People Analytics Reveals Three Things HR Might Be Getting Wrong

I thought I would share this interesting article in McKinsey that, in some ways aligns itself with the teachings of Dan Ariely and Dan Pink (check out their TED talks on What makes people feel good about their work and The Surprising Truth Beyond Motivation if you haven’t already seen them).

The sections on ‘cutting through the hiring noise and bias’s and addressing attrition by improving management were particularly useful. Funnily enough, I was with the Property Management company, Urban Bubble yesterday, recruiting for a Head of Property when we were faced with an excellent candidate. We had to work to ‘cut out the noise’ (we had been informed by several third parties about how exceptional this person was) and judge them on their own merits and what we saw in front of us. I’m pleased to say we’ve made an excellent hire, but, as suggested in the post by McKinsey, she did come from the usual pool of talent, with the standard set of qualifications that we would usually look for.

In the section on improving management, the article tells us about how people value recognition and training over bonuses. As I often say to clients, pay people a little over the going rate. So rarely will keeping your staff be about the money if you’re doing this. People leave people and it’s important to develop competent managers, make your people feel significant and valued and give them opportunities for person development and growth.

I hope you find the article to be of interest and consider how your people analytics might be able to help you to improve the success of your hiring process.

Have a great day.

Lily Newman