People Analytics Summit Recap:
AI, Chaos, and Graphs
Hi, Friends,
Before we begin...
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Last week, I had the honour of sharing the stage with Michelle Brooks as the host of the People Analytics Summit. I covered day 1, and she took over day 2.
I am on the stage and the screen in my dapper orange jacket.
Of course, the speaker lineup was impressive, and today, I wanted to recap some of my takeaways quickly. Should we do 1-3 bullet points each?
Let's go!
Leveraging data to support complex HR decisions
Follow the money: When doing analytics, think about how your work will create value for the business.
Be more strategic: Automate reporting with AI and focus on important strategic questions.
What's new with AI
Speakers: Lydia Wu, David Morgan, Heidi Klotz
AI needs definitions: We have been doing AI for years, but only today are we facing the new view of AI since it became widely accessible in the form of GenAI. Always think about what you are talking about when it comes to AI.
There are valid AI fears: You need to think about privacy at a high level and how you will use AI. However, AI will also affect some jobs, and your employees may be anxious about it. Explain to them how to use AI properly in their day to day.
Sentient AI Timeline: All speakers expect sentient AI to emerge within 12-18 months, and ChatGPT-4o steps into this territory. We also suspect that the military already uses this technology.
Analytics for Analytics
Speaker: Phil Schrader
Analytics for Analytics: Have you ever considered your success measures for people analytics? Is it efficiency? Cost savings? Revenue? Processing speed? What about model accuracy? We can use these metrics to improve how we interact with data. Next time you get into People Analytics, think about how we measure success well!
Data Governance and Management
Speaker: Max Bakkaloglu
Data Quality is the fundamental mandate of data management: We often talk about data governance and management without discussing why we need it. The answer is that we want high-quality results, so we need high-quality data. That's the goal of the function.
Partnership: We cannot have good data if we do not partner across functions, particularly recruitment and HR, because these functions generate 90% of the data. We must train the team's data literacy to encode the data properly.
Data Integration
Speakers: Christine Schmidt + Alexander Gonçalves
Consolidation: As you already know, I am all about it. Solutions that integrate data and do it well. Hence, invest in a good HRIS that will allow you to keep good quality data consistently.
People Analytics Data for Skills
Speaker: David Meza
Okay, Skills is not just BS! If I am honest, I have not seen a robust application of the skills idea in practice. I thought it was all about competencies being reframed as skills. I was wrong.
Revelation: It only took NASA's head of people analytics to change my point of view. They actually used Graph Theory Analysis to classify the skills across what they need, the talents of their staff, and the training required. This means they 100% will have the right people going to the moon. A truly unique and practical way to encode your skills architecture!
Chaos, Chaos, Chaos
Speakers: Tracy Xiong-Morel and Yannick Fouagou
Chaos Type 1: Macro Chaos, like pandemics, war, and changes in market policy, affects people's experiences within organizations on the macro scale, with a real effect on the data we collect.
Chaos Type 2: Organizational Chaos, such as reorganizations, successful milestone achievement, and changes to widely adopted policies and processes, leads to changes in people analytics.
Chaos Type 3: Individual Chaos, the one facing each one of us day to day, depending on our approach and life circumstances. It will also have effects on People Analytics. Recognize all three and see how they impact your data.
Hiring for People Analytics
Speakers: Lydia Wu, Hardik Shah, Amardeep Singh, Maria Leon
People Analytics is Art and Science: People are complex, and to build a model, you need to treat it as Art and use Science as a tool.
People Analytics Skills: Sure, you can focus on data science, but there are key skills that are absolutely critical for people analytics success: business understanding, curiosity, and innovation. That's why people analytics is so diverse.
Data Storytelling
Speaker: Simona Umoh
Everything has to be digestible. Avoid the fancy terms no one understands, convoluted logic, and graphics. Focus on your audience and help them digest what you are trying to say.
Context, Context, Context: Provide the right context for everything you do in people analytics. Otherwise, you are just doing analysis for the sake of analysis, which is, quite frankly, a waste of time. Find your why.
Engagement
Speakers: Michelle Brooks, Ashlyn Patterson, Jo Jakovljevic, and Lisa Chen
Engagement is still critical: Every organization needs to measure engagement consistently and ensure good participation rates to drive the right actions forward, connecting them to actual outcomes
eNPS Debate: Not settled. Different speakers had different opinions about the metric. Good to compare to others, bad in terms of measuring engagement?
New Ways to Measure Engagement: Not many organizations kicked off the process of looking at behavioural indicators of engagement, and for a good reason. We need to make sure we respect people's privacy first and foremost.
And that was that!
Sadly, I could not attend Day 2, but it was amazing.
Cheers,
K
Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
#1
If you’re still looking to get started in People Analytics, I recommend starting with my affordable course:
Practical People Analytics: Build data-driven HR programs to 10x your professional effectiveness, business impact, and career. This comprehensive course will teach you everything from building an HR dashboard for business results to driving growth through more advanced analytics (i.e., regression). Join your peers today!
#2
If you are looking for support in your human capital programs, such as engagement, retention, and compensation & benefits, and want to take a more data-driven approach, contact me at Tskhay & Associates for consulting services. Or simply reply to this email!