Pete HitchenExecutive Leadership & Advisory

Ideas for leaders

Insights & frameworks

Three practical lenses for building confidence in data, agreeing what to measure and giving people a way to resolve problems together.

01 / Decision confidence

Trust Chasm

The Trust Chasm is the gap between having data available and having enough confidence to act on it. It shows up when people reopen the same reporting debate, build their own extracts or delay a decision while someone checks the numbers.

Put it to work

Start with one recurring decision. Ask which figures people challenge, who can explain where they came from and what level of uncertainty the decision can tolerate. Give one owner the job of resolving the most consequential gap.

Which decision would we make differently if we trusted the evidence?

02 / Durable measures

Granite Metrics

Granite Metrics are the small set of measures a leadership team can use consistently over time. Their definitions should be clear enough that two teams can explain the same number and understand what drove a change.

Put it to work

For each measure, record the business question, definition, owner, source and review cadence. When the definition changes, record the date and whether past periods remain comparable.

Can we explain this measure and reproduce it next quarter?

03 / Shared ownership

Data Guild

A Data Guild gives people across business and technology a regular place to resolve shared data problems. Its work can include agreeing definitions, surfacing quality issues and helping teams apply governance in their day-to-day work.

Put it to work

Start with a few recurring issues that cross team boundaries. Bring together people who can make decisions or carry them out. Keep a short record of what was agreed, who owns the next step and when the group will check progress.

Which recurring issue needs a decision that no single team can make alone?

Working through one of these questions?

Tell me where the decision is getting stuck.

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