Why Analytics Projects Fail: #1 – Lack of Focus

Lack of focus is common reason analytics projects fail. Keeping a focus on any project can be a challenge for companies that are not well organized. If you are an analyst or trying to champion analytics in your organization and are up against a lack of focus, I have some ideas for you.

First off, size really isn’t a factor when it comes to the organizational culture towards being organized. In some cases size makes the problem more apparent, but size can also mean more resources, so in most cases its really not a serious issue.

There is generally a strong correlation be the way data is handled in a business and how organized the company is in other ways. Lots of paper, manual processes and clearly define process flows may look organized, but it’s highly unlikely they deliver the type of data leadership really needs.

Lack of focus often happens when leaders seem overwhelmed and say they don’t have time to dedicate to things like analytics. The first thing you need to figure out is are people resources really stretched too thin or is it more a cultural issue where being too busy is more of a badge of honor.

The best way to deal with overworked teams is to start putting data around what they do every day and come up with solutions to improve time management and delegation.  Few people can truly say they have extra time, but everyone can say they need to figure out how to manage time better. A good analytics solution does just that.

Few people can rationally explain why their job would be harder if they had more analytics.  So it’s not too hard to get people to buy into the concept of analytics, but to get them to buy into the actual practice you need to be part salesman and part storyteller.

You need to show them the value putting a greater focus on your analytics project will bring to both the business as a whole and to each individual involved in the project. Besides showing data to champion the use of more data, you need to tell stories about how its helped in other places. You need to get them to envision how much better life will be once your project is complete.

Lack of focus can also come when the project is not well thought out of you get scope creep… when additions are made to a project that start distracting people form the original goal of the project. It is hard to stay focused when you don’t see focus in the project itself.

The final point I’ll make is that you also need visible and consistent buy in from the person(s) in charge. If they are not advocating for analytics, then your project will never get the focus from stakeholders and project team members you need then you will fail.

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Analytics Culture – The key to using analytics in a business is like a secret sauce that fuels Data-Driven Decison-Making. It is a unique combination of analytics talent, technology and technique that are brought together to enrich and empower an organization. A successful analytics culture is not easy to create, but DMAIPH can show you how. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly so we can build a strategic plan to turn your company into analytics driven success story.

Why I Go Left At The Crossroads

What do you do when you are feeling lost and at a cross roads?

Do you turn left? Its the unknown road less traveled.

Do you turn right? Its the way most people will chose when they chose to change.

Do you go back? Its safer being where you know where you are then when you don’t.

Do you go straight? Its easy to keep going ahead and hoping things work out for the best.

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When faced with this, what do you do?

Do you look at your data?

Do you find new data?

Do you just ask a friend for advice?

Do you go with your gut?

I’m not one to just ask for advice because that usually I get play it safe and go back.

If I were to just trust my gut it would steer me to the right.

In my current situation the data says, stay the course.

But when adding some new, recent data it says turn left.

So to the left we go.

The Five Stages of HR & Recruitment Analytics

I’ve seen a couple of articles recently espousing a set number of stages  in HR and/or Recruitment Analytics. Based on my knowledge, the 5 stages of analytics a people-centric department can experience are the following:

Stage 1 – The Data Dark Age – No analytics at all. Pipelines are either in MS Excel, a very old proprietary data based or maybe even on paper. Nothing is really analyzed, data quality is bad, and reports are pretty useless. Not collaboration exists between HR, Recruitment and other business lines.

Stage 2 – Living in Data Castles – Only a few people use analytics and most key management decisions are not made based on data, but on experience. Every department has data stored within its own data base. Its nearly impossible to share data due to poor data architecture. HR data is incomplete and the recruitment process does not have any dynamic reporting.

Stage 3 – The Flat Data Organization – Some people use some analytics to make some decisions, but its generally inconsistent across the organization. Data is generally historical and used tactically to understand simple patterns and effects. Some of the data castles have evolved to data explorers, venturing out to find and use new data sources, but many castles still remain in the organization. Generally HR and Recrutiment are using a people management and/or recruitment management software. Reports are useful and drive some decisions by management, but there is major room for improvement. Some data leads to buried treasure, but some leads you off the map… data quality is inconsistent.

Stage 4 – Civilized Data Flow – Most decision makers have access and generally use analytics. Several key team members have strong analyst backgrounds. Data is easily shared between teams. Most managers look at data before making a decision, and analysts have a say in business strategy based on their analysis. People are empowered to do their own discovery and analysis. The organization has answers  to questions about recruitment efforts and HR trends. Waste is controlled with effective people and recruitment management software.  Business dashboards are being used to convey a lot of information.

Stage 5 – Data Nirvana – Every team member from top down knows analytics, has access to the data they need and are empowered to take action on it. There are minimal hindrances to sharing data. It is hard to find a place like this but, when you do recruitment works like a well-oiled machine,  HR analytics are predictive and driving recruitment efforts. There is never a question management asks, that there is not a data driven explanation to answer with. Business dashboards are interactive and real time. Surprises are minimal and solutions come quick and founded on business data and insight. Open posts are filled quickly and people stick around because there needs are proactively being addressed.

So what phase is your organization in? Where do you want it to be? I can help you assess where you are and we can design steps to get your where you want to go.

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HR & Recruitment Analytics – The recruitment and retention of top talent is the biggest challenge facing just about every organization. DMAIPH is a leading expert in empowering HR & Recruitment teams with analytics techniques to optimize their talent acquisition and management processes.

Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn how to get more analytics in your HR & Recruitment process so you can rise to the top in the ever quickening demand for top talent.

Mixing Technique With Empowered Curiousity

Last year I spent some time helping a couple of schools build more analytics centric training into their psychology curriculums. The goal being to help prepare future HR managers and analysts to be ready to deal with real world analytics challenges.

Over the next few blogs, I will share several of the topics I listed in these curriculums that are equally balanced in both the technical and intellectual aspects of HR analytics.

It is a common misconception that HR analytics is all about using tools and techniques to generate reports and share information to management in a way that makes the business more successful. This concept will not generally work because the analysts are not empowered to question, explore and discover new opportunities or to understand hidden risks. All they are expected to do is report things faster and with more flash.

Some of the topics typically taught in your basic HR and/or Recruitment Analytics class include:

  • Stages of HR Analytics
  • HR Metrics – Calibration and Measurement
  • Statistical Analysis Tools like DCOVA (define, collect, organize, visualize and analyze)
  • Enhancing HRIS (Human Resources Information Systems)
  • Optimizing MS Excel for HR Analytics
  • Business Intelligence Tools for HR Teams
  • Predictive Analytics Methods and Models
  • Big Data Analytics for HR Teams

Each topic can be its own training module if you have the time to sit in a class and approach the use of HR analytics academically. The problem is few of us can spare the time.

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My solution is a mixture of self-education, internal team building dynamics and an empowerment based model of analytics training that will not just make your team better at building reports, but will unlock their minds and free their curiosity allowing them to get outside the box and discover things you can’t even imagine.

No one wants a team of drones who just follow steps in a technique or use a technology to do just exactly what it was designed to do. To really have an HR Analytics team that make a difference, you need a team that thinks differently. If you are serious about building this kind of culture in your business, then I can show you how.

Analytics Culture – The key to using analytics in a business is like a secret sauce. It is a unique combination of analytics talent, technology and technique that are brought together to enrich and empower an organization. A successful analytics culture is not easy to create, but DMAIPH can show you how. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly so we can build a strategic plan to turn your company into analytics driven success story.

HR Analytics – Curiosity Trumps Technique

I came across an advertisement for an upcoming HR Analytics training a few days ago.

It’s a three-day class that goes pretty heavy into the technical side of HR Analytics. Like most analytics training classes being offered in the market right now there is a lot of emphasis how to gather data and report it. I am starting to see a little more emphasis in data visualization and building more dynamic reports, which is encouraging.

However, no matter what analytics tool you have, and how well your HR analysts are in using the technology, if your HR analysts aren’t empowered to really ask questions and unleash their curiosity on the people data they have access to, then you really won’t see a significant success when it comes to using data.

In addition, if your business is not ready to have an ongoing discussion about how to use the data to improve decision-making at all levels of the organization then you are not going to be successful either. You need an analytics centric culture to really benefit from all the amazing tools and techniques now available to HR teams.

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When you look over the agenda of an HR Analytics training class and you don’t see anything about culture, empowerment, data-driven decision-making, or dynamic reporting using interactive tools… then it is highly unlikely you will benefit much from sending anyone to these types of trainings.

If you would prefer to send your team to a training where your HR analysts and managers will not just learn a few techniques and demo a few tools, but really get into what it means to be an HR analyst and how HR can be at the forefront of building an analytics centric culture, then I would be happy to include them in my next HR analytics training class.

HR & Recruitment Analytics – The recruitment and retention of top talent is the biggest challenge facing just about every organization. DMAIPH is a leading expert in empowering HR & Recruitment teams with analytics techniques to optimize their talent acquisition and management processes. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn how to get more analytics in your HR & Recruitment process so you can rise to the top in the ever quickening demand for top talent.

Explosive Growth In People Analytics

https://www.jibe.com/ddr/telling-the-story-of-a-data-driven-future-for-talent-acquisition/

Came across this really interesting table about the explosive growth in HR Analytics.

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(Source:  Deloitte Human Capital Trends 2015 and 2016, 3,300 and 7,100 respondents, respectively) 

The blogger who shared this, Mike Roberts, stated “With advancements in technology, as well as more awareness of the power of data, this is starting to change. Since 2014, we’ve seen an incredible transformation in the way talent acquisition professionals view data. And research from leading analyst firms has been backing that up.”

This is exactly why I have been doing HR & Recruitment Analytics training classess. There is a growing number of options out there, so make sure you get the bang for you buck you are hoping for.

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Connect with me if you want to know more about my approach to using data to drive decision-making in HR and Recruitment. I have recently published a book, Putting Your Data to Work, that can be your guidebook to how to get more people analytics in your HR and Recruitment processes.

HR & Recruitment Analytics – The recruitment and retention of top talent is the biggest challenge facing just about every organization. You really have to Think Through The Box to come up with winning solutions to effectively attract, retain and manage talent in the Philippines today. DMAIPH is a leading expert in empowering HR & Recruitment teams with analytics techniques to optimize their talent acquisition and management processes. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn how to get more analytics in your HR & Recruitment process so you can rise to the top in the ever quickening demand for top talent.

 

HR Recruitment Analytic Techniques

Every recruiting organization is looking for a way to better understand what’s working and what’s not working in their recruiting strategy. By using meaningful HR Recruitment Analytics techniques, your recruitment efforts can be greatly enhanced.

With real-time recruitment metrics & reporting, we can finally know what’s happening in our pipelines and what channels provide us with most qualified candidates.

New technologies like social networks, applicant tracking systems and business intelligence applications are fundamentally changing the entire recruitment process from sourcing to placement.

The pressure to deliver results has never been greater. HR and Recruitment managers are now more than ever required to demonstrate the return on investment their efforts are contributing to the bottom line.

Building analytics centric teams and using techniques taught in this training session will empower more data-driven decision making. This will result in both process efficiency and better return in investment in the recruitment process.

A few months ago, I facilitated a training class on HR Recruitment Analytic Techniques.

The Learning Session Objectives from the training were:

1. To learn analytics techniques that will allow quicker, deeper and more impactful analysis of HR Recruitment Big Data.
2. To be exposed to cutting edge technology being used in other companies to build HR Recruitment business dashboards and design more powerful reports.
3. To assess the current state of analytics in your HR Recruitment process and build a strategy to empower the greater use of analytics in your organization.

The Key Benefits from Attending this Learning Session were:

1.Develop analytic techniques that you can use to improve decision-making and improve the bottom line.
2. Explore analytics tools like business dashboards and data visualization to improve reporting.
3. Build a strategy to move your organization from current state to ideal state when it comes to the use of analytics.

Topics covered in the training included:

  • What is Recruitment Analytics?
  • Self-Assessment of your Recruitment Analytics
  • Analytic Techniques for Finding the Right Data at the Right Time
  • Applicant Tracking Systems & Social Media
  • Big Data and Recruiting Analytic Strategies
  • Business Intelligence, Data Visualization & Business Dashboards Technologies
  • Building Meaningful HR Recruitment Techniques

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Overall it was a great training class with lots of great discussion. Given that the recruitment and retention of top talent is the biggest challenge facing just about every organization. more conversations are needed.

DMAIPH is a leading expert in empowering HR & Recruitment teams with analytics techniques to optimize their talent acquisition and management processes. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn how to get more analytics in your HR & Recruitment process so you can rise to the top in the ever quickening demand for top talent.

 

Analytic Techniques to Make Data Driven HR Decisions

On June 22, 2016, in Ortigas, I will be partnering with my good friends at Ariva Events Management to facilitate a workshop on HR Recruitment Analytics.

We are expecting about 100 participants to come and learn more about how to use analytics to empower more data-driven decision-making in their organizations.

Analytics is now commonly being used across all industries, but being able to use the right analytic techniques to harness the power of big data is not so common.

Topics covered in the training include:

  • What is Recruitment Analytics?
  • Self-Assessment of your Recruitment Analytics
  • Analytic Techniques for Finding the Right Data at the Right Time
  • Applicant Tracking Systems & Social Media
  • Big Data and Recruiting Analytic Strategies
  • Business Intelligence, Data Visualization & Business   Dashboards Technologies
  • Building Meaningful HR Recruitment Techniques

New technologies like social networks, applicant tracking systems and business intelligence applications are fundamentally changing the entire recruitment process from sourcing to placement.

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A standard definition of HR Recruitment analytics is simply the metrics and analysis that relates to recruiting in a business.

However, we all know its actually a lot more challenging in practice.

The pressure to deliver results has never been greater.

HR and Recruitment managers are now more than ever required to demonstrate the return on investment their efforts are contributing to the bottom line.

So as the day progresses we will use hands of exercises based on real business cases to come up with solutions to the data challenges around us.

We will also look at several of the biggest trends in HR Recruitment Analytics. Sixmonths into 2016, there are the ones I have identified as the most common:

  1. Millennial Job-Hoppers
  2. Fresh Grad Skills Mismatch
  3. Selling Compelling Brands
  4. Focus Shift on Retention
  5. Social Media is not the magic solution
  6. Go Mobile or Go Dinosaur
  7. Big Data will make life better
  8. Analytics solutions that actually work

Don’t fall behind the competition. Recruiting for top talent in the Philippines is one of the hardest jobs on the planet right now. If your team is not armed with the best analytic techniques it will only get harder to stay a head in the game.

Let me know if you are interested in attending and I will connect you with my business partners at Ariva.

 

Finding The Time To Talk About Analytics Strategies

One of the biggest frustrations I hear from people when we are talking about how empower more data-driven decision-making in an organization is that no one has enough free time to get serious about analytics.

When facing this kind of challenge, a short presentation full of useful data can be used to start the ball rolling. When people say they are too busy then they are often actually saying I have too many things to keep track of and I am not as organized as I should/could be.

There are indeed times when there is more work than can be done in 40 hours a week, but that is actually not the case in most situations. Most corporate cultures reward those with the “I’m so busy I don’t have time to waste on reports” badge of honor.

To counter this you need to do some research into what are the potential time and cost savings that come from fixing the reports and getting better data to decision-makers. It wont take long to find a lot of numbers to use in your business case after a quick Google search. LinkedIn is also a good place to find lots of supporting documentation.

Once you have that info, you can add it to your own assumptions about what KPIs are not being used or what KPIs are missing from current reporting or which KPIs are miss reporting. This can all be turned into a short, compelling case for others taking the time to talk about broader reporting across the organization.

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To really add some punch to your argument, ask one of the too busy people to give  you a few minutes of time to ask them what more they want/need out of their reports. Hardly anyone is truly happy with the reports they get. Gain a few allies in your crusade.

Most people think that using analytics effectively is all about the technology, but the real secret to success is getting the people on board and on the same page. True analytics centric cultures are based on engagement and that engagement needs a facilitator.

Once you have your story and a few key advocates it will be a lot easier to get closer to the data-driven decision-making you are looking for.  If you need help polishing your story or advice on how to get the engagement of a really tough “I’m too busy” co-worker, let me know. I’m sure I can lend a hand.

Analytics Culture – The key to using analytics in a business is like a secret sauce. It is a unique combination of analytics talent, technology and technique that are brought together to enrich and empower an organization. A successful analytics culture is not easy to create, but DMAIPH can show you how. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly so we can build a strategic plan to turn your company into analytics driven success story.

Turning Data Owners Into Data Resources

One of the biggest challenges I hear about when I do public trainings is how to get people who are stingy with their data to share it.

My answer is always the same… buy them a doughnut.

Seriously, when I reflect back to what made me a great analyst when I was with Wells Fargo, one of the biggest reason was I made sure all the data guys liked me.

Just about every company has someone who likes to keep their data close. Sometimes it is a result of security risks. But most of the time it is because they just don’t like to share. It is also possible they just don’t like someone on your team. Whatever the reason, you have to get them to lower the gate and let you in to play with their data.

From my perspective, I generally see a few types of data gate keepers who have very different reasons to keeping you out of their data playground.

  1. They are afraid to share the data, because they know the data is not 100% trustworthy.
  2. They are afraid to share the data, because they worry you will use the data to do things they can’t.
  3. They are afraid to share the data, because they had a bad experience with you or someone like you.
  4. They are afraid to share the data, because you play for a different team.
  5. They are afraid to share the data, because you won’t need them anymore.
  6. They can’t share the data because it’s a security risk.

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In every case, even the last, engagement is the key. Share with them why you need the data, demonstrate how much more awesome your analysis and reporting will be if you can include their data.

One of the advantages I have enjoyed in my career is that I really get along with people. I make an effort to be likeable and trustworthy. To be a great analyst, you will need to be likeable and trustworthy too.

And I kid you not, buying them a doughnut and dropping it off at their cube works more often than you might imagine.

The key to using analytics in a business is like a secret sauce. It is a unique combination of analytics talent, technology and technique that are brought together to enrich and empower an organization. A successful analytics culture is not easy to create, but DMAIPH can show you how. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly so we can build a strategic plan to turn your company into analytics driven success story.