There are some words that inspire confidence when you use them. “Data” is one of those words. Throw “data-driven” in front of “decision-making” and you’ll suddenly find yourself more credible. If someone is sharing an idea, ask about “the data” and your IQ shoots up several points.
I believe in data. I understand how data can identify trends, minimize risk and lead to better decisions. Data comforts me. But the fixation on data has a drawback. It leads to the belief that decisions made without data – aren’t as strong. Never mind that bad decisions, based on data, get made all the time.
The concept of data-driven decisions entered the mainstream lexicon in the early 2000s. Countless successful organizations, however, existed before then. How did they make decisions? How did they get people to believe in their decisions? What if you are a new Organization with little data to draw on? What if you work in the social sector where connecting data to impact is the holy grail? What if you’re an entrepreneur who thinks so different that relying on the past will stop you from creating a new future?
You absolutely can succeed without data. But you can’t succeed without people. If your people crave data that doesn’t exist, then take inventory and see if you have other factors that will build confidence and support success.
Do you have trust?
Strong people work hard and want their efforts to pay off. Data gives them faith. Without it, they need to trust something else. That something else is you. Spend time communicating with people how you think and what matters to you. Learn the same about them. When making decisions, be as transparent as the circumstances allow. This is a delicate balance, particularly at the organizational level where decision-making is more ambiguous than most are prepared for. Transparency can backfire and cause anxiety. If you’ve focused on communicating and building trust, your team will recover and thrive.
Do you have principles?
Data can provide guard rails that keep you on course. Operational and cultural principles play a similar role, serving as guidelines to action and behavior: This is what matters to us. This is how we operate. This is who decides. This is how we treat each other. Hong Kong’s post-WWII rise to power is a great example. To spur entrepreneurship, they relied less on economic data and operated on principles that supported local business owners. Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary famously said, “It is a fallacy that technology can be applied to the conduct of human affairs.” Principles as much as data will keep your ship steady while providing much needed direction.
Do you have history?
The appeal of data is its ability to identify patterns likely to repeat. Patterns also live in people. I’m always surprised when people ask for data but doubt the advice given by an organizational veteran sitting next to them. The reliance on quantitative data has given qualitative data a bad name. Brad Lewis, President of Help The Media has witnessed this, "An over-reliance on quantitative data is a mistake. Data is only as good as its context and the questions you ask. Organizational veterans potentially have a much better understanding about the right questions to ask and in what context." Do you have team members who know what has and hasn’t worked? What was considered and never executed? What was a good idea, just poorly implemented? What was discarded too soon? That type of data is valuable. Respect it and use it to move forward.
Do you have diversity?
The manipulation of data allows multiple perspectives to be considered. You know what else creates multiple perspectives? Diversity. Stanford Professor James March has noted that homogeneous groups become progressively less able to create different alternatives. Their backgrounds are so similar that their knowledge overlaps and adds no new information to the discussion.
