Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
Using Analytics Efficiently – 5 Ways to Improve Employee Production
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 by Bryan Anderson
There are a lot of reasons to collect data - analyze important
trends, calculate appropriate next steps, monitor ongoing progress,
or simply to prove a point. However, in the business world,
employee reports are critical in understanding the company's
progression and areas to advance. Sometimes, workers may feel
like these reports take up too much of their "work" time, or that
they don't see the underlying benefit of the time required to
accumulate such data. How can analytics help both your company AND
the employees who have worked hard to obtain them?
An article over at bnet.com suggests five
solutions to reveal that "busy work" as important and, ultimately,
beneficial:
- Communicate the reason for gathering the
information. Answer the basic questions - who is using
this information? How will they use it? Has it been helpful in the
past? An example here would be ideal, as people will relate more to
actual cause and effect.
- Ask them the question - what do the
numbers mean to you? Now that the information is gathered,
ask the gatherers: what surprises you about these numbers? What
could we change for the future? No one will give you more genuine,
insightful answers than your workers who invested time to provide
the data.
- Make sure to value ALL members' opinions. The
demeanor of your employees has nothing to do with their insight
value - the loudest or the quietest member has a point of view that
factors into the overall outlook.
- Use creative ways to share and present the
data. Excel spreadsheets may be fun for some, but a visual
representation of data will increase awareness and interest.
There are plenty of opportunities to use info graphs in a
memorable yet appropriate way.
- Data collected is data worth sharing. Every
worker benefits from the fruit of their hard work - whether the
data benefits them or not. Share the finished data and
observations, allow individuals to understand their role in a
bigger picture - the progress and stability of the company.
Got any other ways to use analytics as an internal productive
tool? Share them with us!
Until next time -
Matthew Hymel
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Support &
Consulting
Rochester
IT Support & Consulting
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