The disclosed embodiments relate to a system for analyzing performance in an online professional network. During operation, the system receives time series data for user actions, wherein for each user action, the time series data comprises a series of numbers associated with consecutive time intervals, wherein a given number indicates a number of times the user action occurred during the time interval. The system also receives time series data for performance metrics, wherein for each performance metric, the time series data comprises a series of numbers associated with consecutive time intervals, wherein a given number indicates the number of times the performance metric occurred during the time interval. The system then performs a time series analysis on the received time series data for user actions and performance metrics to determine relationships between the user actions and the performance metrics.