Dive Brief:
- Big data is causing HR leaders some big headaches, at least in terms of deciding when and how to use it, according to an article at Workforce.com.
- Author Kris Dunn, CHRO at Kinetix, calls it a good news-bad news scenario. The upside is that HR leaders who have real control over their HR systems have a great chance to get the HR staff on the same page and allow big data to work company-wide.
- The bad news is even if a CHRO has his or her tech solutions under control, HR still needs to engage business partners in terms of what the data means and how it can be tweaked to maximize talent's impact on business success.
Dive Insight:
Dunn cites two critical success factors in launching HR analytics. One is to focus on how the data are sliced for reporting purposes. The other is training HR staff across the company on how to be consultative with the business operations leaders they support.
He says the big data "secret sauce" in HR is the negotiation and consultative skills of HR staff out in the field. If a frontline HR team can’t cut it along those lines, no analytical platform, big data or otherwise, is going to work.
He adds that HR staff has to be blunt with their line of business partners, telling them where they have a problem, and then offering consulting services to help an underperforming manager or unit improve. Big data in HR can clearly work, but HR leaders need to understand and develop the consultative skills necessary across their department. Otherwise, big data can be reduced to "another report that no one is going to use."
