Reflection choice: Visualization

Challenge

Multi National Company, a financial technology firm in the last year has identified a lack of growth in  some key departments like a decrease in staff morale, increased absence, poor job  performance and high levels of work-related stress in a period where the company is  carrying out a major upgrade of all of their office application software to the new  Microsoft Office 365 platform. A committee was setup to identify solutions to these  problems and the feedback from anonymous surveys overwhelmingly pointed to one  key area that may have been ignored for some time – Internal Staff Training.

The change management process overlooked the need to train staff at all levels on how  to do their core functions with the new software deployed company-wide. The final  verdict was that HR needed to overhaul the existing training matrix which was outdated  and had been in use since 2003. It was found that staff did not have enough training  and there was no way to map what courses should be assigned to help improve on the  job. The training data needed to dig into and possibly turn this situation around was  readily available which included, staff reassignments, promotions and change in policies  and procedures over a ten year period.

Selection

Visualization is a tool we use to articulate the problems we mostly speak of in words  and try to break them down in complexity by using drawings, doodles or in cases where  data is available, employ the use of visualization tools to get more insight into these  problems. Language alone cannot paint a picture of how a problem will get solved  because the words may be interpreted differently in the minds of all stakeholders  involved.

As the Head of Business Analytics I chose this tool because visualizations can help  eliminate the ambiguity of interpretation that words carry and everyone can get on the  same page. Insights can be gained using visualization tools like Power BI or Tableau  which will show a pattern to help elicit change, show other forms of insights like  predictive analysis to understand future trends or help mitigate upcoming perceived  problems. Our visualization tool of choice was Power BI due to its easy integration with  other Microsoft tools already used by the company.

Application

For the first week our planned intervention, my team focused on data cleansing to get  some structure to the data and then proceed to get it plugged into Power BI. What we  started to see not long after was that setting up this data as visuals on a dashboard  started giving us a-ha moments, and showed even more grey areas than out initial  investigations revealed. The reports generated cut across the different departments of  the organization, the evolution of jobs based on promotions and then the right training  based on the current portfolio and the personal development goal of the staff in any  given one year period. This process was a team effort with entity heads involved to give  clarification on areas that needed more explanation by answering a few questions and  letting us know why certain decisions were taken over others. Power BI’s advanced  data services feature proved to be the most exciting part as we learned we could ask  verbal queries based on our data. To sum up the experience, the results we had were  mind-blowing.

Insight

It was generally agreed as a team that another four weeks was needed to take this new  information gathered from the dashboards and queries to acquire new training matrix  software or find a way to take the current lapses and generating a new plan geared at  reversing the trend. The reason for this outcome stemmed from the fact that the results  were even better than anticipated when the decision was made to employ visualization  tools. The results brought up the need for the establishment of a dedicated training  team as a new department under the Human Resources division. The need also of  proper change management processes was also established. I finally learned that  visualization is not only about drawings, or dashboards or predictive models but also  visual thinking. This is because visual thinking in our approach pushed us beyond words  and sentiments; it pushed us to use part of our brains that we sometimes fail to use. I  now understand why visualization is an important Design thinking tool.

Approach

Senior Management already had begun plans to invite trainers from local Microsoft  affiliated vendors in the city to start training staff on the new applications deployed. In  the end this approach became a result of not only visualizations but visual thinking  which brought about insights to the possibilities of what if we used this approach  instead of how it’s always been done. They also invested in ‘Docebo’, a flexible and  scalable learning management solution designed to address the needs of businesses of  any size, from SMBs to large companies/enterprises.

My biggest learning take away from this project is the importance of different  perspective from the same data or visualization. Our minds are wonderful when  employed or challenged to think differently. I have designed a curriculum based on this  project and next time I encounter a challenge backed up by data, I intend to use the  lessons learned from the visualization process, hopefully fine-tune aspects that lend  themselves to improvement and eventually pass it on to others in the form of a learning  guide to improve business processes.


Reflection choice : Visualization Challenge Multi National Company , a financial technology firm in the last year has identified a lack of growth in some key departments like a decrease in staff morale , increased absence , poor job performance and high levels of work - related stress in a period where the company is carrying out a major upgrade of all of their office application software to the new Microsoft Office 365 platform . A committee was setup to identify solutions to these problems and the feedback from anonymous surveys overwhelmingly pointed to one key area that may have been ignored for some time – Internal Staff Training . The change management process overlooked the need to train staff at all levels on how to do their core functions with the new software deployed company - wide . The final verdict was that HR needed to overhaul the existing training matrix which was outdated and had been in use since 2003 . It was found that staff did not have enough training and there was no way to map what courses should be assigned to help improve on the job . The training data needed to dig into and possibly turn this situation around was readily available which included , staff reassignments , promotions and change in policies and procedures over a ten year period . Selection Visualization is a tool we use to articulate the problems we mostly speak of in words and try to break them down in complexity by using drawings , doodles or in cases where data is available , employ the use of visualization tools to get more insight into these problems . Language alone can not paint a picture of how a problem will get solved because the words may be interpreted differently in the minds of all stakeholders involved . As the Head of Business Analytics I chose this tool because visualizations can help eliminate the ambiguity of interpretation that words carry and everyone can get on the same page . Insights can be gained using visualization tools like Power BI or Tableau which will show a pattern to help elicit change , show other forms of insights like predictive analysis to understand future trends or help mitigate upcoming perceived problems . Our visualization tool of choice was Power BI due to its easy integration with other Microsoft tools already used by the company . Application For the first week our planned intervention , my team focused on data cleansing to get some structure to the data and then proceed to get it plugged into Power BI . What we started to see not long after was that setting up this data as visuals on a dashboard started giving us a - ha moments , and showed even more grey areas than out initial investigations revealed . The reports generated cut across the different departments of the organization , the evolution of jobs based on promotions and then the right training based on the current portfolio and the personal development goal of the staff in any given one year period . This process was a team effort with entity heads involved to give clarification on areas that needed more explanation by answering a few questions and letting us know why certain decisions were taken over others . Power BI ’s advanced data services feature proved to be the most exciting part as we learned we could ask verbal queries based on our data . To sum up the experience , the results we had were mind - blowing . Insight It was generally agreed as a team that another four weeks was needed to take this new information gathered from the dashboards and queries to acquire new training matrix software or find a way to take the current lapses and generating a new plan geared at reversing the trend . The reason for this outcome stemmed from the fact that the results were even better than anticipated when the decision was made to employ visualization tools . The results brought up the need for the establishment of a dedicated training team as a new department under the Human Resources division . The need also of proper change management processes was also established . I finally learned that visualization is not only about drawings , or dashboards or predictive models but also visual thinking . This is because visual thinking in our approach pushed us beyond words and sentiments ; it pushed us to use part of our brains that we sometimes fail to use . I now understand why visualization is an important Design thinking tool . Approach Senior Management already had begun plans to invite trainers from local Microsoft affiliated vendors in the city to start training staff on the new applications deployed . In the end this approach became a result of not only visualizations but visual thinking which brought about insights to the possibilities of what if we used this approach instead of how it ’s always been done . They also invested in ‘ Docebo ’ , a flexible and scalable learning management solution designed to address the needs of businesses of any size , from SMBs to large companies / enterprises . My biggest learning take away from this project is the importance of different perspective from the same data or visualization . Our minds are wonderful when employed or challenged to think differently . I have designed a curriculum based on this project and next time I encounter a challenge backed up by data , I intend to use the lessons learned from the visualization process , hopefully fine - tune aspects that lend themselves to improvement and eventually pass it on to others in the form of a learning guide to improve business processes .