3 Ways Organizations are Using Performance Analytics to Impact Results

The heartbeat of any successful organization isn’t its mission; it’s its metrics. Long known to drive business results, metrics and key performance indicators, or KPIs, are essential for leaders. However, there are more ways to use performance analytics outside of the sales function.

Increasingly, performance analytics are being used to win in the war for talent. Whether you’re competing for highly-specialized skill sets or trying to retain your well-trained team, you need an edge. Thankfully, understanding and deploying performance analytics measures can help you achieve your goals.

1. Predict Future Performance of New Hires

The hiring process has been broken for decades. Some technology advances have made applicant filtering, recruitment, and screening simpler, but they’re not without their flaws. Still, too many gates within the hiring process are rife with opportunities for gut-feeling decisions. While you can’t eliminate all red-flag raising scenarios, you can use performance analytics to predict future performance.

You can also reduce unconscious bias that can inadvertently come along with the hiring process. By using data to refine potential candidates, you stand a better chance to have a more equitable recruiting funnel. And by reducing bias, you can build out a more diverse team, offering meaningful insight and life experiences.

Review your organization’s current rockstars and identify key attributes among them. Sometimes, certain attributes will repeat across job types. Other times, there may be surprises in the mix. Focus on what your organization’s top performers bring to the roles, resisting the urge to prescribe meaning.

Assess factors that contribute to employee engagement alongside job performance. Ideally, you’ll identify a mix of factors that drive results and indicate buy-in for your mission and vision. Use these key attributes in your talent acquisition efforts to refine what you look for in new hires. Paired with recruiting for job skills and experience, seeking out ideal personality traits can suggest high performance from new hires.

2. Design Roles for Job Fit and Deliverables

If you’ve not heard about “job fit” yet, be prepared for the phrase to rank high in organizational leadership publications. The concept of job fit prioritizes the puzzle-like match between a candidate and a role. Beyond the simple match of education and experience, job fit brings satisfaction and personal goals into the conversation.

Using performance analytics can help organizations better design roles that play to candidates’ and current employees’ needs. For example, a communications leader may have a broad skill set, but their sweet spot is when there’s space for creative opportunities. Instead of bogging their job description down with tasks, give them space to solve problems.

Compare your organization’s goals with current roles and growth plans within your teams. Use personality assessments to identify preferences for both humans and the roles they occupy. If there’s a gap between the ideal attributes between people and roles, it may indicate a job mismatch.

Work with your team to refine roles and improve recruiting efforts to ensure better alignment. Use performance analytics to analyze past performance and describe what you know, identify top drivers, and predict results. Doing so can improve employee satisfaction, engagement, and results year over year.

3. Develop Onboarding Programs That Inspire Results

Corporate onboarding can easily be associated with syllabus day during an employees’ school years. The inundation of information, slide decks, and paperwork can have even the most eager new hire disengaged. However, performance analytics can help organizations revamp their onboarding process to build on the momentum of a new hire’s excitement.

First, consider the opportunity that was sold to your new hires in the recruitment process. Whether it’s your organization’s impact that’s the draw, significant financial rewards, or something in between, emphasize your “why.” Employees of every type do their best when they’re clear on what role they play in your organization. Use this correlation to create a metrics-based onboarding program that keeps everyone accountable.

Start by assigning responsibilities for leaders and new hires. Using checklists, formalized training modules, and mentor-led conversations, usher in new hires with intention. Work with team leaders to develop a deadline-driven onboarding program that brings new hires into the fold.

Ensure that those involved in the process have adequate bandwidth in their schedule to dedicate to the program. Full-circle support is required for your new program to be successful. Review program metrics weekly to track progress and adjust as timelines tighten or fall by the wayside.

Data Used Well Drives Results

Every business leader loves data, but its magic lies in how you use it. When launching a performance analytics initiative, ensure you’ve got more than just numbers. To be successful and achieve your goals, you’ll need partnership and commitment from organizational leaders.

First, get buy-in from team leaders and executives to ensure your plan has legs. Next, develop a program with feedback and engagement from key stakeholders. Then, craft a launch plan that begins with manager training and includes long-term follow-up and nurturing as your program matures. Report findings as a standard part of your reporting metrics to keep your performance analytics top of mind. Soon, your results will show improved hiring and retention as well as improved revenue.