When it comes to having information, many agree that there is often too much of it and not enough knowledge. This is often the case when business leaders try to make important talent decisions that will impact their organization’s future. While companies have amassed significant amounts of workforce information from their enterprise resource planning (ERP) and human resource management information systems (HRIS), leaders are often faced with reviewing reports that lack relevant wisdom.
Harnessing the power of workforce data can enable business leaders to make more effective talent-
related decisions in areas such as talent planning, acquisition, compensation, rewards, development programs, and especially deploying critical talent.
Well-defined, high-quality information can provide richer insights into critical segments of your workforce while increasing the level of transparency in communication and highlighting specific trends that help pinpoint the focus on actionable solutions. Listening to your employees by meeting face-to-face and/or through other organizational feedback methods ensures that you know what’s on their minds; what they want, what they need, and their motivations. When these factors are infused with holistic approaches to your talent portfolio, as leaders you can begin to discover possibilities to enhance dialogue with employees and together tackle marketplace priorities.
The new workplace, with its growing diversity in a global economy, presents opportunities to adopt new solutions. Imagine, for example, leading a successful startup as your workforce quickly expands from eight, to 150, to 1,100. How would you plan to stay connected? Or imagine leading merger and acquisition activities in a mid-size to large organization. How would you gain access to critical experts and rapidly deploy talent?
As you move away from basic reports, which offer limited value, and toward workforce analytics, consider the following:
- How well are you able to understand the generational differences and diversity in your workforce and their impact on workplace culture and business strategy?
- How do you know which talent investments to prioritize?
- What retention risks exist across the organization, and what are the trends behind them?
By gaining a deeper understanding of your workforce, you can enjoy the benefits that actionable insights provide. No more guessing about the capabilities of one division over another or relying on employee surveys that no longer represent the faces of your evolving workplace.
As you look to build a healthy culture and drive growth strategies for the future, one of the greatest joys can be in truly understanding your changing workforce.
Given the importance of talent in today’s environment, it’s time to move beyond making talent decisions based on what’s in traditional reports and rely instead on robust information. Gain a competitive edge and drive your culture and talent decisions further by discovering the joy in understanding your people and the many scalable options that actionable insights can provide.
If you would like to learn more about ways to improve your talent decisions and build long-term value with the data you have available today, please contact and/or visit.
©2011 All rights reserved. Judy White, SPHR, GPHR, HCS is the President of The Infusion Group ™ LLC, a next generation people management consulting and executive coaching firm based in the Raleigh/Durham, NC area. How can you become a community member? Discover Here.
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