Traditional people management refers to approaches that manage and lead employees characterized by a hierarchical structure, centralized decision-making, focus on control and compliance, limited employee involvement, and limited use of metrics and data. In today.s fast-paced, constantly changing business environment, these approaches can be less effective as they may lead to less flexibility, less innovation, and less employee engagement.
Fortunately, businesses can address the problems with traditional people management strategies with new technologies. The following paragraphs introduce one of the innovative strategies, people analytics, and one remote collaboration tool that integrate this feature to bring your management strategies to the next level.
What is People Analytics and why should I care?
People analytics is the use of data, statistical analysis, and technology to gain insights into workforce-related issues, such as employee engagement, productivity, and retention. The goal of people analytics is to use data to inform and support decision-making related to human capital, with the ultimate aim of improving organizational performance.
There are a few reasons why people analytics has become increasingly essential to the modern workforce:
• Data-Driven Decisions: People analytics provides a data-driven approach to decision-making, which can lead to more accurate and objective decisions, rather than relying on intuition or gut feelings.
• Identify Patterns: People analytics allows organizations to identify patterns and trends in employee behavior, performance, and engagement, which can help organizations understand their workforce better.
• Improve Employee Experience: By understanding what drives employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention, people analytics can help organizations create a better employee experience, which leads to increased employee engagement and productivity.
• Cost savings: By using data to identify and address issues that lead to employee turnover, organizations can save money on recruitment and training costs.
• Talent Management: People analytics can help organizations identify and develop high-potential employees, as well as identify and address issues that are preventing employees from reaching their full potential.
• Compliance: People analytics can help organizations identify and address potential compliance issues related to fair hiring, pay, and promotions.
Overall, people analytics is essential to the modern workforce as it provides organizations with the ability to make data-driven decisions, understand and improve employee experience, save costs and improve talent management while ensuring compliance.
What type of people analytics does LEAD offer and why it is important?
LEAD offers Organizational network analysis (ONA) to eligible customers. Organizational network analysis (ONA) and organizational chart-based people analytics both provide valuable insights into an organization, but they approach the analysis from different perspectives.
Organizational charts provide a hierarchical view of an organization, showing the formal reporting relationships between employees. In contrast, ONA uses data on the interactions and relationships between employees to map the informal social networks within an organization.
Benefits of ONA compared to organizational chart-based people analytics include:
• ONA can reveal informal relationships and communication patterns that are not captured by formal reporting structures.
• ONA can provide a more accurate picture of how information and decision-making flow within an organization, allowing leaders to identify potential bottlenecks or issues with collaboration.
• ONA can help identify key influencers within an organization, and provide insights into the formation of informal leadership.
• ONA can also help identify potential internal risks such as lack of communication, and help identify key people that may have the ability to change communication patterns.
• ONA can provide a more holistic view of an organization, as it takes into account both formal and informal relationships and interactions.
At LEAD, our people analytics team uses a combination of data to provide you with Organizational Network Analysis in an easily consumed way. Even for non-technical customers, we are able to provide a comprehensive view of how informal relationships and interactions within an organization can influence structure, communication, and decision-making.
How can the solutions LEAD.bot offers impact your organization?
LEAD.bot creates virtual coffee chats and watercooler sessions that impact the organizational network by:
• Track the connectivity and connectedness changes: LEAD’s employee matching software allows you to track and monitor the changes in your organizational network’s connectivity and connectedness. Our data visualization capabilities provide a before and after comparison, giving you a clear picture of how your organization’s employee collaboration network has evolved. This allows human resource managers and executives to quickly identify and address weak points in the network and recognize initiatives that are driving positive change. With our software, you can gain a deeper understanding of your organizational network, allowing you to make informed decisions to improve employee engagement, wellness, and retention.
• Building stronger connections: By matching employees with similar interests, skills, or job functions, LEAD can help build stronger connections between employees. This can lead to increased collaboration and communication within the organization.
• Breaking down silos: By matching employees from different departments or teams to work together on virtual projects, LEAD can help break down silos and foster collaboration across the organization. This can help create a more cohesive and integrated organizational network.
• Identifying key influencers: By tracking the interactions and relationships that develop through virtual coffee chats and water cooler sessions, LEAD can help identify key influencers within the organization. This can help leaders better understand the flow of information and decision-making within the organization.
Enhancing employee engagement: By providing employees with regular opportunities to connect with their colleagues, LEAD can help enhance employee engagement and foster a sense of community within the organization.
• Improving communication: By fostering interactions between employees, LEAD can help improve communication within the organization. This can help to create a more transparent and effective communication network.
• Identifying potential internal risks: By tracking employee interactions, LEAD can identify potential internal risks such as lack of communication, and help identify key people that may have the ability to change communication patterns.
If my company is interested in seeing our ONA results, what type of data do we need to provide to LEAD?
Good question! Organizational network analysis (ONA) requires data on the interactions and relationships between employees within an organization. There are several types of data that are commonly used in ONA:
• Communication metadata: This can include Slack or Microsoft Teams messaging between employees. This data can be used to map patterns of communication within the organization, including who communicates with whom, how often, and about what topics. LEAD does not need to the actual content of those communications.
• Collaboration data: This can include data on the projects or tasks that employees are working on together, as well as any data on how they collaborate (e.g. face-to-face meetings, virtual meet-ups, etc.). LEAD.bot’s introductions and participation are included in this category.
• Social network data: This can include data on the relationships, interactions, or connections between employees, such as information on who reports to whom, who works on the same projects, or who has worked together in the past.
• Demographic data: This can include data on employee characteristics such as age, education level, job title, etc., and tenure in the organization.
• Performance data: This can include data on employee performance, such as productivity, attendance, or turnover rate.
• Survey data: This can include employee survey data, which can be used to gather information on employee attitudes and perceptions, such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and perceptions of communication and collaboration.
These data can be collected from various sources, such as internal communication systems, human resources databases, and employee surveys. ONA software can then be used to analyze and visualize the data, providing insights into the structure and dynamics of the organizational network.
Learn more with our blog articles: Better People Analytics with Organizational Network Analysis
