For our people analytics series, eqtble sat down with Erin Fleming to explore her tried-and-true strategies for maintaining leaders' interest and investment in people analytics. Drawing on her extensive experience in the field, Erin shared valuable insights on the importance of understanding the audience, demonstrating accountability, and aligning people analytics initiatives with business objectives.

Through her strategic approach, she emphasizes the value of building trust, delivering tangible results, and showcasing the potential impact of people analytics on organizational success. Dive into this enlightening discussion to learn more about the essential tactics for engaging leaders in people analytics and driving meaningful change in your organization.

Speak Their Language

When presenting people analytics findings to leaders, it is critical to comprehend your audience and communicate in a manner that resonates with them. Erin highlights the need to not only employ language that pertains to their goals and concerns but also to adapt the delivery method to their preferences, be it through visualizations or concise summaries. By speaking their language, you can establish a connection between people analytics and the leaders' priorities. As Erin highlights,, "it's really important to make sure that anything that we're presenting is bearing in mind the audience that we're actually speaking to and using a format that they find most accessible."

Prioritize Their Needs and Address Business Problems

Another critical aspect of engaging leaders is prioritizing their needs and demonstrating how the presented data and insights can help them solve their business problems. Erin suggests being concise, clear, and most importantly, focusing on the issues that matter most to the leaders. She explains, "why should they care about what we're presenting? How does it help them solve any business problems that they have?"

Set Clear Objectives and Track Success

Erin stresses the significance of being accountable for any requests made of leaders, even if it involves only a small portion of their time. To guarantee leaders remain invested in people analytics, it is essential to establish clear objectives, monitor the success or failure of initiatives using relevant metrics, and communicate progress consistently. This level of transparency helps build trust and credibility with leaders, ensuring they stay engaged.

Value Their Time and Demonstrate Commitment

It is crucial to respect leaders' time by presenting meticulously prepared data and insights and demonstrating a coherent plan for addressing the business issue at hand. Erin also suggests being responsive to feedback and addressing any concerns or questions leaders may have. By valuing their time and exhibiting accountability, you can earn their trust and preserve their interest in people analytics initiatives. This approach signifies your dedication to solving problems and delivering tangible results.

Connect People Analytics to Business Goals

Erin highlights the importance of aligning people analytics initiatives with leaders' priorities and ensuring that they are relevant to their concerns. By doing so, you can demonstrate the value of people analytics and its potential to make a significant impact on the business.

Erin shares an example of how to approach a sales leader with data showing that top-performing salespeople are more likely to leave due to a lack of engagement and belonging. She suggests focusing on the potential impact on sales quotas and connecting the people analytics findings to the sales leader's primary concerns, such as revenue generation and team performance.

She says, "you're giving them the data and insights but you're not using as much HR language. You are letting them know that you value their time and you're letting them know that you understand where they're coming from. A sales leader doesn't care about HR programs they do care about their teams being successful hitting their quotas, so we're coming at everything from their perspective making sure that we're selling to them what they actually need and connecting any people analytics that we do to their business goals"

Conclusion

Keeping leaders interested and invested in people analytics requires a focused approach that prioritizes their needs and concerns while demonstrating accountability and alignment with business goals. By understanding your audience, speaking their language, and connecting people analytics initiatives to leaders' priorities, you can successfully engage leaders and drive investment in people analytics initiatives, leading to data-driven decision-making and positive business outcomes.

Connect with Erin Fleming.