CONNECTING
A common refrain among team leaders trying to solve problems is “Collect more data!” But is there such a thing as too much data? We asked 83 executives how much they estimated that their companies wasted on relentless analytics on a daily basis. They reported a whopping $7,731 per day — $2,822,117 per year!
Yet despite all of the data available, people often struggle to convert it into effective solutions to problems. Instead, they fall prey to what Jim March and his co-authors describe as “garbage can” decision making: a process whereby actors, problems and possible solutions swirl about in a metaphorical garbage can and people end up agreeing on whatever solution rises to the top. In the end, they end up applying arbitrary data toward new problems, reaching a subpar solution.
To curb garbage-can decision making, managers and their teams should think more carefully about the information they need to solve a problem and how to apply it to their decision making and actions. We recommend the data “DIET” approach, which provides four steps of intentional thought to help convert data into knowledge and wisdom.
STEP 1: DEFINE
Start with a problem-finding mindset. With your team, think of critical questions about the problem in order to fully understand its complexity: How do you understand the problem? What are its causes? What assumptions does your team have?
STEP 2: INTEGRATE
Once you’ve defined the problem and the data you need, you must use that information effectively
With your team, create a diagram to sort facts into causal relationships. Write the facts on notecards and then sort them into piles based on observable relationships. In doing this, you can create a visual model of the patterns that emerge and make connections in the data.
STEP 3: EXPLORE
Now’s the time to develop your initial ideas. To facilitate collaborative exploration, one of our favorite exercises is what we call “the passing game.” Assign distinct ideas to each team member and give each individual five minutes to develop it by drawing or writing in silence. Then have them pass their work to a teammate, who continues drafting the idea while they take over a teammate’s creation. After allowing people this space for exploration, discuss the directions that are most fruitful.
STEP 4: TEST
The last dimension requires team members to use their powers of critical thinking to consider feasibility and correct for overreach. Design tests to see if your plan forward will work. Under which types of situations will the solution fail? Select a few critical tests and run them to fight confirmation bias.
In practicing the mental exercises above with your team, you can curb your appetite for data while getting better at digesting the data you have.
