How data can hinder decision making

Data has become a staple in the modern age for tracking performance and determining the cause of problems. While there have been plenty of positives to come out of the use of data, there are also negatives that are often overlooked.

The HR Leader spoke with Joe Hart, who is the principal, psychologist, and director at True Perspective. Mr Hart is also the author of a book by the same title, True Perspective. Mr Hart discussed his experience when data is a hindrance to an organisation.

“If we're measuring somebody's capability before they've even joined, so we're looking at their psychometric assessments, their abstract reasoning, verbal reasoning, and their personality scores. I think when it's used as a blunt instrument and it's used as a cut score… it can be really harmful,” said Mr Hart.

“It can be really harmful because it discounts all of that, what I call ‘truth’ and that ‘true perspective’, that quality that comes through when you're actually measuring qualitative data.”

Mr Hart shared that making assumptions on performance based upon data can lead to negative perceptions that may not be true. He said that utilising both quantitative and qualitative data helps to form informed and balanced decisions. Quantitative being the numbers and measurable statistics, and qualitative being the lived-in experience that requires intuition.

“I was much more of an advocate of quantitative data when I first started my career and straight out of university, straight out of doing psychology, and it was all about the numbers, and while numbers are really powerful and incredible, I think they're limited, and they represent how generalisable that truth that you gather from qualitative research is,” Mr Hart explained.

The key to being a successful leader is finding a balance between the two and trusting yourself in the process.

“I've worked in businesses where psychometric assessment is the bread and butter and using them very much as a cut score is just, it's not okay,” said Mr Hart.

“You lose really great candidates, but also sometimes you hire candidates that aren't great. They had a great score, but they're not the best candidate for the role, and you discover that the hard way later.”

Employers should put in the effort to understanding an individual before making a decision about their viability, said Mr Hart. How quickly the person learns, how they’re going to fit in with the team and their work ethic should be considered as these aspects are often overlooked.

“If you're doing an abstract reasoning assessment or a verbal reasoning assessment, a numerical reasoning… they have their place, but I think we need to look broader than just that score and know that there's a lot of area variance associated with it,” Mr Hart said.

The transcript of this podcast episode, when quoted above, was slightly edited for publishing purposes. The full conversation with Joe Hart is below.

Jack Campbell

Jack is the editor at HR Leader.