This is a brilliant article from Sakari Kyrö – it raises, very concisely, a central question that’s been worrying me for a while. I’ve noticed that stuff about HR Analytics – eg. articles, supplier case studies – doesn’t seem to have HR, as a function, front and centre, and even that organisations have a separate function for this. This will dilute the cohesion of the overall people agenda and disempower HR if HR doesn’t grab the leadership of HR data.
Why do I find this so worrying? Great HR happens when the human experience of employees at work – the challenges faced by leaders, line managers and employees – is built into a stream of insight that flows upwards and informs strategy. Some of this insight comes from data, yes, but also a lot comes from HR professionals, managing difficult situations conversation by conversation. In turn, this strengthens HR’s relationships and enables them to do the day-in-day-out influencing and coaching that actually delivers improved performance.
Why wouldn’t HR own HR data? This is a challenge to the influence and credibility of HR functions which, as Dave Ulrich knows, is our passion. Dave, I’d love to hear your thoughts on my response. You can see it really got me going! Thanks Sakari for a great contribution.
