Interview with Dave Ulrich, a speaker, author, professor, and thought partner on Human Capability

Meet Dave Ulrich, a speaker, author, professor, and thought partner on Human Capability (talent, leadership, organization, HR). Dave’s influence has left an indelible mark on the HR profession, earning him accolades such as the “father of modern HR” and “HR thought leader of the decade.” His profound impact stems from his unwavering dedication to HR outcomes, governance, competencies, and practices.

In this interview, we discuss the role and significance of people analytics within organizations. We discuss how people analytics can contribute to decision-making, talent acquisition, retention, and employee engagement, the data sources typically used in people analytics, the skills and expertise required to work in this field, the future role of people analytics, and the criteria for effective analytics.

Business and HR leaders make innumerable decisions to help their organizations succeed in the marketplace with customers, investors, and communities. The process for making these decisions ranges from intuition based on experience to insight based on evidence. It’s widely acknowledged that decisions grounded in evidence are significantly more likely to be effective than those based solely on intuition.

When talking about analytics, we see four stages of the evolution of analytics, each with its own vocabulary.

• Benchmarking: How do we (I) compare?
• Dashboard, scorecard
• Best practice: Who is the best that we (I) can learn from?
• Standard, exemplars, prototype
• Predictive analytics: Why are they the best?
• Forecasting, data science, evidence-based decisions
• Guidance: What should we (I) do to be our (my) best?
• Impact, outside-in.

Each of the four stages of analytics serves a distinct purpose: from benchmarking by comparing to others, learning from best practices, and understanding what makes them superior through predictive analytics to receiving customized guidance for impactful actions. Without analytics, vast information is futile for better decision-making. Business and HR leaders make prudent investments in analytics, enhancing decision-making, and providing guidance on which of a myriad of human capability (talent, leadership, organization, and HR) initiatives deliver the outcomes that matter.

Consider measuring employee engagement in the context of its impact on customer engagement and financial results. Frequently, enthusiasm for employee experience focuses on the experience itself rather than its actual value — how it affects key stakeholders like customers and investors.

During a recent seminar, I prompted HR participants to jot down their workshop learning goals. Their responses predominantly revolved around HR practices, including talent mobility, mental health, agility, culture change, leadership development, and transformation. Many wanted “analytics” about these human capability practice areas. To probe them for their desired impact, I asked them to write “so that . . .” behind each desired learning and fill in the phrase after:

• The “so that” exercise required them to consider how the HR activity affects stakeholders who should receive value from the initiatives.
• “So that” shifts the analytics focus from activity to impact.

We’ve framed this logic as an Organization Guidance System, which links human capability initiatives to results, prioritizes initiatives by impact, and offers guidance on where to focus actions.

Multiple data collection methods enable impactful research depending on the primary purpose of the research. Each data collection method has rigorous criteria; surveys with only LinkedIn followers, friends, clients, or a convenience sample would reduce (or remove) confidence in the reported findings. Analytics should report why the method was selected and confirm the accurate use of the data collection method.

Multiple data collection methods enable impactful research depending on the primary purpose of the research. Each data collection method has rigorous criteria; surveys with only LinkedIn followers, friends, clients, or a convenience sample would reduce (or remove) confidence in the reported findings. Analytics should report why the method was selected and confirm the accurate use of the data collection method.

I’ve studied the competencies of HR professionals overall relevant to those who work in people analytics. I found that there are five competencies HR professionals should demonstrate to deliver business results.

For 25 years, I labeled competence domains as roles with adjectives defining those roles (e.g., business partner, strategic contributor, paradox navigator, credible activist, etc.). In this round, I focused on verbs and outcomes (accelerates business, advances human capability, mobilizes information, fosters collaboration, simplifies complexity). Roles imply position; verbs imply action. In the 2020–21 crises, HR professionals have had to act expeditiously to respond to the uncertainties and jolts. The HR “role” is less important than the actions that create value for others.

Accelerating business requires starting from outside to recognize market conditions that shift the HR agenda. HR should become business literate to know the language of business (e.g., financial, marketing, and strategic ideas) and how the business makes money by adapting to changing market conditions.

Advances in human capability refer to what HR contributes to business discussions by discussing human capability:

• talent (attending to employee needs, particularly diversity, equity, and inclusion in today’s world)
• organization (offering HR solutions in terms of organization capabilities).

Mobilizing information is grounded in the technological revolution. New technologies are emerging daily (e.g., AI, machine learning, IoT, robots, virtual reality). These technologies create digital information, which in turn shapes decision-making.

Fostering collaboration is about relationships and working together. It starts by having personal credibility and being trusted and trustworthy. Personal credibility enables HR to form positive relationships with others.

Simplifying complexity is a challenge in today’s increasingly information-laden world. There are so many ideas, but not all ideas have equal impact. Critical thinking entails the skill to discern valuable insights from the less significant, enabling a concentration on ideas that can bring the most significant impact to your organization.