Human resources business partners are key players and a vital force behind business growth. As Dave Ulrich explores in Becoming a Data Driven HR Business Parter, the role of the HR Business Partner model has evolved from being purely tactical to become more data-driven and digital, to truly help companies win in the marketplace. But did you know that a successful HRBP is also a great storyteller?

What is data storytelling?

More and more companies are recognising the importance of data storytelling and organisations are truly benefit from leaders that possess the ability to effectively use data storytelling to drive actionable outcomes. It is one thing to display charts and grafts and tell people that they need to act. It is very much another thing to be able to effectively communicate insights derived using people analytics to ensure actionable recommendations are implemented driving real change. Basically, data storytelling is presenting collected information in a narrative form that communicates the intended message.

The basic elements of data storytelling are that:

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

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

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

For a deeper dive into data storytelling, it is important to know that data storytelling is more than say, “Employees have high attendant issues after holidays.” Understandable, stories have a beginning, a middle and an end, incorporating; exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution.

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

Why is data storytelling an important skill for an HRBP?

Among the 9 critical skills that make HRPBs more effective, data story telling which falls into the core bucket of strategic skills.

Now there is experience led skills that focused on ways of designing HR experiences, products and processes that put people first, involving all stakeholders such as managers, employees and candidates. This includes:

• Digital literacy

• Human centred design

• EX implementation

Plus there are data driven skills that are analytical and helps the HR leaders and professionals make best use of the information to not only see and comprehend what is happening with the business. This includes:

• Analytical thinking

• Data analysis

• Workforce planning

But strategic skills are business focused skills where the HR leader or professional sees the big picture and what success looks like for the company. This includes:

• Organisational acumen

• Stakeholder management

• Data Storytelling

So, to better understand why data storytelling is so important is to acknowledge everything that goes into work prior to data storytelling process.

The HRBP will discover and understand the unique challenges of the business and begin collecting the specific data required to analyse the HR data and form a solution to the problem. They can then evaluate their findings and come up with great recommendations for actions that will deliver business value.

But if they can’t communicate the found insights effectively to their audience, all their hard work will be wasted, and business will remain stagnant.

How to become better at data storytelling

During an episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast on the Importance of Storytelling in People Analytics, Cole Nussbaumer-Knaflic advised that one of the common mistakes to look out for when data storytelling is overcomplicating things.

“I think one mistake I see, or one trap I see people fall into is to try to show something in a new novel way. What happens is oftentimes maybe it grabs our attention, but makes the actual data harder to get at.”

It is best to let the visuals do their job with displaying the information in a clear way. Respect the time of the audience and get to the point quickly so a productive conversation can follow.

So, to be more effective, additional tips she offered were:

Be specific – think about your audience and who will be consuming the information you are giving. Design in in such a way that it will resonate with them.           

Use colour sparingly – with visual presentations, having most of the information in grey and the vital information you want your audience to focus on displayed in colour will accent your point.

Use words – even when a picture has a thousand words, having the actual words when you want to stress a point delivers the key takeaways, so your audience understands why you want them to focus on that area.

Key takeaway

Putting time into learning how to use and be effective at data storytelling will put any HRBP looking to make more impact in the right direction. HR data storytelling allows the HRBP the skills to persuade stakeholders to take the action needed for business growth and win in the market. For any HR business partner uncertain where to begin, there is further training in the myHRfuture Academy that can give any HRBP the tools they need to relay pertinent information to the right people at the right time and in the right manner.

Upskill your HR Team today!

We help organisations reinvent learning. Our learning programs support your HR Business Partners to build the skills they need to effectively use analytics in HR to have data driven conversations with the business that drive actionable outcomes. The Data Driven HR Fundamentals certification is a collection of 6 on-demand, video based training courses that can be completed within a 12 month period, at their own pace. This certification program is designed to support your team build their skills in analytical thinking, data analytics and storytelling. By completing this learning program your HR team will learn how to better interpret HR data and be confident in having data driven conversations with the