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Are you thinking of increasing your business’ performance?

Have you heard about people analytics?

Gone are the days when leaders in different industries had to spend days analyzing situations to identify the right way forward. Nowadays, with the popularity of data analysis systems and proven results after proper implementation, leaders can increase their business performance without investing too much time.

In this article, we have listed ways in which people analytics can help you drive your organization towards more growth.

Get an all-rounded picture of the business

How much do you understand your business?

Businesses can be viewed from many angles. Without a clear compilation of the amount of physical and non-physical assets and their interaction with one another to deliver a set of desired results, there is a risk of some being overused, not used, or underutilized and eventually missing some goals.

Manual analysis of a business can be strenuous, expensive, and erroneous. Analytics simply that process and gives a very clear picture of how a business looks like and the interactions amongst different aspects.

Talent management and culture improvement

Data analytics play various roles in talent management and culture improvement.

First, you have heard that people are the heart of a business. This implies that being able to meet their needs will have them investing maximally in their work, which ultimately translates to massive monetary and non-monetary results for the business.

On the other hand, there is a challenge of meeting the ever-evolving needs or understanding the intricacies that make people stay in a particular organization or input their best efforts in their duties.

Analytics reveals both the minute and grand factors of people: their performance and factors that influence it, participation in different activities and the driving factors, suitability for different roles and departments, and behaviour under different conditions. The in-depth understanding of the behaviour can guide in making highly targeted adjustments in the current system to improve the culture and give the people variety of reasons of working in a particular organization.

Second, people analytics eliminates unconscious preferences that impact hiring processes. The belief that people from the top institutions are excellent employees has been challenged countless times, but without proof, one can fall prey of singling some candidates out based on their beliefs and preferences.

Owing to the high costs of rehiring, companies are investing heavily in recruitment processes to ensure the people are not only ideal fits for the roles but also the organization. By turning to people analytics, leaders are now able to identify the ideal set of skills of the people they intend to hire who can excel in the roles and help propagate the good culture.

Push for accountability

Until recently, the link amongst an individual’s productivity, wellbeing, management style, workplace culture, and organizational development was unclear or not taken seriously. However, with more companies deeply analyzing the data, they are now able to see the impact of different management styles on the acquisition of organizational goals.

Such information challenges leaders in different departments to become more accountable by critically considering the impact of their management style on the people and goals.

Make informed decisions

Businesses grow because the right decisions have been made. Rather than merely depending on your intuition or casting a dice and ‘hoping’ for the best, people analytics provide a clear picture of how the business looks like, any untapped opportunities to increase the results, future opportunities or risks for early planning.

With such detailed information, you will be able to make decisions that place the company on the right path, whether it is on elements to eliminate, revamp, or introduce.

How to implement people analytics for improved business performance

1. Define the essentials

There is a lot of data that can be collected about a business. However, only a portion of it will be relevant for the acquisition of goals. Defining the essentials helps you to invest your resources in the right places.

2. Challenge conventional knowledge

If you are planning to offer the best product or service in the market, then you must set aside the conventional rules and knowledge and explore as many areas as possible. Challenging the conventional wisdom and implementing the findings can help you to fulfil an ignored need and improve the perception and purchase of the product or service.

3. Analyze the data extensively 

Data on its own will not shed the light on how to improve your business’ performance. You must analyze it from multiple angles and take notes of all hints on how to improve it.