Analysts: Managing Scarce and Valuable Talent--How to Fully Leverage the Skills of Your Analytical People

By: Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris and Robert Morison

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Synopsis: Have you ever seen an analytically oriented firm without plenty of analytically oriented people? Though computers and data drive analytical decision making, they are not nearly as vital as people. Finding, developing, managing, and deploying analysts - the people who make the day-to-day-work of such organizations possible - is critical to a firm's success. Because analysts are often scattered throughout a company, you might not even have a clear picture of who your analysts are, but this distinct and pivotal workforce segment requires its own recruiting strategies, training, career paths, and performance management. In this chapter, the authors of the definitive book Competing on Analytics help you learn more about your analysts so that they--and therefore your company's data--can reach their full potential. You will learn about your analysts' skill sets, how to motivate them by understanding what type of work they like to do, how to organize them to maximize their value to the business, and how to best manage them so they become partners in helping your business grow in analytic strength, skill, and power. This chapter was originally published as Chapter 6 of Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results.