Discover a framework for blending storytelling with HR data to influence decision-making and drive meaningful change within your organisation.
A well-crafted data-informed story can effectively influence decision-making, foster understanding, and drive meaningful change within the organization. A data-informed story blends the art of storytelling with data-driven insights, creating a compelling narrative that resonates with the audience and inspires action.
Here's a framework for how to develop data-informed HR stories:
Every compelling data-informed story begins with a clear business objective. It's essential to know what you want to convey and the actions you want to inspire from your audience. Defining your objective gives direction to your story, shaping its structure and maintaining its focus. A well-articulated objective ensures your story remains purposeful and impactful, driving the narrative towards your desired outcome.
“Using people data to get to a scientific insight is only half the battle. If you can't step back and crisply describe your findings in terms of business impact, you quickly lose the room, lower credibility, and break trust with business leaders.”
— Ian O’Keefe, Head of Talent Analytics and Data Science, Amazon
Your story's credibility stems from its findings: both data evidence and the story context.
Collect and analyse data pertinent to your objective. This data acts as the backbone of your story, supporting your narrative and revealing valuable trends, patterns, and insights. It's the facts and figures that make your story believable and persuasive, reinforcing your arguments and enhancing your story's validity.
Context adds depth to your data, making it meaningful and relevant. Explain why your data matters, its relation to broader organisational objectives, and its direct impact on your audience. This context helps your audience comprehend the data's significance, allowing them to connect the dots between raw data and its implications.
Visualising your data helps to clarify and accentuate your key messages. Rather than presenting raw data or lists, craft clear and engaging visual representations of your data. This could involve charts, infographics, or diagrams, which enable your audience to quickly grasp the information and easily identify the patterns or trends you're emphasising.
Narrative is the act of weaving together data and insights into a compelling story that resonates with the audience and inspires action. By using an engaging narrative, relatable examples and analogies, and emotional appeal, HR professionals can effectively communicate the human impact of organisational decisions and drive meaningful change.
“To infuse more storytelling into people analytics, understand the business and people context, use narrative techniques and visualisations to present data engagingly, and go beyond data by exploring the human factors driving it. Enhancing storytelling in this field can significantly boost its impact on business outcomes.”
— Tony Truong, Vice President of People Strategy and Operations, Roku
To captivate your audience, weave your data and insights into a compelling narrative. Ensure your story flows logically, featuring a beginning, middle, and end, each part reinforcing the key message you wish to convey.
Examples and analogies act as bridges between complex data and familiar concepts. By relating your data to real-life scenarios or recognisable concepts, you make it more accessible and understandable for your audience, making your story more relatable and engaging.
The magic of storytelling lies in its ability to evoke emotions. Incorporate elements that resonate with your audience on an emotional level. This could involve personal anecdotes, inspiring stories, or connections between the data and the organisation's values and goals.
[block quote:] “People analytics insights have an easier path to landing as a compelling story if quantitative findings are combined with qualitative findings. Pulling anecdotes from HR and non-HR leaders, managers, and employees in your business lines is a validating and powerful storytelling device.”
— Ian O’Keefe, Head of Talent Analytics and Data Science, Amazon
Data stories are not static monologues but dynamic dialogues. Build your stories in a way that allows you to be prepared for follow-up questions and additional requests. Consider building your data stories in platforms where you can treat them as living documents, flexible and adaptive, fostering interactivity and ongoing engagement. This approach will enrich your narrative, keeping it relevant and resonant over time.
The goal of any data-informed story is to inspire action. Conclude your story with a clear call to action, outlining what steps you want your audience to take based on the insights presented. This crucial step ensures your story doesn’t merely inform but also drives engagement, leading to tangible change.
Ready to learn moreDownload our eBook Why Data-Informed Storytelling Is the Future of HR to explore additional examples and learn how One Model can help your organisation tell compelling, data-driven stories.
Tony Ashton : Mar 18, 2020 12:00:00 AM
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