The workplace screams at you
It is alive with data and facts and evidence.
Our organisations are giant test beds. They will tell you what works, and what doesn’t. The evidence will show you where things are going wrong, and why. So if you want to improve performance just look and listen to the work.
But most don’t see or won’t hear
Most managers rely on their beliefs and are certain of their judgement. They assume that what worked in the past will work in the future.
They trust their hunches, not what the workplace tells them.
The evidence is scary
- It will devalue your experience
- It will undermine your hunches
- It will threaten your position
It is damn hard to admit you were wrong.
But evidence improves performance far more than hunches do.
Rule 17. Look at the evidence
Hunches and data rarely point at the same thing.
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Image by Phil Roeder
Hi James,
How do we prevent confirmation bias?
Adrian
A very good question, I don’t suppose you can, the trick is to work with somebody who is a real pain in the neck who won’t let you get away with it.
I’m reminded of the Albert Einstein quote: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Hunches and beliefs only get you so far – and often, in trouble. New data, new evidence to support the need for new thinking and new ways of doing things can only, one hopes, improve upon what was.
I’d not made the link, but the quote is perfect.