Every now and then, you read or hear something that changes the way you think about things. The most profound such moments are when you instinctively already knew what was being said, but never had a way to put it in words. I had one of those moments yesterday.
We had a group of business visitors at GRID. They were here to learn about our product and company, ideally to learn and take away something to think about and implement at their own companies. I gave a quick intro to the company, demoed our software, which is all about exploring, explaining and collaborating on numbers (this will become relevant below). We then moved on to a lively discussion. As I had emphasized the culture and the “Nurture the team” part of my role quite a lot, the discussions gravitated there.
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One of the questions I got was “Do you use personality tests?”. We do, and I told them that we don’t use them as a part of our hiring process, but individually for our coach’s 1-on-1 sessions (we offer personal coaching to all employees), as well as within teams as a way to build cohesion and alignment. I added that in my opinion the science behind personality tests can be debated, but that it doesn’t really matter. Their real value is in the discussions about the results, the comparisons, reflections and open exchange that follows.
Several people nodded, and then one of the guests added, tongue-in-cheek:
“But isn’t this true of all data?”
I started laughing, but then stopped right in my tracks. Because she was so right. In the world of data and analytics we tend to get stuck up on the technical details, how to tease out the insights and present them that we forget the human element that follows: The narrative, the collaboration, the conversations, the debates and eventually decision making and actions. That’s where the true value lies.
Obviously we want the data and insights to be well established, but in the end of the day, the true value of analytics is in the discussions they spur.
