Better people analytics: Measure who they now, not just who they are

Leonardi, P., & Contractor, N. (2018, December). Better people analytics: Measure who they now, not just who they are. Harvard Business Review, 70-81.

Summary

This article discusses using relational analytics to find out how people interact, who has good ideas, who is influential, and what teams will get work done efficiently and on time. Using the 'digital exhaust' that employees produce, organizational network analysis and relational analytics can provide companies with valuable information about individuals and teams. More specifically, mining the 'digital exhaust' to determine network signatures can reveal employees who come up with good ideas, those who are influential, teams that are efficient, teams that are innovative, organizations that are siloed from each other, and organizations that are vulnerable in the sense of relying too heavily on one person to span boundaries. The article also covers the issues surrounding privacy when mining this data and provides strategies to address privacy concerns depending on how deep an analysis is planned.

Experience

While my own personal experience with organizational network analysis and relational analytics is limited, this article opened my eye to the possibilities. I feel like there is a real value to organizations to using relational analytics in terms of identifying network signatures of individuals and teams to allow them to meet ideation and innovation needs and design teams to execute on those needs.

KEYWORDS: relational analytics, organizational network analysis, ideation, influence, efficient, innovation, silo, vulnerability, privacy