Leveraging Human Insight Data for Business Success

In today's rapidly evolving corporate landscape, successful companies are harnessing the power of human insight data to drive transformative results.

This cutting-edge approach allows organisations to not only measure performance and productivity but also gain a deeper understanding of employee engagement and facilitate behaviour change that directly impacts business outcomes.?

Let's explore the world of human insights data and its significant benefits.

Understanding Human Insight Data

Modern businesses are increasingly utilising advanced data gathering techniques and analytics to establish clear links between their actions and overall business performance. The valuable data collected through these methods is what we call "human insight data."?

When used effectively, this data empowers organisations to make more informed, strategic decisions, leading to culture shifts and improved performance management, all of which contribute to growth and better business results.

The Advantages of Human Insight Data

By harnessing human insights data, you can ensure the success of various change initiatives, regardless of their nature—whether it's talent and workforce development, diversity and inclusion, performance management, or cultural transformations.?

As the business environment continually evolves, future proofing your workforce becomes essential and factors such as remote work, diversity, storytelling, and artificial intelligence are reshaping the way we work. Human insights data can help your organisation stay ahead in these dynamic areas.

Let's look at some of the opportunities:

1. Building an Engaged and Capable Workforce

In an ever-evolving landscape, where shareholders demand faster returns and teams are consistently expected to deliver more, at higher quality, and do so with fewer resources, the challenges are compounded by unprecedented levels of wellbeing concerns. It becomes imperative for companies to prioritise continuous workforce development.

However, the nature of capability building is undergoing a profound transformation. It's not just about what employees know; it's about reshaping how work is done.

The key to future-proofing your workforce and determining the most effective approach to building the right capabilities lies in the execution of a well-defined human insight data strategy. This strategy not only ensures that your employees have the knowledge and skills they need but also enables you to understand how work is performed, providing invaluable insights into optimising the entire organisation.

2. Adapting to New Work Environments:?

Human insight data plays a pivotal role in managing productivity and performance, particularly in the context of remote, in-house, or hybrid work environments. By providing high-quality data organisations can make informed decisions about their future workplace strategies, be it a return to the office, a fully remote setup, or a hybrid model.

3. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI):

The growing emphasis on DEI initiatives is backed by data that highlights the productivity benefits of diverse teams. After defining diversity and how it supports performance in the company human insights data can help uncover instances of unconscious bias, identify workplace inequalities, and assess the effectiveness of DEI training. Additionally, it aids in fostering a sense of belonging, a key driver of engagement and well-being, by leveraging real-world data to encourage the right behaviours.

4. Building Data-Driven Stories:?

To gain the attention of leaders, employees, customers and consumers, it's crucial to humanise data and craft compelling narratives. These narratives should be directed at those you seek to influence, adding context to the data and helping stakeholders understand its significance. Humanising data through storytelling ensures that people not only comprehend its importance but also act upon it.

5. The Role of Artificial Intelligence:?

AI is becoming increasingly pervasive in business operations. Collecting human insights data now positions companies to leverage this data for machine learning and other AI-driven initiatives in the future. Even if an organisation isn't ready to fully embrace AI, focusing on human insights data today ensures readiness for tomorrow while driving behavioural changes that enhance performance and foster business growth.

Three Key Considerations

To effectively utilise human insight data, organisations should be mindful of three important factors:

Craft an Overall Data Strategy: Rather than sporadically conducting surveys, develop a comprehensive data strategy. This holistic approach prevents missed opportunities and ensures data collection not only aligns but also drives organisational goals and long term strategy.

Ask the Right Questions: Ensure survey questions are clear, concise, and relevant to the audience. Avoid combining multiple questions or making assumptions about respondents' knowledge or expectations.

Target the Right People: Focus on surveying individuals who can provide the specific information you seek. It's crucial to have a clear understanding of what you want to learn and what you want to ask before selecting participants.

Let's illustrate this point with a practical example:

Imagine a company with a sizable workforce of 25,000 employees. In an effort to gauge the level of engagement and connection employees feel toward their work, teams, and the organisation as a whole, they conducted an extensive engagement survey. One of the questions posed to employees was:

“Do you feel that you are in control of your career path and that you are progressing in both your personal and professional development at this company?”

Upon closer examination, this seemingly straightforward question actually contains three distinct inquiries. This multiplicity of questions within a single query could lead respondents to answer only one aspect of it or provide an average response, potentially resulting in data inaccuracies.

Moreover, the survey was distributed to the entire workforce, a decision that may not align with the variety of employee aspirations and experiences. Firstly, not everyone in the organisation may be pursuing career progression as their primary goal.?

Secondly, employees who are relatively new to the company might not have had the opportunity to grasp how to take control of their career development or navigate personal and professional growth within the organisation. These factors can introduce inaccuracies into the responses and, consequently, steer the organisation toward change initiatives that may not address its most pressing needs.

This example underscores the importance of crafting clear, targeted survey questions and distributing them strategically among relevant groups within the organisation. Such precision not only ensures the accuracy of the data collected but also empowers the organisation to embark on meaningful and impactful change initiatives that align with the diverse aspirations and experiences of its workforce.

Designing a Human Insight Led Change Program

If you're inspired to enhance performance and drive business results using human insights data, follow these steps:

Define Your Goals: Start by clearly defining what you want to achieve and what a successful outcome looks like, whether it's developing your workforce, implementing DEI initiatives, or creating a productive hybrid work environment. Success begins with a well-defined objective that can be measured. The human insight data in this phase is collected through qualitative interviews.

Diagnose Organisational Readiness: Gauge the readiness of your organisation, including board members, the C-suite, leaders, other functions, and the workforce. Understanding their attitudes toward the change is crucial for designing an effective program that builds collective commitment for the initiative. A well-set up and executed Readiness Assessment will provide the essential human insight data you require.

Engage Your organisation: The success of the initiative depends on everyone in the organisation understanding why it's important, both for their own benefit and for the overall success of the business. Utilise data from your readiness assessment to create a compelling narrative that helps people understand and embrace the need for change.

Equip Your People: Employ lean and agile design principles based on data to identify and address obstacles. The targeted skills building need to seamlessly integrate and support the daily operations.

Embed Change: It's crucial to maintain a consistent and visible effort shared among peers and to stakeholders in order to successfully embed the change.

Progress should be measured, evaluated, and acknowledged by leaders across the organisation, as what is valued is what gets done. Achieving collective commitment and facilitating rapid iterations are key to effectively instilling behavioral change. Additionally, make sure to leverage your human insights data strategy not only for measuring progress but also to reinforce and encourage further action.

Conclusion

Harnessing human insight data is more than just a modern trend; it's a strategic approach that can revolutionise your organisation's performance and drive sustainable business results. By understanding the nuances of this approach and incorporating it into your corporate culture, you can lead your organisation toward a brighter future.

Get in touch to learn how we can help you build a Human Insight Data Strategy for your company, email us on [email protected] with the subject line: Info HIDS (for faster response).