Imagine all the time and energy it takes to gather HR data. There is the determination to solve the problem, data collection, and ensuring the data quality. There are surveys to be distributed and collected. And there is the analysing of the data to decide whether a hypothesis is correct. Now imagine that despite your HR department doing all this, nothing happens as a result.

Not only is this quite disheartening, but it appears as a wasted effort of the human resources management as a whole-especially for most CHROs, HRBPs, and all other HR practitioners who want to improve employee experience and help the company grow. One reason this might be happening your storytelling capabilities need improvement. Luckily, HR storytelling is a skill like any other that you can improve and can make tangible impacts on your business.

What is Storytelling with Data?

Numbers for many people are just that, numbers on a page. They don't mean much in the beginning. Yet, according to David Green, Executive Director of Insight222, host of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, author and speaker on HR and people analytics, data storytelling in HR is:

"…turning that complex math into a compelling story that's going to resonate with whichever audience you're delivering it to and the impact that it has on the objective."

The basic element of data storytelling via HR analytics include:

• The content of the story is derived from data and data analysis

• It explains the data to promote change and make the stakeholders excited about the transition to the point they take action.

• Follows the fundamentals of traditional storytelling by first starting with a problem and working towards the resolution with a narrative flow to keep attention.

What Are the Benefits of Improved Storytelling With HR Data?

From our Insight222 People Analytics Trends report of 2022, we have found that leading companies are investing more in a data-driven culture. They are discovering that people analytics offers real-world solutions to several of the challenges companies are facing, including DE&I, attrition, and privacy risks, to name a few.

Data storytelling is important for several reasons. When HR practitioners add storytelling to their skills base, it allows for increased communication of the insights, thus, better data visualisation and findings derived from data analysis to their audience. By crafting a compelling narrative and visualising the data that resonates with the audience, HR professionals can ensure that their message is consumed and leads to actionable insights. 

This is also crucial in decision-making, strategy development, and overall performance measurement of people-related initiatives. Additionally, data storytelling can help HR professionals better understand their stakeholders' motivations and concerns and frame their communication in a way that addresses those concerns and overall HR strategy, leading to greater buy-in and support for their initiatives. 

Interested in learning more about Using Data Storytelling for People Analytics? Take a look at our online People Analytics training courses on myHRfuture

What You Should Learn to Create Compelling Data Stories to Drive Actionable Outcomes

There are several key elements to focus on to drive actionable outcomes. First, you want to communicate effectively with your audience. Nothing will lose your authority quicker than wasting time. Get to the point in a reasonable amount of time. Keep your session short. And know when to and when not to explain concepts. 

The most common mistake to avoid when communicating with data is overcomplicating things. Too often, an HR professional will try to share data in a novel way and lose focus on what the message is—keeping a clear message guarantees that the audience will understand what you are trying to convey to them.

Remember that what makes data storytelling effective is when tension is created. Finding the pressure and guiding the audience through the rising tension, through the narrative arc, and then ultimately to the resolution sustains the audience's attention and leads them to move toward the desired action. 

Expert Tips on Data Story Telling

Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic joined David Green on the Digital HR Leaders to discuss the importance of data storytelling in People Analytics. Cole honed her skills in Google's fabled people analytics team and now helps people and organisations become better at storytelling with data, making sense of data, and weaving them into compelling stories that drive action. You can listen to the full episode here.

1. Be Specific with your Audience

The first tip Cole shares is to be specific with your audience and ensure that all of the content you create is designed with your audience in mind. Cole explains that in many situations, stories are designed for us by us rather than designing them with our stakeholders in mind.

“I think too often we design a communication, write a PowerPoint deck for ourselves, for our data, for our project, it is really easy to do.

It is actually a much harder but more effective thing to step out of ourselves and think about how we design this first and foremost for our audience?”

When designing for our audience it’s important to consider the following questions 

• Who are they?

• What do they care about?

• What keeps them up at night?

If we can frame what we need our audience to know or to do in terms of those motivating factors, then we have a greater opportunity to attract their attention and ensure that our message is consumed and leads to actionable insight.

2. Use Colour Sparingly

The second tip is to think about where you want your audience to focus their attention and create space and contrast within your graphs and data to achieve that. In many situations you may be answering the right business problem, conducting great analysis and generating insightful recommendations, however when it comes to actually ensuring action is taken the message often gets lost in myriad of different graphs and charts. As analysts it is often easy to lose sight of this because of how close you are to the data. When creating graphs or the presentations to communicate your analysis, you are fully aware of what that data or presentation is trying to communicate and how it adds to the story you’re trying to tell, However it is not always so obvious to the individual consuming the information.

Cole suggests a variety of methods that can be implemented to ensure that you are drawing the recipient’s attention to the right focus areas. These methods include:

• Using colour sparingly to direct the audience’s attention

She explains that “If we think about not designing anything to be colourful but rather working in greyscale and then using colour really intentionally as a cue to our audience, it tells them where they are meant to look. That can be really effective for quickly getting our audience to the point that we are trying to make.”

• Put words around your data not only to make it clear what your audience is looking at but to clarify what you want them to take away from the data.

• Finally, put the key takeaway into words – verbalise the one key piece of information you want your stakeholder to remember.

3. Use Words

The third and final tip is to use words. It is quite common when people think about data visualisation, to focus on the need for displaying numbers and graphs with the notion that words add no real impact. When in reality they have an incredibly important role in making these numbers and graphs consumable for our audience. Often the stakeholders that we’re presenting this data to are not always data savvy and it can be difficult to consume the information being presented. Using words to communicate the key takeaway instantly makes your data more consumable. 

Cole explains “sometimes when people think of data visualisation, they think it should all be numbers and pictures and that words have no place, but words play a very important role in making those numbers and pictures understandable for our audience. So that means we need to ensure every axis has a title. If there is a key takeaway, which if you are at the point of explaining something there should be, put that down in words.”

Understanding the principles of data storytelling is key to ensuring that any analysis or insights you generate are communicated effectively to your audience or stakeholders, so that they understand your recommendations and take action. In this extract Cole outlines three important tips to really help you create compelling stories that drive actionable outcomes.

How You Can Improve Your Skills in Storytelling With Data

We found that for HR professionals to have the most significant impact on their company, nine skills set them up for success. Among those nine is data storytelling. But it is one thing to know the importance of the skill and quite another to grasp and master that skill. You can take several paths to become a better storyteller of data.

Do Your Research

There is a lot of information to be found on the subject. Be sure to find experts and influencers in the field and follow them on social media, listen to podcasts that address similar human resource management issues, read content, and, when possible, purchase books that can give you tips and tricks, like this post.

Sign Up for Courses and Learning Programs

Many courses and learning programs can help you gain more knowledge on how to use storytelling in people analytics. But not every program is the same. Find ones that best suit your needs, such as offering flexibility, providing instant feedback, building support groups, and giving hands-on experience.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Though there has been a lot of debate about whether 1,000 hours are needed to master a skill, everyone agrees that the more you use a skill, the better you will get at it. Find a supportive group that will listen to you as you practice your storytelling skills and provide useful feedback.

Self-evaluate and Make Improvements

a data-driven HR mentality centres around re-approaching a subject after a time and seeing if it is working. The same goes for data storytelling. Once you start your journey with improving your data storytelling skills, you want to determine your progress and where you may need more literature to consume, more coursework to explore, and more experience to get under your belt.

Where Can I Go to Improve My Skills in Data Storytelling?

Putting time into learning how to become a compelling data storyteller will not only help your business take action when needed but will also help you build your confidence in delivering real value to your organisation. If you are uncertain where to begin, myHRfuture Academy offers training to give you the tools you need to succeed as a master HR data storyteller. We offer courses on storytelling with data in HR, how to use storytelling for people analytics, and more.

Data storytelling is a crucial skill for HR professionals as it helps turn complex data into a compelling story that resonates with the audience, leading to actionable insights, better decision-making, and improved performance of people-related initiatives. Improving your skills in HR storytelling requires research, enrolling in courses and learning programs, and keeping in mind key elements like communicating effectively, being specific to your audience, using colour strategically, and using words correctly.

Discover the power of Data Storytelling with our myHRfuture course?

Our myHRfuture Academy course “Storytelling with Data in HR”, is a must for HR professionals who want to become experts in communicating their insights and analysis. Taught by Kerry Hart, this training course offers a four-step framework to help you turn your data into compelling stories that inspire change and action.

By the end of the course, you will understand what storytelling is, the narrative arc, why storytelling is crucial for communicating data, and four storytelling techniques to bring your data to life. Don't waste time dedicating months to collecting and analyzing information with no return, take this course and learn how to effectively communicate your findings in a way that truly resonates with your stakeholders. Be sure to check out myHRfuture Academy for more courses on People Analytics, Data-Driven HR, Workforce Planning, and more!