In the dynamic world of HR, making informed workforce decisions is paramount, but data silos often stand in the way, preventing seamless collaboration and access to crucial people analytics insights.

Our latest Insight222 research, Upskilling the HR Profession: Building a Data Literacy at Scale showed that 55% of the companies surveyed reported to have a data-driven culture for people data and analytics (see Figure 2).

This noticeable gap highlights the need for democratising data within organisations, empowering managers, and executives at all levels with valuable insights. In this article, we explore actionable strategies to breakdown data silos, foster cross-functional collaboration, and accelerate HR's journey towards data democratisation.

Breaking Down Data Silos

Data democratisation begins with understanding and acknowledging the significance of breaking down data silos.

Data silos can become an obstacle to unlocking meaningful business intelligence, as they prevent departments from sharing information and understanding their collective impact on the business. As a result, each department views the organisation from their own siloed perspective without an understanding of everything else going on across the entire organisation.

To break down data silos, HR professionals need to implement key strategies:

Fostering Cross-Functional Collaboration

One of the most crucial steps in accelerating HR's data democratisation journey is to empower managers with data and ensure they understand how to use it effectively.

Speaking on the Digital HR Leaders podcast, Daniel West, Founder and CEO of Panalyt puts this into perspective:

"I fundamentally feel that one of the sources of breakdown between HR and the business is that you are kind of talking a different language, at least in the terms of data and understanding how the people data is illustrating certain behaviours or hinting at certain activities in the people."

He continues with a great example:

"Managers who are very familiar with certain financial metrics, even if they are not in finance, they understand key financial metrics because it is put in front of them every week, every month it is made to be important to them. Whether they started their career thinking, oh yeah, I really need to understand a P&L, but they will understand a P&L by the end of running their business for a couple of years. Because people data isn't in front of Line Managers in the same kind of automatic way. It is not, again, made useful and relevant to them and structured into that day to day understanding of their business... And I think if we were more routinely putting that data out to the Managers, trusting Managers to take this data on responsibly, they would become more familiar with it”.

Share Data with Employees

Data democratisation goes beyond breaking down departmental silos; it involves empowering employees with access to key people analytics insights. This empowers employees to comprehend the impact of their actions, fostering a sense of trust and transparency as Daniel highlights:

"...think if employees understand the data that is being held, they have the ability to say that is not accurate, this is what I think it should be or I don't think you should hold that data, tell me why you are holding that piece of data? They have a sense of trust that they are seeing everything.’’

Transparency plays a pivotal role in this process. Granting employees access to relevant data and ensuring their comfort with its usage is essential. Alongside providing access to HR analytics insights, it is crucial to be open and honest about how their data is being utilised.

Consider the implementation of Organisational Network Analysis (ONA), which offers invaluable insights into team collaboration and knowledge sharing. However, this analysis often involves examining email data or internal social channels to understand employee connections.

To avoid evoking fear and mistrust, it is imperative to proactively explain the purpose of collecting this data to employees. Clearly communicate how this data helps in enhancing data-driven decision-making.

Furthermore, an integral factor in the success of data democratisation is acting on feedback data received from employees. By empowering their voices and acting on the data collected, a culture of purpose is cultivated.

When making data-driven decisions based on people analytics insights, remember to share the results of these decisions with your employees. Keeping them informed fosters a sense of inclusion and encourages further collaboration.

Have a Single Source of Truth

As Caroline O'Reilly, GM of People Analytics at Workday highlights in her discussion with David Green on the Digital HR Leaders podcast, one key mistake many organisations make is not having a single source of truth.

"...there's so much data collection in organisations and it's fragmented and it's in all different parts of the organisation with all different owners. That means that it's really hard for people to separate that signal from the noise. And business leaders are finding it slow as well to get their hands on the data that they need to make decisions, especially when it's owned by different parts of the organisation”.

Investing in a single source of truth, such as an HR system like Workday or a third-party data platform like Panalyt, can break down silos and facilitate easy access to data for employees.

Always Keep the End User in Mind

When presenting people analytics insights to HR professionals, consider the end user.

Producing advanced metrics serves no purpose if the end user struggles to understand or apply them to everyday decisions. Therefore, during the transition from silos to data democratisation, it is vital to ensure that your people analytics tools are easily accessible and intuitive.

To achieve this, the key lies in focusing on the user experience. Ask yourself essential questions: What do they need? How would they expect the data presented to look? Is the data conveyed in a manner that allows for quick comprehension and interpretation?

To help in this effort, creating personas of your users and mapping out their data journey becomes invaluable. Understanding what they need to see enables you to provide the right metrics, insights, and tools, simplifying their process of making strategic workforce decisions.

Know Your Ethics

Form close partnerships with CTOs and Chief Data Officers to establish essential safeguards, including identity management systems and HR data governance, before granting users access to insights.

By collaborating closely with these key stakeholders, you can ensure that robust security measures and data governance protocols are in place. These safeguards are crucial in protecting sensitive information and ensuring compliance with relevant regulations, such as GDPR, before making valuable insights available to users.

Start Small - Create a Pilot

Finally, consider creating a pilot for your data democratisation strategy. Avoid the temptation of taking on too much at once; instead, begin with a small-scale implementation involving key stakeholders and observe their response.

Starting with a pilot allows you to gauge the effectiveness of your strategy and identify areas that may require tweaking or adjustments for long-term success. By carefully assessing the pilot results, you can refine and optimise your data democratisation approach, ensuring its seamless integration across the organisation in the future.

Empowering HR Decision-Making with People Analytics Consultants

Data democratisation is a complex journey that requires careful consideration and time to achieve optimal results. By investing in building a strong foundation, organisations can empower better and faster data-driven decision-making within HR.

If your organisation requires support with this transformative process, our team of people analytics consultants is on hand to help. We offer expertise in various areas, from developing the right data strategy and enhancing data literacy in HR to selecting the appropriate technology and ensuring ethical compliance – Insight222 can help your organisation take your HR analytics democratisation journey from silos to collaboration.

Contact us today for a free consultation.

Enable Your People Analytics Leader and Drive Business Success With Our Insight222 Consulting Service

The right partner can help you on this journey. That's why at Insight222, we have created our 'Enable' consulting services to support you in developing a successful people analytics program and empower your new People Analytics Leader. Through this process, we will help clear the path for the new leader by understanding the current state of your people analytics, identifying key stakeholders, and supporting them during their first 100 days.

Our experienced team of people analytics consultants can help you maximise your HR analytics initiatives and unlock greater business value. So, if you're ready to take your people analytics to the next level, contact us today.