It's Not Clairvoyance, It's Data Science

The Power of Predictive Analytics and Benchmarking

More than ever, companies are fighting tooth and nail to recruit and retain skilled talent. By benchmarking internal data against competitors, your company can determine whether people have been in their current roles for too long, what they require (pay, benefits, and more) to stay, and what type of leadership works best for certain jobs. You may find that your organization has 30 employees reporting to one manager versus 10-to-1 at your top competitors. The result may be that your new hires aren’t getting enough managerial direction and end up leaving. By using benchmarking and then applying predictive analytics, you can dig even deeper into how to keep talent engaged and determine the likelihood certain employees will leave the organization.

Once you identify these hot spots, it’s then up to managers to decide which people might require more interactions, career development, or other leadership initiatives. Analytics are meant to give managers a tickler. They alert them to when a team member is at high risk for leaving because they’ve been in their role for too long or they may dislike their team members. Once the employee is on their radar, leaders can take action and improve the overall situation.

Empowering the Manager 2.0

Data analytics have revealed a whole new way of measuring how to manage people. The once-a-year performance review can be a good benchmark, but doesn’t help managers stay engaged with their employees the other 364 days of the year. Data can reveal to managers how they need to change their behaviors. But managers are busy. That’s why it’s best to show them the headline: What areas does the data say they need to improve, and how can they take steps to improve in those areas? Rather than asking managers to interpret data on their own, this helps bring the proverbial fish to the manager in a much smaller pond. Predictive analytics can also help build better teams.

Opening Up Your Data

There’s nothing worse than collecting data, and not sharing the patterns and insights you spot because you fear others in the organization will misinterpret the findings. If your organization truly wants to adopt a data-driven culture, it needs to be comfortable sharing data across functions and business units so that the combined data can help identify trends that will truly move the needle.

While data analytics is not intended to replace human instinct and insight, it should act as a guide to where people should consider focusing their attention for maximum results. Predictive analytics and benchmarking will never “out-human” humans. I like to use the analogy of your smartphone providing you with the best route home and how long it will take once you the leave the office. While four out of five days you may head straight home, the phone may not know that today you’re heading to your child’s softball game after work. Data may not always provide absolute answers, but it’s better to have some guidance into where to focus your energies than going it alone. Those companies that truly embrace predictive analytics will be the ones with the competitive edge down the road.