Hi RedThread Fam,

If you've been reading the industry literature recently, you've probably seen one or several pieces on the role of connections and relationships at work. You can add this newsletter to that list. A couple of months ago, we published our report on performance (PM) for hybrid work. Based on data collected in 2021, it was one of the more fascinating studies we have done on PM for a couple of reasons:

• It allowed us to compare 3 sets of data collected in 2019 (pre-covid), early 2020 (beginning of the pandemic), and pandemic peak (summer / fall 2021)
• Culture and capability of managers continue to be important factors for driving performance, although companies need to think more broadly and target a broader range of practices under each.

But the biggest reason we were excited about the study was that we saw connection emerge as a critical factor that impacts PM for the first time. When combined with culture and capability of managers in organizations, employees were 4 times more likely to give their employer a positive NPS score and 1.6 times more likely to report high engagement.

There has been a growing focus on the importance of connection-building during the past 2 years (we just launched a study on it as well). One of the reasons it has come under the spotlight is because genuine relationships within a company can help create a workforce that's generally more satisfied and less stressed. Another reason is the loneliness experienced by remote workers, which could impact engagement and performance. Finally, the loss of networks and relationships outside one's group or team could make collaboration a challenge.

How do leaders build a connection? One way is through check-ins. Our research shows that daily check-ins increased by 8% from 2019 to 2021, while monthly structured conversations increased by 10% from 2019 to 2021.

This makes sense. As companies shifted to more continuous goal-setting approaches, they needed frequent conversations between managers and employees. Also, leaders fearing that employees might feel cut off from company culture likely made a greater effort to engage employees through regular check-ins. Additionally, as managers lacked previous levels of visibility into an employee's work—it resulted in managers speaking with their team more regularly. Finally, the informal means used before the pandemic to provide "in-the-moment" feedback to employees disappeared—leading managers to set more frequent conversations.

While a step in the right direction, our study revealed a greater desire for conversations among employees. Seventy percent of employees want more daily or weekly check-ins than they're having with their managers.

We believe that building and managing connections will continue to be important for PM—if not more so—as hybrid work becomes a reality for many. This is why we recently launched our new PM survey. Our goal is to find out which practices organizations are doubling down on or letting go of in the hybrid work world. And like everything we do, we want you to be a part of it.

There are 3 ways we seek your participation:

1. Take our survey before August 29. We will donate $20 to American Red Cross's Disaster Relief Fund for every response completed!

1. Join our roundtable on September 8 for a highly collaborative discussion.

1. Let us interview you. Reach out to me at [email protected].

We look forward to your participation!

Hi RedThread Fam,

In the summer and fall of 2020, companies made big promises to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) in their organizations. At the time, one of our first questions was how organizations would show the progress made on those commitments. While DEIB metrics—measurements designed to understand DEIB—are the obvious answer, how to select, collect, use, and maintain those metrics isn’t so clear.

Thus, our research initiative on DEIB metrics and people analytics (PA) was born. The first article in this series, “DEIB Analytics: A Guide to Why & How to Get Started,” provides leaders with a plan for how to begin using DEIB metrics and analytics. The second article, “DEIB Metrics: An Essential Guide,” provides definitions of what DEIB metrics are and how they can be used.

Today, we are publishing the Building a DEIB-Analytics Partnership, the 3rd in the series, focusing on how DEIB and people analytics leaders should partner to identify, measure, maintain, and distribute those DEIB metrics.

Why write an article on this DEIB–PA partnership? For many, many reasons.

One of the biggest reasons is that the way that DEIB and PA leaders partnered has changed substantially in recent years. PA is increasingly at the center of DEIB metrics efforts as organizations ensure that they have consistent data sets, analysis approaches, and contexts across the board. However, PA leaders shouldn’t do this work without the support of DEIB leaders—since DEIB brings an essential level of theory, nuance, and context to the data. As one of our interviewees, Hallie Bregman, mentioned:

“People Analytics leaders can help answer questions that DEIB leaders didn’t even know how to ask.” 

Yet, it isn’t always intuitive for DEIB and PA leaders to work together in practice. First, many DEIB and PA leaders have historically come from different perspectives, such as social justice for the former and math or statistics for the latter.

Second, many DEIB and PA leaders’ individual responsibilities often have very different orientations. Many DEIB leaders, for example, are charged with creating community and connection—and taking a data-driven approach may not be prominent on your radar. By contrast, PA leaders primarily focus on data and measurement; your only experience with DEIB may be through their participation in DEIB-related initiatives.

Third, DEIB and PA leaders’ reporting relationships are often very different. This can result in a poor alignment of priorities and little insight into each other’s work, especially if either DEIB or PA is outside the HR reporting structure.

Finally, the data used by DEIB in the past hasn’t necessarily been the same as that used by PA—making it more difficult to create alignment on even simple reporting.

This new article can help DEIB and PA leaders better understand each other—and help you create a partnership that will enable you to succeed. We identify 3 components of an effective partnership in this article, outline the responsibilities of DEIB and PA leaders and provide specific examples of how to make this relationship more effective. We also provide a series of exhaustive checklists in the appendix to help you get started.

We look forward to hearing your feedback on this latest study!

One of my favorite trips was to a place called Ronda, Spain. Ronda is a city that resides on 2 cliffs, connected by a bridge. The bridge, built in 1793, connects the older part of town, La Ciudad, with the newer part of town, El Mercadillo.

In the years before 1793, I can imagine the townspeople, all living in the old part of the city, saying something like, “Dude, we need more space, but we live on a cliff. What should we do?” And then they decided that, even though it would be tough and take some time, they needed space to grow. So they built a beautiful and functional bridge over to the other cliff.

Ronda, Spain

Why am I sharing this? Because you should all go, but also because Ronda is a perfect metaphor for where most organizations are in their skills journey. Many organizations realize that they need to grow; they also understand that what got them here won’t get them there. New ground will be required. And how do you get from the old to the new? You gotta build a bridge.

Our current skills study focuses on that bridge – the things that organizations consider as they start (or continue) their skills journey. It builds on 3 podcast seasons, in which we were lucky enough to have candid conversations with more than 20 leaders about their approach to skills: the how, the challenges, advice they had, what they expected to get out of it – even the tech they’re using.

We expect the final report to publish in early October. So far, we’ve written and published both a Premise and a Readout from our roundtable. Next week, we’ll also publish a Lit Review – a summary of the 50 articles we reviewed, along with a complete list of them so you all can delve as deep as you want.

We’ve also assembled a small but scrappy group of leaders to act as our sounding board. They’ll get a first view of the model and major findings and tell us where we might be wrong. They’re there to keep us honest and grounded.  If you’d like to join this group, please let me know.