You are biased, let data help you!
Just like the rest of us, managers and other leaders often tend to make decisions based on their knowledge, experience, judgment, and intuition. Most of us assume that we are capable of making consistent, balanced decisions and think that we can rationally weigh the options. But human decision-making turns out to be far less rational than we think—and organizations have the same blind spot.
It’s important to realize that unconscious processes make our behavior inconsistent, random, and unpredictable. In any event, unconscious processes account for the majority of our brain activity. The sluggishness of our conscious thinking means that we often have to think about complex topics or decisions for a long time. We would rather not do that—and that often comes at the expense of the quality of the decision. Simply put, we’re wrong a lot—and that applies both to simple, everyday decisions and complex, life-changing decisions.
Many experiments have shown that careful consideration leads to better answers than quick, intuitive decision-making. An example. You are asked: what is the probability that two people will have the same date of birth in a group of 25 people? When you answer this question intuitively, you soon think: less than 20%. However, if you calculate it statistically, this probability appears to be close to 60%.
It should seem obvious that managers should take a different approach to assessment and decision-making. Data and analyses can help minimize the influence that our subjective, unconscious, and irrational sides have on decision-making within the organization. We can use data analysis to evaluate the actual behavior of employees in an organization, regardless of whether that behavior is rational or irrational. We can also make processes insightful, measurable, and manageable. Data analysis shows which factors, such as HR initiatives, will be influential. Organizational processes will be less subject to chance.
In our book: Data-Driven HR you can read more about how HR analytics will enable you to optimize your contribution to strategic HR policymaking.