My highlight for April, and indeed of the year so far, was the People Analytics Worldconference in London. I first chaired the event in 2014, and over the last decade People Analytics World has established itself as the go-to event in Europe for the field.
The 2024 edition was sold out with close to 400 people attending across the two days (4x compared to 2014!). I had the privilege of co-chairing, along with Cole Napper and Michael M. Moon, PhD and also delivering the opening keynote on how leading companies deliver value with people analytics, based on our research at Insight222.
You can find the slides I shared in the keynote below. These include the results of three polls I ran with attendees at People Analytics World on (1) the current state of people analytics in their organisation, (2) the financial impact of people analytics in the last 12 months, and (3) the data literacy of HR professionals. Additionally, you can also access the Insight222 research I shared here.
The conference only ended a few days ago, but already many of the attendees have shared some of their key takeaways and learnings. Do check out the ones from Patrick Coolen (here), Giovanna Constant (here), Sebastian Knepper (here), Mariana Rossi Campos (here), Fatma Hedeya (here), Pietro Mazzoleni (here), Maria Manso Garcia (here), Ekkehard Ernst (here), Marcela Mury (here) and Jaejin Lee (here).
Finally on People Analytics World, congratulations to Barry Swales and the Tucana team for organising such a successful event, thank you to all those who attended the Insight222 dinner, visited the Insight222 stand and who took the time to interact with me over the two days. Lastly, thank you to all of the brilliant speakers and panellists in the Plenary sessions and Strategy track that I moderated: Richard Rosenow Ian Cook Sue Lam Rob Briner Peter Cheese Aizhan Tursunbayeva, PhD, GRP Abigail Gilbert Alexis Saussinan Michael Cox Gemma McNair David Shontz Amit Mohindra Clare Moncrieff Jo Thackray Lucie Vottova Andrew Elston Rob Etheridge Isabel Naidoo James Fenlon and Ekkehard Ernst.
Enjoy reading the collection of resources for April and, if you do, please share some data driven HR love with your colleagues and networks. Thanks to the many of you who liked, shared and/or commented on March’s compendium (including those in the Thank You section below).
If you enjoy a weekly dose of curated learning (and the Digital HR Leaders podcast), the Insight222 newsletter: Digital HR Leaders newsletter is published every Tuesday – subscribe here.
DIANE GHERSON AND LYNDA GRATTON - Highly Skilled Professionals Want Your Work But Not Your Job
Without question, there has been a huge shift. Many of the individuals we’re looking to attract—in technology, data sciences, machine learning, blockchain, and the internet of things—have a different mindset now. They want more-flexible working arrangements.
This quote from Peter Fasolo, Ph.D. chief human resources officer at Johnson & Johnson, perfectly captures the challenge that Diane Gherson and Lynda Grattonhighlight in their article for Harvard Business Review: more and more workers want to work as freelancers. As the article highlights, Gartner predict that independent workers will make up 35% to 40% of the global workforce by 2025. Moreover, one-third earn more than $150,000 per year, and just over half were providing knowledge services—such as computer programming, marketing, IT, and business consulting. Integrating and managing what this ‘blended workforce’ will be one of the main managerial challenges in the years ahead. Based on their interviews with executives at leading companies that are experimenting with how best to bring freelancers into their organisations, Diane and Lynda set out some guidance and highlight emerging management practices that forward-looking companies are embracing. These include: (1) Helping freelancers understand and embrace company culture. (2) Following rigorous practices to retain institutional knowledge. (3) Adopting a ‘sponsor’ mindset to guide freelancers’ performance. (4) Leveraging digital workflows and building trust to manage changes in project needs.
FIG 1: The Emerging Blended Workforce (Source: Diane Gherson and Lynda Gratton)
LEILA HOTEIT, ANTON STEPANENKO, PAVEL LUKSHA, SAGAR GOEL, AND LEONID GORENBURG - The Next 50 Years of Work
Contrary to popular fears that the future will offer fewer work opportunities for people, most experts anticipate that rewarding work options will be plentiful.
The key finding of a recent BCG study is that workforce experts anticipate that jobs will flourish over the next fifty years, with four boundaries framing the future growth of the economy (see FIG 2). The study, authored by Leila Hoteit Anton Stepanenko Pavel Luksha Sagar Goel and Leonid Gorenburgalso highlights bionic skills (e.g. tech literacy, data-driven decision making, AI-enhanced creativity, and ease with human-machine collaboration) and creativity as the skills that will be in highest demand. But to complement these skills, workers should also cultivate adaptability and the ability to take initiative.
FIG 2: The four boundaries within which the future economy will grow (Source: BCG)
ETHAN MOLLICK - Reinventing the Organization for GenAI and LLMs
Consider this an early eulogy for the traditional organizational structure, which began in 1855 with the first modern organizational chart and thrived, more or less successfully, until the 2020s, when it succumbed to a new technology, the large language model (LLM).
That’s the bold claim by Ethan Mollick in his compulsive article in MIT Sloan Management Review. While he concedes that previous waves of technology have ushered in innovations that have strengthened traditional organisational structures, Mollick makes the case that GenAI and LLMs are different. He then outlines three principles for reorganising work around AI: (1) Identify and enlist your current AI users. (2) Let teams develop their own methods. (3) Build for the not-so-distant future. If you enjoy this article, I recommend subscribing to Mollick’s One Useful Thing blog.
BCG - What GenAI’s Top Performers Do Differently
The top GenAI performers have the biggest lead across five main capabilities: a clear link to business performance, modern technology infrastructure, strong data capabilities, leadership support, and a grounding in responsible AI.
While GenAI is becoming an integral part of business ecosystems, only 10% of companies have mastered scaling GenAI to create value and secure other benefits from this transformative technology (see FIG 3). That’s according to recent research by BCG, which finds that 10% of companies lead in five key areas: (1) a clear link to business performance, (2) modern technology infrastructure, (3) strong data capabilities, (4) leadership support, and (5) a grounding in responsible AI. A helpful read for HR leaders as they think how HR can lead organisational transformation in the age of AI as well as incorporate the technology into HR programs too. (Authors: Amanda Luther Romain de Laubier Nicolas de Bellefonds Tauseef Charanya Suraj Shah Kevin Nnaemeka Ifiora and Patrick Forth)
FIG 3: Three categories of companies in relation to GenAI adoption (Source: BCG)
PATRICK COOLEN - The 10 golden rules for establishing a people analytics practice
A successful people analytics practice starts with the right people analytics leader
Patrick Coolen’s first iteration of his ’10 golden rules for people analytics’ (one prescient ‘rule’ was to combine strategic workforce planning and analytics) was published in 2014 when he was in the early stages of building the function at ABN Amro. A decade on, Patrick updates his seminal article, with insights from his own career journey, Ph.D research, and the evolution of the field itself. As ever, Patrick is right on the mark with his ten selections including these three: (1) The people analytics leader can make the difference, (2) Create a clear people analytics operating model, and (3) Upskill HR in data-driven decision making.
PIETRO MAZZOLENI - Mastering data governance for effective people data platforms: lessons from what we did at IBM
Data Governance is the process that ensures the availability, usability, integrity, and security of data in enterprise systems
Pietro Mazzoleni shares the three key elements related to ‘governance-by-design’ that together provided the fundamental principles underlying the design and implementation of Workforce360, IBM’s people data platform. In the article, Pietro presents the three elements – trust, transparency and compliance (see FIG 4) – and provides a detailed description of each.
FIG 4: Key governance questions to consider when designing a people data platform (Source: Pietro Mazzoleni)
JASDEEP KAREER - The Importance of Data and Upskilling in Driving Growth
Jasdeep Kareer, PhD (née Bhambra) shares key learnings from the recent Peer Meeting for North American member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program, which was hosted by Colgate-Palmolive in their global headquarters in New York. The Peer Meeting, which was attended by more than 60 people analytics leaders and practitioners from more than 40 companies was framed on the key findings from the Insight222 People Analytics Trends study for 2023. In her article, Jas highlights five themes from the Peer Meeting: (1) The importance of data and upskilling in driving growth (with insights from Sally Massey). (2) How strategic partnerships and data governance pave the way for successful People Analytics initiatives (with insights from Courtney McMahon Pavel Nouel and Nayana Pai). (3) How insights-driven decision-making and storytelling can drive impactful outcomes in People Analytics (with insights from Durrell Blake Robinson and Mona Routray). (4) Factors influencing the adoption of people analytics (with insights from Patrick Coolen and Brydie Lear). (5) Influencing senior stakeholders with people analytics (with insights from Piyush Mathur). If you would like to learn more about our People Analytics Program, contact us today.
FIG 5: 8 Characteristics of Leading Companies. (Source: Insight222 People Analytics Trends Report 2023)
BURAK BAKKALOGLU – Deploying GenAI in HR | KEITH MCNULTY – How I Created an AI Version of Myself | KATE GUARINO - How to Turn ChatGPT into Your Personal Consultant: A 5-Step Approach | NATALIA GORMANN - Improving Employee Experience with a Solid Data Strategy | PATRICK GALLAGHER - Is It Time to Stop Measuring Employee Engagement?
In recent editions of the Data Driven HR Monthly, I’ve been featuring a collection of articles by current and recent people analytics leaders. These act as a spur and inspiration to the field. Five are highlighted here. (1) Burak Bakkaloglu dedicates an edition of his If Interested blog to the topic of GenAI including breaking down three layers of GenAI for HR (see FIG 6). (2) Keith McNulty provides a tutorial (including code) on how he built a 'Keith-bot' to answer questions on statistics based on the content of his regression textbook, using a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture. (3) Katie Guarino also provides a practical framework on how to use ChatGPT as your personal consultant and coach on any topic, regardless of your expertise in it. (4) Natalia Gormann discusses challenges for people teams to build partnerships with finance before guidance on how to build an effective data strategy to support employee experience strategies. (5) Patrick Gallagher looks at the case for and against measuring employee engagement, concluding that organisations with mature employee listening and PA functions just don’t need it anymore.
FIG 6: Three layers of GenAI in HR (Source: Burak Bakkaloglu)
VINCENT BÉRUBÉ, BEN FOGARTY, NEEL GANDHI, RAHUL MATHEW, MARINO MUGYAR-BALDOCCHI, AND CHARLOTTE SEILEROUTLINE - Increasing your return on talent: The moves and metrics that matter
An organization that views its employees as its most important resource can maximize its return on talent by following a holistic strategy—with HR in the driver’s seat.
Drawing on McKinsey research that finds companies that put talent at the centre of their business strategy realise higher total shareholder returns than their competitors, Vincent Bérubé Ben Fogarty Neel Gandhi Rahul Mathew Marino Mugayar-Baldocchi and Charlotte Seiler outline five actions organisations can take to maximise their return on talent. The five actions are: (1) Build a skills-based strategic workforce planning capability. (2) Create a hiring engine that brings in the right talent to fill critical roles. (3) Invest in learning and development. ((4) Establish a stellar performance-oriented culture. (5) Elevate HR’s operating model to become a true talent steward.
FIG 7: Factors that drag down employee and organisational productivity (Source: McKinsey)
PETER CAPPELLI AND RANYA NEHMEH – HR’s New Role
If leaders realized that the true cost of turnover is often a multiple of an employee’s annual salary, they would immediately demand changes.
In their thoughtful article for Harvard Business Review, Peter Cappelli and Ranya Nehmeh set out the case for the HR function to return to its roots as employee advocates. They argue that in a period of low unemployment and labour supply shortages, focusing on cost-cutting and restructuring is counterproductive and the onus should instead be on retention and preventing burnout. To realise this, HR needs to change outdated policies on compensation, training and development, layoffs, vacancies, outsourcing, and restructuring. Cappelli and Nehmeh recommend the first step should be for HR to create dashboards with metrics on the true costs of turnover, absenteeism, reasons for quitting, illness rates, and employee engagement. They contend that: “If leaders realized that the true cost of turnover is often a multiple of an employee’s annual salary, they would immediately demand changes." They also outline guidance on why and how to measure employee stress – particularly with regards to AI and restructuring. The article also provides examples of companies with HR functions that are moving to an employee advocacy approach. These include the likes of Walmart and Neiman Marcus (both on compensation and reward), as well as IBM and Unilever (both internal talent mobility).
DAVE ULRICH - Upgrading HR Professionals: How to Develop HR Professionals so They Rise to Their Opportunity
HR matters. Now more than ever.
In a recent article from his Human Capability Impact LinkedIn newsletter, Dave Ulrich explains why HR functions and professionals are rising in importance, and then lays out a playbook, process and assessment designed to develop HR professionals so they can fulfil expectations and rise to the opportunity (see FIG 8).
FIG 8: Summary and assessment of ways to upgrade HR professionals (Source: Dave Ulrich)
NICK VAN DER MEULEN, OLGERTA TONA, AND DOROTHY E. LEIDNER – Resolving Workforce Skills Gaps with AI-Powered Insights
As Christina Norris-Watts and Doug Shagam shared with me in an episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, Johnson & Johnson has used AI-driven skills inference as part of their skills transformation (see: How Johnson & Johnson are Scaling Their Skills-Based Approach to Talent). In their paper for MIT, Nick van der Meulen Olgerta Tona and Dorothy Leidner provide an in-depth case study on Johnson & Johnson to demonstrate how skills inference can provide detailed insight into workforce skills gaps and thereby guide employees’ career development and leaders’ strategic workforce planning. The paper includes a detailed description of the three steps of the skills inference process (see FIG 9). The sections in the paper on employee trust, privacy and use cases are particularly instructional for companies looking to emulate this work in their organisations.
FIG 9: The three steps of the skills inference process (Source: MIT Center for Information Systems Research)
JORDAN PETTMAN - Workforce Planning: A Beginner's Guide to Strategic Success
Jordan Pettman, one of my many talented colleagues at Insight222, shares some tips and guidance for practitioners looking to start or accelerate their workforce planning efforts. He highlights the Nine Dimensions for Excellence in Strategic Workforce Planning model we use with clients at Insight222 (see FIG 10), explaining that you need to consider each of the decision points that the model presents in terms of getting the foundations right, ensuring your resources are fit for purpose and that you deliver value out of the cycle for the business and employees. Jordan also shares insights from the likes of Jonas Ottiger and Gergo Safar as part of his guidance on two key elements: workforce planning essentials and building skills-based workforce planning.
FIG 10: Nine Dimensions for Excellence in Stategic Workforce Planning (Source: Insight222)
EMILY KILLHAM - From Insight to Action: New Data on the State of Employee Listening (Article) | The State of Employee Listening 2024 (Report)
(Leading firms ensure) listening efforts are aimed at the most important business and talent priorities facing their organizations today.
Emily Killham highlights the key findings from Perceptyx’s third annual State of Employee Listening report, which is informed by survey of more than 750 senior HR leaders from global firms with at least 1,000 employees. These include: (1) 78% of firms surveyed conduct some kind of listening event at least once a quarter, compared to 70% in 2023 and 60% in 2022. (2) Nearly 40% of organisations can share listening data with managers within two weeks. (3) When compared with their peers, the most mature listening organisations are 6x more likely to exceed financial targets, 9x more likely to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction, 4x more likely to retain talent, even during times of high attrition, 7x more likely to adapt well to change, and 7x more likely to innovate effectively.
FIG 11: Employee Listening Maturity (Source: Perceptyx)
NICK LYNN - Trust and Distrust: Why and how you may need to tackle both
Building trust is not always sufficient, you may also need to tackle the causes of distrust. The problems are not always the same. They may sometimes require different solutions.
Nick Lynn constructs a wonderful treatise on ‘trust’ and ‘distrust’ in organisations and offers potential solutions to build the former and tackle the latter. Through analysing four models to build trust, Nick identifies some common ingredients including: communication, consistency, integrity, fairness, empathy, and psychological safety. When it comes to tackling distrust, he assembles four elements of organisational health: work, total rewards, people, and purpose into a framework of employee experience leadership (see FIG 12).
FIG 12: Driving employee experience through connection and contribution (Source: Nick Lynn)
STEPHANIE DENINO, TIMO TISCHER, AND DAVID GREEN - Moving Towards Excellence in EX Management
In the January edition of Data-Driven HR Monthly, I highlighted the fascinating report State of EX 2023-24 study, published by The EXchange, Inc, TI PEOPLE and FOUNT Global, Inc. In this article, for myHRfuture, I interview Stephanie Denino and Timo Tischer, two of the contributors to the study. We dig into what constitutes ‘excellence’ in EX management, the barriers and how to overcome them, and the priorities for EX teams in 2024 (see FIG 13). Stephanie and Timo also provide tips for organisations looking to manage EX more deliberately, which includes: (1) Identifying the moments that matter, (2) Measuring and listening continuously to people’s experiences across these moments, and (3) Clarifying responsibilities (who ‘owns’ which journeys, moments and/or touchpoints) to ensure accountability, and improving high importance / low satisfaction moments.
FIG 13: Top five priorities for EX teams in 2024 (Source: State of EX 2023-24 study)
ANNA BINDER - Build Your Culture Like a Product
Anna Binder, Asana's Head of People, shares her step-by-step guide to intentionally building the company culture, which has helped Asana scale from 100 to over 2,000 employees during the last eight years. The article includes tips on building a people strategy from the ground-up, constructing a culture pyramid to supercharge your organisation (see FIG 14), how to bring conscious leadership to the executive suite, and building trust. A highly insightful and practical guide.
FIG 14: The pyramid of company culture (Source: Anna Binder)
ARNAUD CHEVALLIER, FRÉDÉRIC DALSACE, AND JEAN-LOUIS BARSOUX - The Art of Asking Smarter Questions
Advances in AI have caused a seismic shift from a world in which answers were crucial to one in which questions are. The big differentiator is the ability to craft smart prompts.
The ability to ask great questions is a powerful skill for unlocking value – especially in the age of AI. As such, the cover article of the current edition of the Harvard Business Review by Arnaud Chevallier Frédéric Dalsace and Jean-Louis Barsoux of IMD Business School is well worth digging into. The authors provide a typology of five topics of questions to ask during strategic decision making: (1) investigative, (2) speculative, (3) productive, (4) interpretive, and (5) subjective (see FIG 15). The article also includes a self-assessment that enables readers to evaluate the types of questions that are their strong and weak points, and then provides guidance to help you improve. From completing the assessment myself, it seems I need to work on my subjective questioning technique.
FIG 15: What’s your question mix? (Source: Chevallier et al)
CHRISTIAN HAUDE, IVO BLOHM, AND XAVIER LAGARDÈRE - How Lufthansa Shapes Data-Driven Transformation Leaders
Effective data leaders bridge a crucial gap that still exists in too many organizations. These leaders play a key role in transforming organizations that are leveraging data and AI to increase business value.
An excellent example from Lufthansa on how they created a program to educate leaders on data leadership, and how it provided insights on the roles that people play in data-driven change. In their article, Christian Haude Ivo Blohm and Xavier Lagardere outline the challenge the program was designed to solve, the six different roles for data leaders that were defined (see FIG 16), details of the three training modules: Spark, Inspire and Activate, and four key strategies for success.
FIG 16: Data Leadership: Six key roles (Source: Haude et al)
SHARNA WIBLEN AND DAVID GREEN - Rethinking Talent Decisions and Navigating Subjectivity in HR
Accumulating deliberate, intentional, and informed decisions can unleash exponential returns.
In her book, Rethinking Talent Decisions, Sharna Wiblen highlights an uncomfortable truth: Talent decisions are always subjective. As such, I was delighted to explore this in more depth with Sharna in an article for myHRfuture. In the article, Sharna, an Assistant Professor and Senior Lecturer at Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong, unpacks the nuanced role of subjectivity in talent decisions and the symbiotic relationship between technology and human judgment in the workplace. The uncomfortable truth is that decisions about talent are invariably coloured by personal perceptions, and instead of shying away, Sharna argues that we should lean into this discomfort to emerge with more informed and nuanced strategies.
Much of the innovation in the field continues to be driven by the vendor community, and I’ve picked out a few resources from April that I recommend readers delve into:
FIG 17: HR technology trends primed to innovate further in 2024 (Source: Deloitte)
Our HR service professionals are able to handle employee inquiries more efficiently. So far we are seeing a 26 percent reduction in initial response time thanks to Copilot.
FIG 18: Source - Worklytics
In another month of high-quality podcasts, I’ve selected four gems for your aural pleasure: (you can also check out the latest episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast – see ‘From My Desk’ below):
ANNA TAVIS AND WOODY WOODWARD - The Digital Coaching Revolution: How to Support Employee Development with Coaching Tech
According to Anna A. Tavis, PhD, and Dr. Woody Woodward, PhD, PCC: “Digital coaching is transforming employee experience and the future of work as we know it.” In their book, The Digital Coaching Revolution, they provide guidance on how to scale digital coaching in your organisation – whether the C-suite is already on board or not. The book features case studies from the likes of Visa, CVS, and Hilton, and is a recommended resource for HR, EX, and L&D professionals looking to understand and/or roll digital coaching within their companies.
ROB BRINER – Evidence-Based HR: A New Paradigm
Evidence-based HR (EBHR) is a process which delivers more informed and hence more accurate answers to two fundamental questions: first, which are the most important problems (or opportunities) facing the organisation which are relevant to HR? Second, which solutions (or interventions) are most likely to help?
These are the opening words to a recently published report from the Corporate Research Forum (CRF), authored by Rob Briner, on Evidence-Based HR (EBHR). The report tackles, the why, what, and how of EBHR, explains why it is not the same as people analytics, provides case studies from Thales, Uber and the Financial Conduct Authority, and provides a practical toolkit for practitioners on the EBHR process (see FIG 19). For more, have a listen to Rob speaking to me in a recent episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast: What is evidence-based HR and why is it important?
FIG 19: The Evidence-Based HR Process (Source: Rob Briner, Corporate Research Forum)
April saw three episodes from Series 38 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, sponsored by our friends at Worklytics - thank you to Philip Arkcoll and Laura Morris, as well as a round-up of series 37:
’d like to highlight once again the wonderful resource created by Richard Rosenow and the One Model team of open roles in people analytics and HR technology, which now numbers over 550 roles.
At Insight222, our mission is to make organisations better by putting people analytics at the centre of business and upskilling the HR profession The Insight222 People Analytics Program® is your gateway to a world of knowledge, networking, and growth. Developed exclusively for people analytics leaders and their teams, the program equips you with the frameworks, guidance, learnings, and connections you need to create greater impact.
As the landscape of people analytics becomes increasingly complex, with data, technology, and ethical considerations at the forefront, our program brings together over one hundred organisations to collectively address these shared challenges.
Insight222 Peer Meetings, like this event in London, are a core component of the Insight222 People Analytics Program®. They allow participants to learn, network and co-create solutions together with the purpose of ultimately growing the business value that people analytics can deliver to their organisations. If you would like to learn more, contact us today.
David Green ?? 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 90 global organisations. Prior to co-founding Insight222, 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 was published in the summer of 2021.
I'll be speaking about people analytics, the future of work, and data driven HR at a number of upcoming events in 2024:
More events will be added as they are confirmed.
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