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Foreign. Welcome to Leading Organizations that Matter, a podcast about leadership and how we find impact, meaning and joy in our work. I'm Ray Spadoni and today's topic is I wish that I was More Data Driven A client of mine recently made the following statement, I wish that I was more data driven. On the surface, I got exactly what he was talking about. As leaders, we need to understand our organization, what drives performance, and which levers we may be able to push and pry at in order to create positive changes. We also need to understand what might happen when we make decisions or hold off on making decisions. Data is how we develop the understanding. After further conversation with this client, I saw that he was actually looking for two distinct things, hoping to develop improved capabilities in both areas. So this week I want to highlight what those two aspects of being data driven are all about. The first can be summarized in the well worn expression, you can't manage what you don't measure. Anybody responsible for managing a team, a department, a division, or an entire company certainly understands that you need data to help you know how the car is running and your reporting system is the dashboard of that car. Imagine for a moment that you are in a car and behind the wheel and there's no dashboard there. Well then how would you know how fast you're going or how much gas or battery charge was left? And if something's wrong and you're going along, you'd likely suddenly realize that the absence of any error messages and check engine lights could could be a real problem. As the obvious metaphor goes here, having bad or limited data about how your organization is running is very much like driving a car without a dashboard. So if you're a leader of an organization, make sure you're comfortable with your dashboard. There's a ton more I can say here, and I do talk about this in my book about organizational transformations, but I'm going to move on here to the second aspect, and that is storytelling the data. Let's face it, presentations filled with tables full of numbers and summary data charts are boring and you can lose your audience pretty fast that way. Better leaders understand that it's important to draw conclusions from the numbers, gain a deeper understanding of causation, and it's important to paint a picture that leads people to your conclusions, especially if your conclusions are about change, risk and uncertainty. Great leaders show how they use the numbers in order to demonstrate that they're not just wildly guessing or only using their gut, and that they have well grounded reasons for what they're recommending the numbers back up the story. They're not the story. Being data driven really is about these two separate superpowers. That is first, having access to the right metrics and then using them to effectively manage, and then second, being able to tell a story from the numbers that will motivate improvement, change, and appropriate risk taking. I'd go so far as to say that being data driven with only one of these two characteristics isn't enough. Today, we need leaders who know how to drive the car based on what the dashboard's telling them, but who can also take us to the places where we need to go. Thanks for listening. Leaving a positive review and letting others know about this podcast will help a great deal. My mission is to help empower organizations that matter by supporting those who lead them. I offer coaching, mentoring, and consulting services. You can learn more about me and my work@racepadoni.com. Sa.