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The Best HR & People Analytics Articles of July 2021

David Green

There’s no doubt that in many organisations, HR has stepped up during the pandemic to play a pivotal role in such as prioritising employee wellbeing, leading discussion on return to workplace and implementing plans on future (mostly hybrid) ways of working. In our work at Insight222, we are fortunate to have seen the amazing work by people analytics teams to bring data to all of these critical conversations.

Perhaps not surprisingly this has raised the expectations on HR from business leaders – and employees. As Dave Ulrich, writes in one of the articles I’ve selected this month: “We (HR) cannot miss this opportunity for impact.” There’s a nice parallel here to research we’ve recently undertaken at Insight222, into the future skills required by HR professionals. Nine skills (see later in FIG 4) and three categories are identified for the future HR professional: data driven (encompassing analytical thinking, workforce planning and data analysis), experience led (human centred design, EX implementation and digital literacy), and business focused (organisational acumen, stakeholder management and storytelling.

We’ve also developed a new assessment so that HR professionals can answer the following question: Do you have the 9 skills for the future of HR?

I’d also like to offer a huge thank you on behalf of Jonathan Ferrar and myself to the amazing response to the publication of our book Excellence in People Analytics. We are so grateful to the many people who have sent us personal notes and those others that have posted about the book on social media – particularly on LinkedIn. It is extremely humbling, so thank you.

Let’s get on with this month’s selections. As ever, enjoy reading and if you do, please share some data driven HR love liberally with your colleagues and networks.

HYBRID WORK & RETURN TO WORKPLACE

AARON DE SMET, BONNIE DOWLING, MIHIR MYSORE & ANGELIKA REICH - It’s time for leaders to get real about hybrid 

Two illuminating reads from McKinsey on the topic on everyone’s lips: return to workplace. In this first article, the writers suggest that this is a once in a generation opportunity to: “Create a new, more effective operating model that works for companies and people navigating a world of increasing uncertainty.” Unfortunately, there is a wide (and growing) disconnect between employers, who are ready to get back to significant in-person presence, and employees, who aren’t. Cue all the endless articles about the ‘Great Resignation’. Instead, leaders should focus on deeper listening and meeting their workforces where they are today - and embrace the opportunity to experiment.

FIG 1: Source: McKinsey & Company

AARON DE SMET, MIHIR MYSORE, ANGELIKA REICH & BOB STERNFELS - Return as a muscle: How lessons from COVID-19 can shape a robust operating model for hybrid and beyond

The second McKinsey article develops the theme further by identifying what companies should do to create a robust and productive operating model for hybrid work. The research finds that: “Companies that increased performance throughout the pandemic invested more time crafting clear goals and clarifying strategy; empowered small, cross-silo teams to make decisions; spent more time on coaching and recognition; and adopted new collaboration technologies.”

FIG 2: Source: McKinsey & Company

JENNIFER J. DEAL & ALEC LEVENSON - Figuring Out Social Capital Is Critical for the Future of Hybrid Work

As Jennifer Deal and Alec Levenson write in their article, the depletion of social capital in organisations through persistent remote work as a result of the pandemic is real. Social capital networks are a significant contributor to productivity, so it is important for leaders to factor strengthening these networks into their return to workplace planning. The authors recommend a focus on three key areas: strengthening weak ties, building social capital in new teams, and onboarding employees.

Rather than returning to the status quo where teams, even ones that may not work together regularly in person, form via face-to-face kick-off events, it is arguably better to have new teams meet wholly online in the beginning

Interested in learning more about People Analytics and the HR skills of the future? Take a look at our online HR certifications on myHRfuture

HR’S ROLE AND FUTURE CAPABILITIES

DAVE ULRICH – How HR Must Rise to Today’s Opportunity

This week, Jonathan Ferrar and I had the pleasure of recording a podcast with Dave Ulrich (which will be released on 7th September). In our conversation, something Dave said really resonated. Essentially, he said that due to the pandemic much more is expected of HR (by leaders, by employees, by investors), which led to a discussion as to whether HR is positioned to deliver on these expectations. As Dave says in his article on the same topic: “We (HR) cannot miss this opportunity for impact.” Dave then offers four suggestions to help HR rise to the opportunity, reinvent HR for the future and “summon the courage and agility to implement.” A must-read.

FIG 3: Evolution of HR competencies over 35 years (Source: Dave Ulrich)

CAROLINE STYR - 9 Skills HR Professionals Need to Succeed in the Digital Age

In a survey by Capgemini of 500 global HR and People leaders, 86% said HR skillsets need to change. According to research from IBM, talent executives are rising to the challenge by planning to double their efforts in the next two years to skill their HR teams in new capabilities, such as design thinking. In this article, Caroline Styr explains why the time is now for HR functions and professionals alike to upskill. She also examines the impact of automation and augmentation on HR, as well as HR’s role in supporting digital transformation. Finally, Caroline outlines the Insight222 Nine Skills of the Future HR Professional (see FIG 4), and our short HR skills of the future assessment to understand your current skill level and areas of opportunity.


FIG 4: Insight222’s Nine Skills of the Future HR Professional (Source: myHRfuture)

BCG | JENS BAIER, JEAN-MICHEL CAYE, RAINER STRACK, PHILIPP KOLO, AMIT KUMAR, FANG RUAN, BOB MORTON, ANTHONY ARIGANELLO, JORGE JAUREGUI, LUCAS VAN WEES, TRENT BURNER & WILSON WONG - Creating People Advantage 2021: The Future of People Management Priorities – Summary | Full Report

BCG’s Creating People Advantage series of reports is always worth digging into, and the 2021 edition, which covers 6,600 participants across 113 countries is packed full of insights. The report identifies five priorities for people management leaders (and therefore the focus of HR): i) Put employees at the centre (personalised experiences and solutions), ii) Shape the future of work (“Foster affiliation by sharpening the organization’s purpose and culture to inspire employees”), iii) Accelerate in digital (“HR must step up its capabilities in digital, IT, and analytics to future-proof the organization’s workplace, improve employee experiences, and play a more strategic role”), iv) Set new paradigms for skills and employees (“This entails adequate workforce planning, sophisticated upskilling and reskilling opportunities, and a holistic talent management approach.”) and v) Transform the people management function (“HR must become the motor of a continuously changing organization that serves employees.”). As ever, there are some great visualisations to pore over too.

HR must become the motor of a continuously changing organization that serves employees

FIG 5: Segmenting HR Topics by Current Capabilities and Future Importance Identifies People Management Priorities (Source: BCG)

PEOPLE ANAYTICS

DIRK PETERSEN - Three Steps to Ethical People Analytics

Our research over the past four years at Insight222 teaches us that the most significant risk for today’s people analytics functions is not technology, a lack of available skills (to conduct analytics), or even budget. It’s the risk of abusing the foundational element of people analytics: employee data. And that risk is growing exponentially, because of the new ways in which we collect and use employee data. We believe that organisations need a governance process for their people data. In this article, my colleague, Dirk Petersen, explores what a governance process is for People Analytics, who should own it and introduces the people data governance council (see FIG 6) that is outlined in more detail by Jonathan Ferrar and me in Excellence in People Analytics.

TOM DAVENPORT & REN ZHANG - Achieving Return on AI Projects

As Tom Davenport and Ren Zhang write in their essay for MIT Sloan, the minority of companies who have achieved economic return on their AI and data science investments typically use a combination of six strategies to guide the data science team to success. While the article is about data science in general, these strategies could be equally applied to a people analytics team seeking to build analytics products and scale them across their organisation. The six strategies are: i) Focus on partnerships with ‘friendly’ business units, ii) Select projects with tangible values and a clear path to production, iii) Foster stakeholder trust and sponsorship in advance of development, iv) Build reusable products to drive scale, v) Use PoCs selectively, but create a path to implementation, and vi) Manage the project pipeline toward full implementation.

Bringing the benefits of artificial intelligence into a company requires good working relationships between the data team and the business units — and a clear focus on tangible value

SKILLS & WORKFORCE PLANNING

BRIAN FISHER, KATE BRAVERY, JEAN MARTIN, JEN SAUNDERS, KABIR NATH, MARY ANN SARDONE, ADRIENNE CERNOGOI & ELANA ABERNATHY - Gaining a skills edge through agile talent practices Summary | Full Report

A topical new paper from Mercer offering guidance on how organisations can build and accelerate their journey to a skills-led talent model. The writers believe that: “Success will depend on companies showing that skills are the dominant language of the organization (not jobs or functions) and creating a culture that supports learning.” Guidance is provided on i) the importance of skills, ii) transitioning from jobs to skills, and iii) the skills-based talent continuum (see FIG 7).

FIG 7: Skills-based Talent Continuum (Source: Mercer)

PODCASTS OF THE MONTH

This month I’ve selected seven varied but all brilliant podcasts to dive into (you can also check out the latest episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast – see ‘From My Desk’ below):

  • SEAN BROWN, SUSAN LUND & SVEN SMIT – The workforce of the future – A stimulating episode of McKinsey’s Inside the Strategy Room podcast examines how the pandemic is transforming skills requirements and how leaders can prepare for this uncertain future.

  • TSEDAL NEELEY & MARTIN REEVES - Remote Work Revolution - In a conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Harvard Business School’s Tsedal Neeley introduces a trust palette and a “trust curve” to understand which types of trust are particularly challenging in a remote setting and how they develop over time, and explains how agile teams can still thrive in a remote setting.

  • ANTOINETTE WEIBEL & TRACI RUBLE – Trust in the workplace – Antoinette Weibel, a researcher and professor at the University of St Gallen, joins Traci on the Sidewalk Talks podcast to explore trust within organisations, employee engagement and wellness, and what Antoinette hopes will shift in the future when it comes to trust in the workplace.

  • GREG URBAN & ALISON BEARD – What Anthropologists Can Teach Us About Work Culture - Greg Urban, an anthropologist from the University of Pennsylvania, joins the HBR IdeaCast on how anthropology helps us better understand, people, teams and organisations.

  • DIDIER ELZINGA & BILL KERR - People analytics: Getting from data to meaningful impact - Didier Elzinga, founder and CEO of Culture Amp (who've just announced a $100m Series F funding), joins Harvard’s Managing the Future of Work podcast to discuss employee engagement and wellbeing and the need for data-literate managers.

  • SONIA MOONEY & BILL STAIKOS - Agile & Digital Transformation in HR – Sonia Mooney joins the Be Customer Led podcast with Bill Staikos to discuss the impact of the pandemic on employee experience, the role of agile and digital transformation in HR (amongst other topics). If you enjoy the content Sonia shares on LinkedIn and Unleash, you’ll love listening to this.

  • JULIE ZIDE, BOBBY FORD & BRAD ANDERSON – Employee listening at Goldman Sachs & Hewlett Packard Enterprise – In the inaugural episode of Qualtrics’ ctrl +B podcast, Julie Zide and Bobby Ford share the approach to employee listening at Goldman Sachs and Hewlett Packard Enterprise respectively.

VIDEO OF THE MONTH

TIM PEFFERS – Strategic Workforce Planning 101

Tim Peffers’ Random Walks in HR video blog continues to hit the right notes. In this first video of a series focused on strategic workforce planning, Tim provides a definition of SWP and covers related topics such as: What is demand planning? What is scenario planning? What is the skills gap and how do we close it? As usual, Tim combines terrific insights with humour and a nice line in self-deprecation. Unmissable.

FROM MY DESK

It’s been another hectic month with a new book and several podcast episodes. If you have time to dig in, I hope you enjoy:

Until next month. Stay safe and stay well.

David

CATCH UP ON THE DIGITAL HR LEADERS PODCAST

If you haven't listened to all of the episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, you can catch up now by clicking on the links below.

EP 75: Toon van der Veer - How AB InBev uses Data, Analytics and AI in Talent Management

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a globally respected author, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As Managing Partner and Executive Director at Insight222, he has overall responsibility for the delivery of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, which supports the advancement of people analytics in over 70 global organisations. Prior to co-founding Insight222 and taking up a board advisor role at TrustSphere, David accumulated over 20 years experience in the human resources and people analytics fields, including as Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations increase value, impact and focus from the wise and ethical use of people analytics. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast and is an instructor for Insight222's myHRfuture Academy. His book, co-authored with Jonathan Ferrar, Excellence in People Analytics: How to use Workforce Data to Create Business Value will be published in the summer of 2021.