Too Few Data Points
"Too few data points". That was a client's description of a leader in her group. She had just met with him to get to know him and to discuss her own career. I asked her how the meeting went and she said it was "fine". She further went on to say, "I think his instincts are good. I think his values are strong. He sometimes makes poor decisions because he takes too few data points. Sort of like George Bush -- not a bad guy, just took too few data points."
Whether or not you agree with my client on George Bush is not the point here. The point is that great leaders make decisions after taking in lots of data. As I coach leaders, I see that they often go with their "gut" on decisions. The really talented leaders take lots of data points and then go with their "gut".
Where do leaders generally get these data points? In my experience, leaders get the data in three ways:
- Through their leadership teams -- Leaders will design meeting agendas so that their teams must prepare and bring data. They will drive conversations in the meetings so that they hear many points of view on a decision. They will ask all members of their leadership team at one time of another (especially those who oppose the leader's point of view) about a decision.
- Through reaching down deep into the organization -- the effective leaders I have seen "deep dive" into the organization. They will create opportunities to speak to people at all levels in the organization. They will use these opportunities to ask lots of detailed questions. They don't accept "political" answers. They ask specific questions and wait for specific answers. They keep asking until they get specific answers.
- They look at the "business case" -- from what I have seen this is important but not as important as most people think. One of my clients (a particularly talented leader) said to me that as he moves into more senior roles, he makes more decisions based on "gut" rather than on the business case. He feels that as decisions become more complex, the business case becomes less relevant and more easily manipulated. I do personality assessments on my clients. One thing I have noticed as I do these assessments is that the more senior the leader the more likely that he is to have a preference for making decisions based upon what he feels is right rather than on the business case.
Effective leaders will often instinctively know the answers but they will not decide without examining all of these data points. The trick for them is to listen to everything from as many different sources as possible, take what they need, and decide.
