When you manage over 500 cinemas across the U.S., understanding the numbers is crucial to keeping the business successful. SPARK Talent attendees got a sneak peek into this world with speaker Adam Murphy, Director of People Analytics for AMC Theatres. With AI, Adam explains how easy it’s become to look at large swaths of data. But what makes an HR leader truly successful, is their ability to contextualize that data, and use it to build tools that people actually need.
Here are our biggest takeaways from Adam’s presentation, and what HR professionals need to be on the look out for:
Visualizing the Data
With technology advancements, HR leaders can track data points better than before. But having the data is only half the battle. In order for your team to act upon information, they have to be able to understand it, which means expressing your data in a way that employees and managers alike can digest.
“If you trade stocks, any stock app, right? It tells you what you need to know. It gives you an idea of what you need to do with it,” says Adam. “And that’s the world we’re living in with our employees, right? Those are the tools that they’re used to. A lot of what I’m going to talk about today is about product and some principles in how you design and put forth data, not necessarily trying to explain data to you.”
Rules for Design
Visualization is key for acting on information, and the best way to communicate that information is with good design. Adam explains, “If you want to figure out how to get them to use it, get them to understand the what’s in it for themselves, follow [these] three principles when designing [your data visualization].”
- Accessibility: Is your data available and visible when your employees need it?
- Intuitiveness: Is it easy to understand your data?
- Action-oriented: Are your employees able to work off of your data?
Two-Way Communication
Once you have your data, and you’re making it readily available to your team, how do you turn that into change? Communication is key, but it’s about everyone coming to the table, and not just using the data to make new instructions.
“Performance management is not a one-way street,” Adam explains. “It’s not just supervisor to employee. It is employee to supervisor as well. They need to express their perceptions, what they need, and come to the table as well”