Learning and development (L&D) departments are no strangers to change. In fact, with ongoing learning as the vehicle, change is at the core of the function’s mission in order to meet the evolving needs of employees and the business. But as the rate of organizational change continues to accelerate, are L&D leaders prepared to respond?
From my perspective, today’s L&D leaders need a powerful advantage. Facing sequential years of budget cuts, reduced team size, a growing emphasis on skill-based learning approaches and the rise of new generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, L&D departments are under increased pressure to prove how learning initiatives support their organization’s broader business goals.
Thankfully, new data technologies are up to the task, helping efficiently analyze the impact and strategy of L&D programs. To embrace change effectively, L&D leaders should turn to people analytics to drive relevant learning opportunities. However, to truly tap into this burgeoning superpower, effective collaboration with people analytics teams is essential.
Harnessing People Analytics to Enhance Productivity
Historically, L&D leaders have relied on traditional learning metrics such as registrations, completion rates and customer satisfaction score (CSAT), or even their own best judgment, to make programming decisions. In fact, recent Visier research found that 47% of managers typically rely on their intuition, rather than data. While real-world expertise is still essential, access to trusted people analytics can remove some of the guesswork, enabling more data-driven strategies.
For starters, people analytics can help L&D leaders unlock deeper insights on employee needs and skills. Think of it as the ability to read minds: By accurately identifying employee pain points, you can respond more effectively. For example, if data shows higher rates of internal transfers or attrition for a specific team, you might design a learning initiative for the respective managers to help them boost retention. Or, if newer employees are showing lower engagement, you might consider targeted support for people managers to help them manage low engagement and conflict resolutions, as well as have meaningful and effective conversations.
The same logic applies to skills development, one of the top priorities for human resources (HR) and L&D leaders. Yet, with many employees finding less than 30 minutes per week for skill-building, targeted initiatives are essential. Skills analytics can help foster a deeper understanding of each employee’s strengths and gaps, so leaders can develop hyper-personalized training programs. This proactive approach means employees are equipped for their current roles, as well as future challenges.
People analytics can even leverage historical data to measure the success of learning efforts over time. For instance, you might examine the link between the courses an employee completes and their average promotion rates. In this case, people analytics is like a super strength. You can draw powerful new connections between learning activities and employee outcomes, which previously might have been too heavy of a lift.
Building Strong Partnerships with People Analytics Teams: 3 Key Strategies
With a high-quality people analytics solution, organizations can pull customized metrics to support their specific needs. However, in a Visier report, “Building Value Together: Achieving Business Goals with People Analytics,” only 30% of HR professionals believe their organization is good at making positive changes based on people analytics insights. However, By fostering effective collaboration with people analytics teams, L&D leaders can harness data-driven insights to create more impactful learning strategies that align with business goals.
But to take full advantage of your people analytics team, and ignite that superpower, L&D leaders must be ready to work diligently on this partnership. Here are three strategies that can help establish a strong, lasting working relationship with people analytics teams:
1. Optimize your people analytics by focusing on key questions.
Especially in the early days of working alongside people analytics teams, L&D leaders should prepare clear questions that narrow focus and time spent. Before approaching any analyst, consider asking yourself: What’s the learning issue I want to analyze? For example, maybe you want to review common learning patterns for your long-term employees.
Or maybe it’s time to pull data on your company’s most productive and engaged teams. Clarifying an objective beforehand can make it easier for the analytics team to understand the context of your question and deliver more actionable insights aligned to what you’re looking for.
2. Align your learning strategy with relevant business goals.
L&D leaders naturally think in terms of HR metrics, like employee retention or engagement. However, it’s equally important to evaluate any L&D investments through the lens of your organization’s overarching business goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). When asking for data-driven insights, take the time to connect this information back to your company’s goals.
For instance, you might want to understand how improving employee engagement could help your company drive increased revenue or improve profit margins. Early alignment of your L&D initiatives with your organizations’ larger objectives stands to not only improve the effectiveness of your programming, but it’s also a high-impact way to show senior leadership the strategic value of L&D investments and earn buy-in.
3. Create valuable partnerships with your people analytics team.
Don’t let initial challenges when requesting or interpreting people data halt your momentum. It’s okay if you have more questions than answers at the beginning. To best navigate ambiguity, keep an open dialogue with your people analytics counterparts, especially about successes and areas for improvement. Treating data-driven L&D programing as a continuous learning process is a key to fostering collaborative partnerships, making your analyses more fruitful.
As part of this partnership, consider collaborating with people analysts to explore new technologies that can aid your efforts. Ideally, look for data analytics tools with generative AI capabilities, such as virtual assistants, to make your data work more intuitive, faster and democratized.
Wrapping Up
In an era where change is constant, people analytics can offer much-needed guidance. With greater ability to accurately measure the impact of learning opportunities, L&D leaders can better adapt to these changes, and improve their strategy moving forward. This means that your learning initiatives should not only support employees, but also drive business outcomes. That’s your superpower.
