How is the Role of the People Analytics Leader Evolving?
People analytics is buoyant. And it has become more important than ever over the last 18 months as a result of the pandemic. Between 2019 and 2021 as David Green and I undertook the research for our recent book, Excellence in People Analytics, we noticed a demonstrable change in the demand for and value delivered by people analytics as a result of the pandemic.
And now, new research we have conducted in the summer of 2021 confirms this. In one part of our soon to be published Insight222 People Analytics Research 2021, 35% of people analytics leaders have changed roles in the last 12 months.
It feels like almost every day -- and certainly every week -- that I read about a people analytics leader changing positions. I am often contacted by chief human resources officers asking for help in recruiting their next people analytics leader. Or executive search firms for assistance in defining the key criteria for these roles -- and asking "who are the best" in this field.
During my summer break, all this got me thinking. With people analytics leaders being highly sought after, what is it that they should do to meet the huge expectation in their first 100 days?
There is a lot that has been written about what people analytics leaders can do, including a paper I co-authored back in 2015 published by IBM Smarter Workforce Institute: Starting the workforce analytics journey: The first 100 days.
However, based on more recent research conducted for Excellence in People Analytics, I believe the first 100 days for a new people analytics leader has become much simpler. It is all about adopting a "Business-First" approach to:
Connect with stakeholders
Define the ambition
Prioritise 'Quick Wins' and 'Big Bets'
1. Connect with stakeholders
Successful leaders have a clear philosophy for their business. And it is no different for top people analytics leaders. I recommend that this philosophy should reflect the following principle: Start with the business problem - understand your business, find out what the most important people topics are that will 'change the needle' of the business.
Additionally focus on generating insights that will spark action. As Piyush Mathur, Global Head, Enterprise Functions Talent Management and Insights at Johnson & Johnson, perfectly captures in a Digital HR Leaders podcast: "Insight without outcome is simply overhead." Realising measurable outcomes from people analytics avoids accusations of ‘analytics for the sake of analytics’, creates value for organisations and their workforces, demonstrates why analytics matter, and builds the case for increased investment.
"Insight without outcome is simply overhead."
Piyush Mathur met with over 60 business and HR leaders within 90 days of starting as Global Head of Workforce Analytics at Johnson & Johnson. In a case study in Excellence in People Analytics, Piyush explains:
"The best way to understand how you can unlock value for the [people analytics] function is to go and meet the business leaders and HR leaders." He expands: "I was fortunate enough to meet our CEO and some of his direct reports and really tried to understand where it was that we could add value as a function."
"The best way to understand how you can unlock value for the people analytics function is to go and meet the business leaders and HR leaders."
Another case study in the book that demonstrates the value of stakeholder engagement is at Syngenta where Madhura Chakrabarti, who joined as Global Head of People Analytics in 2018, prioritised meeting with stakeholders from across the business in her first 100 days. Madhura used conversations with business and HR stakeholders to develop the people analytics roadmap. Her work meant that the roadmap focused on the business agenda. When Madhura presented it to the HR leadership team, the executives agreed with the ideas and topics presented and immediately bought into the strategy and priority topics. It meant that her agenda was informed by 'the business' and supported by HR. See Excellence in People Analytics for the full case study.
So -- to be able to start with the business problem and generate insights that will spark action, it is effectively engage stakeholders. In short:
Engage with a range of business executives across your organisation
Understand their business gaols, aspirations and challenges
Learn about their priorities
Discuss how people analytics can help them achieve their goals
2. Define the ambition
A second step to adopting a "Business-First" approach for people analytics is to define the ambition of the function based on those stakeholder insights.
Defining the team's ambition is an essential step for a leader looking to determine the level of desire in their new company. The ambition should be distilled from conversations about ‘desire’ with stakeholders, including the chief human resources officer, HR leaders and key people within the people analytics team.
Suku Mariappan, now Head of People Analytics at Ally, but at his previous company Trimble Inc. as Head of People Analytics amongst other responsibilities, recommends cementing the ambition of people analytics with a clear brand and mission. Since its establishment in 2016, people analytics at Trimble Inc. has developed into a strong internal HR brand. "First and foremost, we developed a brand based on credible analysis."
"First and foremost, we developed a brand based on credible analysis."
The credibility of the function led to it developing its own logo. This logo is used as a quality mark denoting work has been reviewed and validated by Trimble People Analytics, irrespective of whether the work originated from that team or not. The brand has enabled stakeholders to attach meaning to their understanding of the people analytics function and enabled the team to build credibility, recognition and momentum.
In summary the recommendations for defining the ambition include:
Understand the ambition that the people analytics team has, as individuals and collectively
Listen to the 'desire for greatness' from business leaders - how bold do they want to be with analytics?
Set a clear goal and mission to achieve the ambition
Create a brand for the function
3. Prioritise 'Quick Wins' and 'Big Bets'
Meeting with so many stakeholders around the business may lead to a portfolio of numerous projects and a continual flood of new requests. People analytics leaders, therefore, need to be skilful at prioritising the options to be able to manage expectations and - more importantly - to be able to deliver value. One approach to project prioritisation is the Complexity-Impact Model, first discussed in the first book I co-authored with Nigel Guenole and Sheri Feinzig, The Power of People.
In the first 100 days in a new role, leaders should focus on identifying projects that will deliver high impact and can ideally be realised quickly. These types of projects are noted as ‘Quick Wins’, which are low in complexity and involve readily accessible data and relatively simple methodology. ‘Big Bets’, which are more complex, typically lengthy, and deliver very significant value to the business, are also useful to highlight. These will take more time - often months or years - so it is important to manage expectations and get some 'creds' under the belt with Quick Wins first.
When Cory Ingram, People Analytics Leader at American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO), started in his role in 2018, he quickly recruited support from an analyst to focus solely on Quick Wins and ad hoc requests to build credibility incrementally. The momentum and buy-in the team garnered has since allowed Cory to look for opportunities to add more significant value - the 'Big Bets'.
Specifically, Cory used the momentum of the Quick Wins to develop a manifesto for people analytics, educating stakeholders across the company on how people analytics worked and what the team could do to solve business problems. With these foundations in place, and end-users aware of how people analytics supports work and employees, the team was able to respond to a major business initiative and pillar – inclusivity and diversity in the workplace – with relevant leadership insights and recommendations that were presented to the executive leadership team (ELT) on multiple occasions, such was the interest.
As Cory puts it, ‘When I joined AEO in 2018, “People Analytics” was seen as just a data and reporting function. I am delighted that the foundational elements, the Manifesto, the skilled team, and the insights and recommendations delivered are having an impact across AEO. The people analytics function is now embedded in the business and has an incredibly bright future.’
Therefore, in summary when starting out as a new people analytics leader look to prioritise 'Quick Wins' and 'Big Bets':
Build a project prioritisation model that is dynamic and flexible
Define transparent criteria for project prioritisation that allow executives to know why certain projects are selected
Engage HR leaders in the discussions about priorities, using this criteria, data-based approach.
Look to prioritise Quick Wins and Big Bets -- and then start with the Quick Wins.
Summary
To leaders entering new people analytics roles -- and if the findings from our research at Insight222 are accurate, there will be a lot of new people analytics leaders -- we recommend adopting a “Business-First” approach.
This presents an ‘outside-in’ opportunity to the first 100 days as opposed to the ‘inside-out’ way we have witnessed in many organisations where the initial focus is the people analytics team itself, the data, the technology and what the HR function thinks it wants from people analytics.
If the new leader takes this ‘inside-out’ approach, the experience that David Green and myself have seen is that the team ultimately is not successful in delivering value to the business. Instead the people analytics leader settles for mediocrity, becoming frustrated with the lack of investment and working on tactical initiatives for executives who don’t fully appreciate the value that people analytics can deliver.
Instead, our ‘outside-in’ approach means the people analytics leader engages with a range of business executives and other stakeholders very early in their tenure. They create a compelling ambition for people analytics by listening to what those stakeholders' needs are. And finally, they use an evidence-based model to prioritise 'Quick Win' opportunities and longer-term 'Big-Bet' projects that will turn insights into action.
Together, these three activities set the new people analytics leader up well for success. And they give focus to the chief human resources officer who wants to “move up a gear” with people analytics to deliver some serious value!
Note & References
It was Franklin D. Roosevelt who coined the term ‘first 100 days’ during a July 24, 1933, radio address. In his first 100 days as a newly appointed leader, he thoroughly researched stakeholder interests in the White House and worldwide, and enacted thirteen major laws. The first 100 days of a presidential term have since taken on symbolic significance as a benchmark to measure a leader's early success.
Digital HR Leaders (2020) How J&J uses people analytics to drive business outcomes, with Piyush Mathur [Podcast] myHRfuture, 10 March. Available from: https://www.myhrfuture.com/digital-hr-leaders-podcast/2020/3/10/ how-johnson-and-johnson-uses-people-analytics-to-drive-business-outcomes (archived at https://perma.cc/F2WZ-T9GC)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jonathan Ferrar is CEO of Insight222, and a Board Member of the CIPD and TrustSphere. In addition to being a co-author Excellence in People Analytics (Kogan Page, July 2021) with David Green, Jonathan is also co-author of The Power of People (Pearson, May 2017).