The HR GPS System

I have mentioned the many discussions I have had with HR leaders who insist that their data is of poor quality, but have never looked at it. Much like when using a GPS system, in order to understand where you want to take your company, you need to understand where you are first.

Imagine how poorly your GPS system would perform if it only knew the destination and not the starting point. Are you having those types of conversations with your C-suite, managers, and employees? Credibility always is stronger when you have a starting metric.

Wouldn’t it be better to have a data-driven picture of each employee, manager, department, job function, etc.? You would be able to quickly identify the needs of each one of these with a simple click. Suddenly, instead of having broad programs where you treat everyone the same, you can have personalized programs, driven by data, with known and expected results.

For example, suppose you decide to look at which jobs are...