More than a decade back, we had made a presentation to the COO of the company. We had analysed the competency evaluation of employees and created a measure for the competency level for each role. The COO liked it and wanted us to share an example with the CEO the next day. I took with me an example of the competency baseline of ” Customer orientation” for all software engineers. The CEO looked at it and asked a question. ” What is the benefit from doing a baseline on customer orientation of engineers? We should do it for our account managers. For engineers, we should assess programming. It seemed so obvious. Even though we had the data, that particular opportunity was lost to implant a concept at the very top of the organization.
This is where a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln is very relevant. He is supposed to have said ” When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two thirds of the time on him and what he is going to say”. After having all the data ready, I should still have put myself in the shoes of the CEO and thought what would make sense for him.
There is data staring at us, wherever we look in HR. Demographics, training, recruitment, appraisals all deliver data streams year on year.Where there are gaps, surveys fill the data. We get so absorbed with consolidating and presenting this data accurately, that we lose track of the Lincoln rule.
Let us consider you are making a presentation to the HR head on attrition. She would definitely be interested in knowing all the details in terms of locations, businesses, gen X, gen y etc. Now assume that you are going to be presenting the same to the CEO.
The CEO expects you to have done due diligence on the data. However, he is not really interested in only knowing the trends, percentages and so on. What he would like to know is whether the measure is on target, how it compares with the industry and the competitors, how existing retention tools are working and whether he needs to do anything else.
While the HR head presentation would have taken an hour, you may not get more than 15 minutes with the CEO. The latter would arguably a more important presentation.
This is where Lincoln’s words ring true. While you may have a wealth of information, that can be attractively presented, you need to put yourself in the shoes of the CEO and see what he wants. Often,companies also know the personality of the leaders and can fine tune the communication to what they are looking for.
Let us take another example. You are presenting to the CFO on a salary revision. CFOs process compensation information very differently. HR would like to know market median, comparatios, attrition due to compensation, % increase etc. CFOs get bored with all that detail.
They would rather like it if you can mention present cost, additional cost added, how much of that additional cost will be in a variable/ performance linked and what results would come out, after incurring the cost. It is even better if you get a sense of your company’s cost of employee benefits in comparison with competitors.
These days, datafication seeks to convert even more information into HR data. HR technology and visualization helps to consolidate and present information attractively.We also talk about strategic mindset etc. Mid level HR executives already spend way too much time collecting, organizing and presenting data.
All that needs to be supported by this simple rule. Know your audience and their drivers and ensure your data aligns your recommendations to what they will be looking for. Rest is detail!
hr3by2 
Very Good article sir