Hard data, strong programs: Why data outlasts leadership support

Imagine this: You’ve just launched a new employee wellness program in your company. Your leader is your biggest cheerleader, championing its value and encouraging participation across teams. You couldn’t ask for better support: minimal roadblocks, no extra hoops to jump through. No endless surveys, meetings, or decks. 

But here’s the catch—this kind of support often comes with hidden risks. Programs that rely solely on a leader’s faith can create a false sense of security. When leadership changes or priorities shift, the program may face scrutiny. Without data to demonstrate its value, even the most innovative programs can be deprioritized.

This is the paradox of the overly supportive leader—a situation many program managers might envy, but one that leaves initiatives vulnerable if their success isn’t backed by evidence. Leadership transitions are inevitable, and every new leader brings their own priorities and perspectives to an organization.

Building a strong foundation of data ensures your program’s value isn’t tied solely to one person’s belief in it. It also provides evidence that speaks to organizational goals, reinforcing its efficacy.

When you proactively measure and communicate a program’s impact on the business, you’re not just defending its place in the organization—you’re opening doors to growth, scalability, and innovation. A data-driven approach demonstrates your program’s alignment with business priorities, builds trust with decision-makers, and positions it as indispensable.

Ergo: Data transforms subjective support into objective value, safeguarding your program through leadership transitions and scrutiny.

In this article, we’ll explore the vulnerabilities of blind faith, why building a data foundation is crucial even when you have leadership’s full support, and how to future-proof your programs against unexpected challenges.

The vulnerabilities of blind faith

The strongest programs benefit from a combination of ingenuity and a solid foundation of data. Even when your program has the full support of a key leader today, it’s essential to consider future-proofing it for the long term.

The overly supportive leader: a hidden risk

An overly supportive leader champions a program with unwavering faith, not because of tangible results but because they believe in its inherent value. This type of leader may push initiatives through without requiring data before or after implementation to prove their effectiveness, which can feel like a dream come true for program managers.

But this situation comes with risks. A leader’s faith in a program can create a false sense of security. When their support is no longer available—whether due to a change in leadership, budget cuts, or a shift in organizational priorities—the program becomes vulnerable. Without data to demonstrate its impact, it could be one of the first initiatives to lose funding or focus.

Real-world consequences

Let’s consider a common scenario.

A company launches a mentorship program to boost employee engagement. The leader spearheading it strongly believes in its value but never asks for metrics to track its success. Over time, the organization undergoes a leadership change. 

The new decision-makers are eager to ensure the organization is using its resources (time and money) effectively. They request evidence of the program’s impact. Since mentorship programs often build value gradually and many interactions aren’t formally tracked, the team struggles to produce data beyond anecdotal evidence (e.g., feedback from participants expressing gratitude for the opportunity, growth, and improved confidence or skill development). Without immediate proof, the program is deprioritized in favor of initiatives with measurable ROI.

By proactively tracking basic data—such as participation rates, employee feedback, or retention improvements in the case of a mentorship program—program champions can secure ongoing support and open the door to expanding their initiatives’ reach and impact.

Build a data foundation

Data is key to building credibility for your program and setting it up for long-term success—and it’s critical to start collecting it early. Proactively gathering and analyzing data early on ensures your program has a strong foundation, safeguards it for the future, and equips it to grow and adapt as circumstances change.

Identify the right metrics

Effective data collection starts with knowing what to measure. The metrics you need to focus on will depend on the type of program you’re running. Here are a few common examples to get you started:

• Employee engagement programs: Survey responses, participation rates, and changes in engagement scores.
• Wellness initiatives: Wellbeing survey responses, utilization rates, and absenteeism.
• Learning and development programs: Completion rates, skill development tracking, and performance improvements.
• DEI&B programs: Changes in demographic representation in recruitment, hiring, advancement, and retention over time, plus demographic differences in inclusion and engagement survey scores.

The key is to track metrics that connect your program’s goals with broad, organizational priorities. For example, if you can show that sales teams that participate in employee engagement, wellness, or L&D programs consistently meet or exceed quotas more often than teams that participate at lower rates, you’ve got compelling evidence of your program’s value—both in enhancing employee experiences and positively impacting the business’s bottom line.  

Design scalable data collection strategies

Program managers don’t need a complex system to start gathering data. Simple, scalable approaches can make a big impact:

1. Use employee surveys: Periodic surveys can capture sentiment, feedback, and behavioral changes. These insights can shed light on trends in engagement and satisfaction that directly influence retention rates and overall productivity.
2. Leverage existing data: Tap into HR metrics like turnover, absenteeism, or productivity to identify the direct impact of your people programs on critical business objectives. For instance, a drop in absenteeism following a wellness program like sick leave or mental health days, can signal increased employee wellbeing, which ultimately improves operational efficiency and team performance.
3. Track program-specific metrics: For example, measure changes in engagement scores after launching a new initiative, or track how wellness programs influence absenteeism and overall team performance. Linking these outcomes to business metrics, like increased sales or improved revenue, creates a clear picture of your program’s value.
4. Automate where possible: Use tools like an HCM, survey software, or analytics dashboards to streamline data collection and make reporting easier. Automated systems save time and ensure accuracy, allowing HR teams to focus on analyzing trends and connecting them to tangible business outcomes, such as cost savings or revenue growth.
5. Roll out programs gradually to show causality: A slow roll-out lets you compare results among early and later adopters to show the impact of your programs. 

By starting small and building a scalable approach, program managers can collect the insights they need to prove the value of their initiatives. Over time, these strategies demonstrate ROI and help you build the case for future growth and investment in people-first initiatives.

Share insights with leadership

Communicating data insights regularly is essential to keeping leadership confident in your programs. This doesn’t have to mean lengthy reports. Concise, visually engaging dashboards or summaries can make a big impact.

Use storytelling to bring your data to life. Connect quantitative results—like higher revenue, improved engagement scores, or reduced absenteeism—with qualitative insights like employee testimonials or feedback. This combination spotlights your program’s positive impact on the real people driving your business’s success.

It’s important to keep in mind that leaders aren’t just evaluating whether your program works. They’re comparing it to other priorities for the same resources. When you present your insights, always frame your program as a valuable investment. Highlight its alignment with business goals and demonstrate (with your data) how it delivers results that outpace alternative initiatives.

When you share data effectively, you maintain leadership’s support and strengthen your program’s position as a strategic priority within the organization.

Future-proof your program

Programs thrive when they’re built to adapt. Leadership transitions, budget reviews, and shifting priorities are inevitable in any organization. By planning ahead and using data strategically, you can position your program as an indispensable part of your company’s success.

Prepare for leadership changes

Leadership transitions bring new perspectives and priorities. Programs supported purely by the faith of previous leaders may not survive changes without the data to prove their merit to the organization. To ensure your program remains valued through these inevitable changes:

• Ask yourself how you would justify ongoing investment in your critical programs to a new leader with no prior experience with your organization
• Document how your program aligns with key organizational goals
• Highlight measurable benefits, such as cost savings, improved retention, and enhanced productivity
• Create materials that help new leaders quickly understand your program’s impact on the business’s bottom line

Proactively showcasing how your program contributes to business success builds trust with incoming leadership and reinforces its long-term viability.

How to take a data-driven approach: a concrete example

Let’s revisit the sales mentorship program example. Imagine the program manager had proactively tracked metrics from the start:

• Participation rates: 75 percent of eligible employees enrolled
• Mentee feedback: 90 percent of participants rated the program as beneficial
• Mentor feedback: 98 percent of senior-level mentors agreed that participants they worked with were high-potential employees for consideration in succession planning
• Performance ratings: Participants were 15 percent more likely to receive the highest performance rating than non-participants.
• Business outcome data: Customer satisfaction scores were 10 points higher and average deal sizes were 20 percent larger for participants than non-participants
• Retention data: Participants were 25 percent more likely to stay with the company compared to non-participants

When the new leadership questioned the program, the manager presented this data alongside testimonials from participants and their senior leader mentors. This combination of quantitative and qualitative evidence demonstrated the program’s value, ensuring its continuation and even earning additional funding for expansion.

Defend programs under scrutiny with data

Once you’ve prepared for leadership changes, it’s equally important to protect your program during budget reviews or performance evaluations. Building a defense quickly depends on vigilantly tracking outcomes with:

• Clear data that demonstrates the ROI of your program, like revenue growth or improved engagement scores
• Case studies or testimonials that illustrate your program’s tangible and positive impact on your workforce
• Comparisons to alternatives to emphasize why your program is the optimal investment

Defending your program isn’t just about proving it works. It’s about showing it delivers results that outshine competing priorities.

A real-world example: data in action

At one company I worked with, the HR team introduced a program requiring managers to hold quarterly career conversations with their team members. While the program had strong support from a leader who championed its value, many managers resisted. They saw the conversations as an extra time commitment and weren’t willing to invest the effort without clear evidence that the program would deliver results.

The HR team began to sense growing discontent and pressure to remove the requirement. While the program had been introduced with the belief that it would enhance the employee experience—and was supported by a few enthusiastic leaders—the team hadn’t planned to measure its impact. This left them struggling to address the concerns of resistant managers, whose influence was steadily growing.

Fortunately, the HR team recognized the challenge in time and included a question about career conversations in their next employee experience survey. The results were clear: People who had conversations with their managers reported 10–30-point higher scores across multiple aspects of the employee experience compared to those who hadn’t.

This data gave the HR team the evidence they needed to address skeptical leaders and demonstrate the positive impact of this simple, cost-free initiative on employee morale. With clear metrics to support its value, the program no longer relied on a single champion—it stood firmly on its own merits.

Identify opportunities for growth

After safeguarding your program, use that data to look for opportunities to scale and amplify its impact. Future-proofing with data isn’t just about protecting your programs. It’s about potential. By consistently collecting and analyzing data, you can:

• Spot trends that signal new opportunities for your program
• Build a case to expand the program into other departments, teams, or locations
• Highlight successes to secure additional funding

Coming to the table with proven results for your programs gives you a leg up in garnering more investment and support from leadership and driving broader organizational impact.

Practical strategies for program managers

Building a strong data foundation and sharing insights effectively are key steps in future-proofing your programs. But how do you turn these concepts into action? Use these strategies to help defend your initiatives and drive meaningful business impact.

1. Start small and scale up. Begin with simple metrics, like participation rates or engagement scores, and expand as your program evolves. Small wins build credibility and make it easier to secure additional support, ultimately leading to larger-scale investments and initiatives that align with business goals.
2. Collaborate with other teams. Partner with your colleagues (aka other stakeholders) in business areas like finance or operations to access relevant data and gain different perspectives. Cross-functional collaboration helps ensure your program aligns with broader company objectives and highlights its role in improving overall organizational efficiency and productivity.
3. Communicate early and often. Keep leadership informed about success and challenges. Regular updates build trust and show you’re proactively managing the program and identifying ways to improve it. Consistent communication also helps solidify your program as a reliable contributor to the business’s long-term success.
4. Use technology to your advantage. Leverage tools like HCMs and other HR platforms with robust analytics, survey tools, or dashboards to make data collection and reporting easy. These tools free up time for analysis, more critical people programming, and storytelling. Most importantly, they help you connect program outcomes to measurable business results, like improved retention or revenue growth.

Turn data into your program’s superpower

An overly supportive leader may seem like a dream come true, but relying solely on their backing can leave programs vulnerable. Building a strong data foundation safeguards your initiatives against leadership changes, scrutiny, and shifting priorities, ensuring their value is clear and measurable.

Data doesn’t just protect programs—it fuels their growth and opens doors to scalability and greater impact. Start collecting data as early as possible—before you need it. Laying the groundwork early is crucial to proving your programs deliver consistent and valuable results. It also ensures your program will continue to thrive and evolve with your organization. 

The bottom line? Don’t wait for leadership changes or new priorities to challenge years of progress. Invest in your program’s future by building a data-driven foundation today, and promote its standing as a cornerstone of your company’s success.