Thanksgiving typically offers most of us the chance to relax, eat well, and spend time with family. Of course, it also provides ample opportunities for reading about the application of data-driven analytics in fields beyond HR (who’s with me on this?).
My father-in-law, an optometrist and business-owner, shared a copy of a 2009 benchmarking study entitled “Key Metrics of Optometric Practice” published by the the Management & Business Academy for Eye Care Professionals. He was interested in my take on how the data was presented in a report used by professionals in his industry.
I have to admit that I was a little sceptical of how the report would read – most likely, it would be filled with technical jargon, complex formulas, and indecipherable graphics that hinder the average reader (me) from understanding the key points.
Instead, I was pleasantly surprised. There was a concise introduction on the importance of metrics and their applicability to optometrists, followed by a brief review of the methodology. Each metric (examples include Gross Revenue per Active Patient and Percent of Patients Wearing Contact Lenses) was preceded by a short question – an approach mirrored in how Infohrm organizes its metrics according to the 100 Critical Human Capital Questions – a summary of the result, and implications for how business owners should use the data. Charts and tables were clearly laid out, with titles, logical formats, and sources.
All-in-all…good reading for the non-eye care professional.
The next time you present human capital analytics to a non-HR audience, think about how they typically consume data and what information you should include (and exclude) in order to make it easily understandable.
That…and take the time to read up on what non-HR practitioners are measuring (turkey is optional).