In the first "Analytics in Practice" episode, co-hosts Ron Landis and Jennifer Miller deconstruct how to utilize the data analytic process for performance appraisal. Given the widespread and varied use of performance assessments in organizations, there are numerous opportunities to reap the benefits of applying data analytic thinking to the process.  

In this episode, we had conversations around these questions:  

• What are some of the decisions to consider for each step of the data analytic process in the context of performance assessment ?  
• What are some of the ways in which performance assessment can be improved by thinking about through the lens of data analysis? 
• Is there information collected during performance appraisal that could be used in ways to learn more about employee performance? 
• Data analytic thinking takes place well before the actual analysis. We talked about how many of the choices we make when conducting performance assessments impact the data we ultimately can use. 

Key Takeaways:  

• Performance appraisal involves numerous choices that can be informed by taking a data analytic perspective to the process. 
• The process of more fully using data analytics within performance assessment is something that HR departments can address in a building fashion. That is, we can steadily build performance assessment on a data analytic foundation based on specific organizational goals and objectives. 

 Send us your questions! We're interested in discussing real challenges and opportunities in the people analytic space! Let us know what people analytic challenges or opportunities you're currently working on. You can either send us a description or record a short audio file and send them to info[at]millanchicago.com. We will answer questions in future podcast episodes.  

 Related Links  

• Millan Chicago 
• Landis article - Selecting response anchors with equal intervals for summated rating scales