by Konstantin Tskhay​

June 15th

🧠 The Thinking Edge: Why Slowing Down Pays Off in People Analytics

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Hi again, friends!

Over the last several weeks, I chatted with many people in my network, and they are all interested in improving their people analytics.

When I ask them what they want to focus on, I hear many things:

• Data Quality
• Education
• Advanced Analytics
• Dashboards
• HRIS implementation

And we want to go faster and faster.

Yes, I love "Speed." In fact, it is one of my company's values to deliver consulting projects quickly and effectively.

However, even then, I have to remind myself that faster is not always better.

Did you know that a more efficient and slower stroke can often increase your speed exponentially in swimming, allowing you to glide through the water like a fish. (I am doing tryouts for master swimmer level in about a week, hence the analogy).

Anyways, back to people analytics.

What I am trying to say:

It is not speed that matters.

It is the thinking that gives the real edge.

So, no fancy dashboard will be helpful if it's not thought through.

No single metric will tell the whole story.

And surely, no AI tool can substitute a good old thinking.

At least not yet.

What separates good People Analytics from GREAT People Analytics is the ability to pause, plan, and prioritize before diving in.

So, today:

1. Illusion of time
2. Common mistakes to avoid
3. How to create a People Analytics Strategy
4. Ruthless Prioritization

Let's dive in.

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🚀 The Illusion of Speed: Why Acting Fast Can Hurt You

In fast-moving organizations (especially scaleups), there’s this pressure to show results yesterday.

Leadership wants answers. Teams want solutions. You want to prove that People Analytics can drive impact.

So, what do we do?

We jump in.

We start pulling data, building charts, scheduling stakeholder meetings—and we tell ourselves we’re making progress.

But here’s the catch:

Without a plan, all that activity often leads to messy execution.

And messy execution means:

• You’re solving problems no one really cares about
• Stakeholders don't know what to do with data
• You deliver insights that don’t drive action

In the rush to deliver something now, we often skip the most important part: asking "People Analytics for what?"

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🧭 Why Thinking First Matters (More Than You Think)

Something powerful happens when we take time to step back and think strategically.

You move from reactive to deliberate.

From scattered to focused.

This is because when we think about strategy, we remove distractions and noise and consider a higher time frame.

Instead of asking, "What does this insight bring to Group X? "we start wondering, "Where will this insight take us 12 months from now?"

In other words, People Analytics become less minutia and more about a longer-term investment.

In practice, it means:

• You set clear goals: What exactly are we trying to achieve? How does this tie to business outcomes?
• You choose the right metrics: Not just what’s available, but what’s meaningful.
• You align with leadership: Everyone’s rowing in the same direction.
• You know what to say "no" to: Not every data point needs chasing.

It's precisely like investing:

You are looking at a long horizon and putting time, money, and effort into what will create real value.

Discipline beats speed.

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🛠️ How to Build a Solid Plan: Strategy Tools That Help

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to build your plan.

Great tools are out there to help you organize your thinking about people analytics.

Here are 2 tools I especially enjoy:

1. The Advantage Framework helps you define what makes your organization unique and how People Analytics can amplify your competitive advantage. Here are a few components you will define here:
   1. Why do you need people analytics?
   2. How do we deliver people analytics?
   3. What will we do to deliver great analytics?
   4. How will we know that we have succeeded?
   5. What specifically do we need for next quarter?
   6. What outcomes can we expect?
2. Strategy Cascade forces you to answer five critical questions and take tradeoffs on what you will and will not do.
   • What is our winning aspiration?
   • Where will we play?
   • How will we win?
   • What capabilities must be in place?
   • What management systems are required?

Either framework will work as in some ways it is less important that you are using one framework over another than that both of these frameworks ask you to stop and think about the value of people analytics for your firm.

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🏗️ Once You Have a Plan, Prioritize Ruthlessly

Here’s the kicker, you already know:

A plan is only as good as your ability to focus.

You can’t do everything at once. And you shouldn’t try.

Instead:

• Pick 1-2 high-impact areas to start
• Deliver small wins that build credibility
• Revisit the plan quarterly to assess performance

Prioritization is your filter on the decisions you have made.

In People Analytics, we often think the path to impact is a straight line:

Data → Insights → Action

But here’s the truth: the path looks more like this:

Thinking → Plan → Priorities → Data → Insights → Impact

The more time you spend upfront, thinking deeply and planning well, the faster you’ll achieve results that impact your organization.

So, next time you’re feeling the pressure to do something now, ask yourself:

You might be surprised at how powerful slowing down can be.

Cheers,

K

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Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

#1

If you’re still looking to get started in People Analytics, I recommend starting with my affordable course:

​Practical People Analytics: Build data-driven HR programs to 10x your professional effectiveness, business impact, and career. This comprehensive course will teach you everything from building an HR dashboard for business results to driving growth through more advanced analytics (i.e., regression). Join your peers today! ​
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#2

If you are looking for support in your human capital programs, such as engagement, retention, and compensation & benefits, and want to take a more data-driven approach, contact me at Tskhay & Associates for consulting services. Or simply reply to this email!