The Next Generation of Productivity and Performance

In this UNLEASH webinar watch Dan Riley, Co-Founder at RADICL speak with Yves Van Durme, Global Organization Transformation Leader at Deloitte, Ian McVey, SVP and General Manager of Applications at Visier, and Alan Susi, Global Head of Organizational Analytics & People Insights at S&P Global about how to transition to a skills-based organization using data and workforce strategizing to underpin a move towards becoming mature, agile and, ultimately, more competitive.

Webinar Highlights:

Integrating business and HR – “We understand revenues and margins are outcomes of driving a successful people-first business” – Alan Susi, Global Head of Organizational Analytics & People Insights at S&P Global.

Indeed, as Susi intimated during the webinar, one of the big challenges for HR and analytics teams will be to drive people practices to drive great business outcomes; integrating in a truly lived manner. Whilst HR has made great strides in being seen as a strategic business partner, it needs to integrate deeper and be able to tell stories with data and improve adoption rates when it comes to widespread analytics-led practices.

The good news is that it doesn’t matter where you are with developing your data and analytics practice. With analytics practices always evolving, even if you’re ‘advanced’, it means there is always a new frontier. For those further behind on their journey, it means there is always time to catch up as a result. As Dan Riley, Co-Founder at RADICL said: “There is no wrong place to be”.

Analytics and managerial effectiveness – “Every time we’re leveraging people analytics there can be a challenge with adoption…how can we build consistency and adoption and interpret in a consistent way to ultimately drive manager effectiveness.” Yves Van Durme, Global Organization Transformation Leader at Deloitte.

For analytics teams, there can be a challenge in who to give data to: do they give it straight to the people who are delivering or to leaders and coaches to drive performance? There are also decisions about whether analytics is being used to drive people impact or business impact. Either way, teams have to show value, and fast, to get continued investment: that’s regardless of whether that value is granular or towards the over-arching goals of the business.

“Do we move to always on or measure a discrete moment in time?” Ian McVey, SVP and General Manager of Applications at Visier asked. There are also questions over whether analytics delivers for managers and the business in real-time or at a delay. Real-time means agility but the delay means a sight of the long term. This is the friction that HR and analytics teams need to manage.

Targets and metrics – “We seem to have a binary of have we achieved this or haven’t we, rather than progression: have things been changing?” questions Dan Riley. The webinar panelists speak to how HR practitioners need to get better at understanding that progress is good and that data helps us see this storyline and narrative as it unfurls in real-time.

That said, metrics can be useful. Whilst blunt metrics like engagement are useful to measure performance, HR needs to start using analytics to better understand how managers manage their teams and thus deliver for the business. Do they promote L&D? Do they retain? Do they communicate and build synergy? Building an understanding of skills is good here as it can help a business understand what it wants to retain and build.

“Managers want more consistent high performance and we need to get more involved [in helping them] from HR. We’ve got better at [measuring] engagement but need to get better at performance as many metrics here are proxies for how much do I like you” states Yves Van Durme.

Integrating data and blockers to data – Integrating data into practice can be hard. There are teams to align, with differing priorities, and there is lots to measure. Alan Susi explains, “Cooperative game theory can help: We’re on the same team in the same ecosystem so if we’re not collaborating we’re not going to get the win.”

At the same time, analytics teams need to focus on building out data practices that are scalable and deliver ROI. This can then build trust over time and bring HR and analytics into the next strategic and problem-solving discussion. This can help with further investment but it means analytics has to be ruthless and sometimes go after opportunistic chances to show ROI.

And despite difficult economic headwinds and increasing regulation [GDPR, CSRD, AI regulations], analytics teams have to keep moving forward. Ian McVey notes that there are “Always microcosms [of opportunity] that can drive the business forward.”

It means innovating and building with what you have, being bold, understanding the business landscape, and keeping a good data knowledge base. In this way, as S&P’s Susi argued, practitioners should be treating “people analytics and HR as a startup.” Look for gaps in business practice and where you can add value as that’s how the function becomes a strategic leader: by finding value for stakeholders.