Show Me the Data! How HR Can Use Data to Drive Results

The recent Harvard Business Review magazine articles that recently captured our attention with the theme of “blowing up HR” really got me thinking about the tremendous value of analytics and how underrated and under-utilized data often is in the world of Human Resources. The article states that HR ”... should also bring first-rate analytic minds into the function to help companies make sense of all their employee data and get the most from their human capital.” In a world where HR is often seen as the department that emphasizes "soft skills", analytical skills are an invaluable skill set that can balance the qualitative and quantitative aspects of Human Resources, drive better decision making and ultimately, deliver more business-aligned results.

Peter Drucker said, “What gets measured gets managed.” I truly believe that the HR profession needs to better leverage and optimize the tools and resources that exist. In particular, Talent Management is where analytics can play a much more strategic role. There is a domino effect felt inside of many companies, where managers are unable to identify systemic reasons for talent readiness, mobility, retention and attrition issues and so, no long-term, proactive solutions evolve and the issues are perpetuated.

In general, managers don’t see trends at an aggregate level like Human Resources can and so the HR function must assume accountability and continue to be a powerful partner in data utilization and synthesis. We must demonstrate the business value of processes and programs through the use of analytics and help move line managers forward on execution. Two areas within Talent which contain data easier to capture are pipelining and mobility:

Talent Pipelining – Why are only 1/3 of today’s hires internal, as the HBR article suggests? Every year, HR leads the charge in the succession planning endeavor and the list of high potentials and promotables is front and center. The data clearly indicates WHO should be the focus of development and investment and WHAT those areas are. So, with this level of clarity, why are the same functional areas lacking benchstrength year after year? It’s time to let the analytics do the talking, enabling HR to innovate and partner with managers to act on the talent needs as established by the data. Taking incremental steps to actively establish internal pipelines is critical and it simply requires time and focus. A company that establishes a strong culture of opportunity with internal talent inevitably creates higher engagement and a stronger employer brand in the marketplace.

Talent Mobility – What’s the ROI of the Learning and Development programs your company runs? How do they align with the key competencies needed within your business? Do they effectively ready the talent for key positions and strengthen the internal pipeline? Have employees and managers who have completed various programs moved internally to new roles as a result of skill or technical knowledge development? The data is ripe for the taking—Learning Management Systems capture this data as do HRIS systems. Pull it all together and determine the story you will tell.

I think that Carly Fiorina, Former CEO of HP said it best. “The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight.” Data can tell a powerful story, data is money and data has the potential to drive execution and business results. Let’s use it to our advantage! The opportunity for the Human Resources function to quantify our impacts on business outcomes is a game-changer at a time where many are observing that HR needs to re-envision itself.