Sometimes, earning buy-in from employees requires bridging the perceived chasm between data analysis and life in the field. Employees with no background in data science may resent or resist the notion that an algorithm or a spreadsheet or even artificial intelligence can truly add value to their work. The onus is on us to prove that they can.
Hiring new talent that can transform the mindset and abilities of existing employees may be a key to our success. “We decided that in the minor leagues, we would hire an extra coach at each level,” says Jeff Luhnow, general manager of the Houston Astros. “The requirements for that coach were that he had to be able to hit a fungo, throw batting practice, and program in SQL (our proxy for understanding analytics). What ended up happening was, we had people who were in uniform, who the players began to trust, who could sit with them at the computer and show them the break charts of their pitches or their swing mechanics and really explain to them, in a lot more detail, why we’re asking you to raise your hand before you start swinging or why we’re asking you to change your position on the rubber or how you deliver the ball.”9
The Houston Astros discovered that by onboarding individuals with the skill sets of both analytics and baseball, they could create a culture where data analysis was accepted as an integral part of a seemingly unrelated job.
While culture changes need to be realized on the ground, they must be supported from the top. Executives cannot be immune from the changes the organization wishes to see. In fact, they need to be the primary champions. As Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric puts it, “I’m responsible for this company. I stand behind the results.…[I]t’s about performance with integrity. That’s what you have to do.”10
Performance with integrity is key: business leaders cannot just talk the talk. To succeed, the cultural values we wish to promote need to be embedded in our business processes (such as mapping key behaviors to KPIs). They must be evident in how we structure our teams (such as championing cross-functional teams to solve business problems). And they must be borne out in our budgets, our priorities, and our policies. Otherwise, our attempts to change are only cosmetic.
According to a Gartner report, “Senior leaders at the vast majority of organizations (83% in our research sample) consistently communicate the importance of culture. In fewer organizations (29%), leaders consistently behave in a way that’s aligned with the culture. At very few organizations (19%) do leaders consistently manage business processes based on the desired culture. This approach…helps to explain why only 32% of HR leaders agree their organization is effective at embedding culture into employees’ day-to-day work.”11
Difficult though it may be, the rewards are worth it. Advanced analytics have the potential to shape our long-term strategies, shift our priorities, and check our gut assumptions. Analytics can be game-changing, just as they were for Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics, and eventually all of baseball. With the right culture, the rewards of analytics are ours for the reaping.
In recounting his memories of the 2002 year that changed everything, Chris Pittaro, National Field Coordinator for the Oakland Athletics, had this to say: “I think we just told [our scouts], listen, you go in and you see a player on any given time and it’s kind of like taking a snapshot, whereas the statistics and numbers will tell the whole story of a year. They’ll give you the film. So which one is more likely to be what the player is?”12
When we evaluate our business strategies and begin planning what we want to achieve in the coming years, we need the confidence of data to direct our actions.
We can’t develop long-term strategies based on a snapshot—we need the whole film.
We need the complete story of where we’ve been, how we got here, and where we are able and likely to go. The right data analysis can give us this precious information. But we must first create an environment where analytical insights can be enthusiastically adopted and implemented throughout the organization.
Creating culture thoughtfully and intentionally takes time. It takes an all-hands-on-deck mindset and a willingness to work collaboratively through difficult decisions and setbacks. But the results are well worth the effort. As advanced analytics become more central to business operations at every level, we can’t settle for singles and doubles. We need to swing for the fences and build a culture where every aspect of the business makes the most of the wealth of data available to us.
Leigh Steinberg, “Changing the Game: The Rise of Sports Analytics,” Forbes article, August 18, 2015, forbes.com/sites/leighsteinberg/2015/08/18/changing-the-game-the-rise-of-sports -analytics/#2eec32e04c1f.
Ryan Wright, “Moneyball: A Look Inside Major League Baseball and the Oakland A’s,” Bleacher Report article, September 20, 2011, bleacherreport.com/articles/858470-moneyball-a-look-inside-major-league-baseball-and-the-oakland-as.
Mike Piellucci, “An Experiment That Changed Baseball: The Moneyball Draft 15 Years Later,” Vice Sports article, June 12, 2017, sports.vice.com/en_us/article/pay3n9/an-experiment-that-changed-baseball-the-moneyball-draft-15-years-later.
Alejandro Díaz, Kayvaun Rowshankish, and Tamim Saleh, “Why Data Culture Matters,” McKinsey Quarterly article, September 2018, mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-analytics/our-insights/why-data-culture-matters.
Gartner, “Gartner Predicts by 2021, CIOs Will Be as Responsible for Culture Change as Chief HR Officers,” press release, February 11, 2019, gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-02-11-gartner-predicts-by-2021--cios-will-be-as-responsible?utm_medium=social&utm_source=bambu&utm_campaign=SM_GB_YOY_GTR_SOC_BU1_SM-BA-PR.
Katie Costello, “Overcome Digital Business Roadblocks,” Gartner article, August 6, 2018, gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/overcome-digital-business-roadblocks/.
Oracle, “HR Moves Boldly into Advanced Analytics with Collaboration from Finance,” Oracle ipaper, oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/hr-analytics-report-ipaper.pdf.
Frances Hesselbein and Alan R. Shrader, Leader to Leader 2: Enduring Insights on Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2008.
Alejandro Díaz, Kayvaun Rowshankish, and Tamim Saleh, “Why Data Culture Matters,” McKinsey Quarterly article, September 2018, mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-analytics/our-insights/why-data-culture-matters.
Jeffrey Immelt, “Making GE Sustainable,” case study, icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Leadership%20and%20Entrepreneurship/Jeffrey%20Immelt-Case.htm (abstract only; fee payable to download whole case study).
Jackie Wiles, “Lead Culture Change,” Gartner article, July 12, 2018, gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/lead-culture-change/.
Mike Piellucci, “An Experiment That Changed Baseball: The Moneyball Draft 15 Years Later,” Vice Sports article, June 12, 2017, sports.vice.com/en_us/article/pay3n9/an-experiment-that-changed-baseball-the-moneyball-draft-15-years-later.
