How to Prioritise your People Analytics Projects
Figuring out how to prioritise projects is a crucial step towards successful people analytics. A common concern from people analytics professionals is, how can I possibly manage the concerns of - and bombardment of requests from - multiple business stakeholders?
As Sophie Rwegera Khadhraoui, a guest on the Digital HR Leaders podcast put it,
“We were a small team and the team is expanding, but when you are a small team it is not always easy because you need to prioritise and especially when it comes to People Analytics, every analysis, every project research takes a lot of time. So, prioritisation is really important, and I am sure that we may have missed some opportunities like other People Analytics functions across the globe [by not prioritising effectively].”
There are typically two stages of prioritisation:
When a people analytics function is being established – how do I know which projects to start with to drive the most impact and ensure continued investment in my people analytics function?
When the people analytics function is scaling – how do I ensure that every project I do drives the most business impact for the most stakeholders across the business, as opposed to offering “white-glove” treatment for a handful of – often very senior – stakeholders?
People Analytics leaders have a hard time figuring out what work to prioritise at both of these stages. In this article we will explore how to prioritise projects effectively, using insights from the Power of People, written by Jonathan Ferrar, Nigel Guenole and Sheri Feinzig:
People analytics should consider the priority of each request by looking at business impact and complexity. This requires a robust understanding of business priorities, looking beyond individual’s subjective opinions or topics ‘du jour’.
We can consider the relationship between business impact and complexity in the following way:
Project complexity refers to the scope of the challenge you face in delivering a project. To understand whether a project is low or high complexity, consider the following elements:
Politics – where do you have backing for your ideas? The less consensus you have, the more challenging the project will be.
Skills – are the people resources you have sufficient for the work you want to carry out?
Data – how difficult is it to access the data, or how complex is the data you need for this project?
Technology – how well equipped is your team to meet the demands of the project?
Implementation – how much change management will be required to turn insights into action?
Impact is the level of benefit the business receives from undertaking the analytics and implementing the follow-up recommendations. To understand whether a project is low or high impact, consider the following elements:
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Return on investment (ROI) – is the expected cost of the project less than the expected return to the business?
Timing – will the impact be short-term or long-term?
Opportunity cost – how does this project fit in to other people analytics projects and other business projects being carried out?
When a people analytics function is first being established, it is crucial to focus on quick wins to prove the impact of the function. As the team becomes more advanced and the value is understood, the focus should be on quick wins and big bets. Let’s take a look at the four types of projects shown above in a bit more detail:
Trivial endeavour – sometimes these projects come up because people want to work on something they love, or they are easy. But often these things don’t deliver much value. We recommend avoiding these.
Pet project – these are projects that contain work that analysts, executives or I/O psychologists really want to do, but in reality, they don’t have far-reaching impact. Sometimes they can help people learn new skills, but really, it’s just absorbing time and resources that don’t deliver much business impact.
Quick win – these are projects that are low complexity but high impact. The data is readily accessible, the methodology is relatively easy, and they will deliver value. This is a great place to start out and prove the value of the people analytics function up front.
Big bet – these projects often take a long time and have lots of complex aspects but because they’ve got such a good return on investment, or other value-generating aspect, they can be very important projects for businesses to focus on. When the people analytics team is up and running and has already proven its value with some quick wins, this – along with ongoing quick wins - should be the main focus when scaling the people analytics function.
Prioritisation comes under the umbrella of governance in people analytics. We explore the governance team, their roles and responsibilities and how they fit into the broader people analytics operating model, in our report, ‘Delivering Value at Scale: A New Operating Model for People Analytics’
There are six types of governance for people analytics:
The Board of People Analytics
The Ethics Council
Data Stewardship
Financial Council / Business Value Council
Prioritisation of Projects
Operating Model
As you can see, the fifth type of governance is around the ‘Prioritisation of Projects’. Part of this approach to handling prioritisation is to establish a Prioritisation Council with diverse representatives from the business and HR to ensure work deliver business value.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caroline Styr is the Research Director at Insight222. She is a thought-leader, researcher and writer on people analytics and the future of HR. Prior to joining Insight222, she worked at the Center for the Future of Work where she was an advisor and in-demand speaker on topics related to the future of work. She has also held roles in digital services and transformation consulting at Cognizant. Contact Caroline at caroline.styr@insight222.com