strategic agendaand measurable business outcome. Finding the right business led hypothesis isthe most critical steps in kick-starting the journey as this will form theproblem statement for the proof of concept.
Define the people (skills, knowledge, and behavior), process (to collect data, define metrics, use a template, and tocommunicate intermediate progress & final top 2-3 strategic insights andrecommendations), and technology to deliver the promise, basis establishedhypothesis. The successful delivery ofthis one-off the project will help demonstrate the power of Analytics onpeople-related business outcome. Investment for Build: Usethe learning and success gained from the point-of-entry project to define thelong-term roadmap and business case for funding. A roadmap to move from tribalcapability to becoming an innovation leader in the market. Each capabilitylevel can be visualized as “ S-curve”, and the roadmap will have multiples-curves sitting on top of another one (refer picture below). One of the risk, most of theorganizations run into of not articulating the matured state and sharingprogress update when pivoting from one level to the next. The organization’sability to identify required people, process, and technology requirement forthe future state is critical for the success. One of the ways to achieve thisright and fast, is to collaborate with HR Analytics consulting organizations toinfuse industry knowledge and skills.
Education for Sustainability: Successful delivery of the proof of concepts and securinginvestments and sponsorship from the c-suite is half battle won. The remainingis all about embedding the Analytics capability into day-to-day process to makeit organizational DNA. The objective should be beyond training users on data orsystems and focus on the importance of setting a strategy to drive culturalshift on how the workforce insights should be consumed. Democratize theknowledge on where to find insights into their problems, how to use self-servetechnologies to draw insights, how to comprehend the insights and convert intorecommendations. The end gameshould be an enterprise analytics capability, where the piece parts (HR, finance, risk, IT, and CRE data) combine to solve problems.
No doubt this may requiremore effort at first, more sponsorship from the senior ranks, and buy-in frommore people. But enterprise-scale results—in revenue growth, profitability, return on capital, customer loyalty, or other measures of value— make an effortworthwhile.