the people analyst guides · Buckingham & Goodall, 2019
The People Analyst Guide to Nine Lies About Work
Nine Lies About Work is, underneath, a measurement book — its sharpest claim (Lie 6: most of a rating is the rater, not the ratee) is the reliability problem we build on. This companion takes each of the nine 'lies', checks the truth against the peer-reviewed research (flagging where the book overstates — strengths, feedback), and turns each into a runnable people-analytics analysis. Most wire to spokes we already run.
Start here — the guided path →The chapters
Truth: people experience work at the TEAM level, not the company.
The analysis you can runTeam-level engagement + segmentation (team as the unit).
Truth: real-time intelligence beats the static plan.
The analysis you can runContinuous pulse/signal + decision-timing.
Truth: cascade MEANING, not goals.
The analysis you can runAlignment / shared-priority dispersion (CAMS-Alignment).
Truth: excellence is spiky; person-job fit over well-roundedness (caveat: strengths lit is contested).
The analysis you can runKSA/competency + role-fit profiling.
Truth: people need attention to what works; feedback often backfires.
The analysis you can runFeedback / recognition-effect analysis.
Truth: most of a rating is the rater, not the ratee (the idiosyncratic rater effect).
The analysis you can runInterrater reliability (κ / α / G-theory) — the reliability program. [pilot]
Truth: people have MOMENTUM; trajectory beats the potential label.
The analysis you can runPerformance-trajectory / distribution analysis.
Truth: love-in-work (job crafting + engagement) drives more than balance framing.
The analysis you can runEngagement / job-crafting (CAMS-Motivation).
Truth: followers follow specific people for specific reasons; measure leadership against reality.
The analysis you can runLeadership-quality battery.