Organisations worldwide have started capitalising on the benefits of using data science to extract knowledge or insights from data in various forms in order to disrupt markets and effectively position their offerings. The global market is expected to witness phenomenal growth over the coming years and the question remains as to how we as human science practitioners should or could use the science of data to extract knowledge or insights to find meaningful information to figure out solutions to problems like selecting people for change leadership roles?

Companies like HiredScore tackles the candidate selection process with big data and workforce intelligence by leveraging the power of data. Other companies like Pymetrics mirror the identified traits of their top performing employees in new recruits by doing away with the form of bias that may be associated with traditional recruiting. This is done in the form of a set of games where traits like memory, emotion detection, risk taking, fairness and focus is assessed after determining which traits equate to high performance for specific roles in the company.

IBM has also incorporated data science into their compensation and career solutions as well as their culture and business model. As these tools are implemented in other organisations, IBM is able to build on the existing data and algorithms. IBM also has a data science solution that enables cognitive talent management where career discussions are personalised and recommends best fit. A Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Paper Commissioned by Microsoft specifies why the future is bright for workplace analytics as organisations are investing in data analysis tools.

So how does this all link to leadership and selecting people for change leadership roles? Recent articles allude to the reality of the requirement of leadership to be/get comfortable with change. “It’s part of the experience of every leader. The best leaders get accustomed to leading change.” According to one of the partners at a global professional services firm, workplace transformation requires seasoned professionals who understand how to drive transformation, who understand both organisational behaviour and the context in which it operates. They are able to effectively interpret the data and determine the right intervention or action as a result of the data.

While being in a change leadership role may not be easy, the first step is knowing what it requires. As companies build on the data on what characteristics successful leaders of change portray, they are able to recruit, grow and develop leaders that have that same skill set. This will ensure that the company build a team of change leadership that can sustain change and can react effectively to changes in their environments.

Our research on change leadership, found evidence of specific characteristics for successful change leadership that leaders would want to cultivate in themselves, factor into the hiring decisions as well as cultivate in the team culture by taking steps to reinforce them and avoiding steps that contradict them. The top five (5) characteristics that correlated across articles and suggested for Change Leadership are able to:

1. Create a positive shared vision for the implementation of change.
2. Build strong relationships on trust.
3. Genuinely care about the team.
4. Ask tough questions and challenge the status quo.
5. Focus on continuous improvement.

Like everything there are some risks involved. Analytics should not be used as a tool for independent decision making and should be applied carefully. The success of an analytics tool will be dependent on many things: the accuracy and completeness of its algorithms, the ease of use of its systems, but more important than is the ability to provide very specific solutions that solve problems. The accuracy and value lie in the amount of data available in order to get feedback and utilise data science.

Despite the challenges and risks, there is much to gain from using data science in selecting leaders and people for change initiatives. Transformation projects amount to enormous expenses as companies want to stay ahead of the curve, be innovative and stay relevant. However, when we can select the correct leaders to drive and help organisations to develop the leaders that can drive continuous change, the organisation can create a culture of knowledgeable, able and willing change agents who uses data science as supplementary information at their disposal to make informed decisions.