Embarking on an analytics journey can be overwhelming. Getting from raw data to actionable insights can be a daunting task, especially when considering all the disparate data systems, data normalization, various metrics and views to consider.
In this series, I’ve broken down the process into the following:
I’ve saved what I think is the most important ingredient to a successful analytics project for the last blog post in the series – employee enthusiasm. Implementation is a starting point, but adoption is the long game. This isn’t specific to analytics systems — any new taxonomy, tool, or process that I’ve seen successfully adopted has had the support of employees that clearly understood how the change would make their lives better.
Make it Clear/Obvious:
Tools and processes that I’ve seen quickly adopted are the ones where management communicates early and often about how it will make lives easier, such as increasing access to relevant information or reducing noise or friction in a process. Employees need to know ‘what’s in it for me’. Getting other employees to share stories about how a new tool has helped them be more productive helps encourage others to give new tools/techniques a try.
Make it Fun:
This seems trivial, but the systems and tools I remember most are the ones that had spiffy acronyms, a fun visual, or some sort of competitive game to help drive adoption. Making things fun makes things memorable, and keeps it at the forefront of your employees’ minds.
Make it Easy:
People like to move quickly and any barrier to getting things done fast hinders adoption. Consider the importance of integrating into systems already in use for easy access and support. Dev Ops have their mission control monitors, sellers have laminated one-sheeters with the latest messaging, and executives have weekly digests of key metrics. Is there already a system used in your company that could be extended with your new insights?
Specific to HR data-driven systems, I think there is an additional layer that is important and one, we at Eskalera make a priority: employees need to feel comfortable with how you are using their data. This should be tackled in multiple ways:
Ultimately for a people analytics system, or any analytics system to be adopted, employees need to be enthusiastic about, and clearly understand how this benefits them. If you have done a good job of finding the right data sources and aligning to your business outcomes, then nailing this last step with strong internal marketing will drive adoption so that employees, and the business, can enjoy the benefits of all that hard work.
Contact us to learn how Eskalera’s secure and AI-driven technology can help you engage, develop and grow and obtain the insights you need to achieve individual and organizational growth.