Executive talk · Strategy
Having the number is not having decided
Between seeing a figure and doing something different because of it there is a gap most companies never install.
- Duration
- 1 hour 30 min
- Delivery
- On site · Virtual
- Participants
- From 10 to 60 participants
- Investment
- Request a quote
Investment depends on scope, number of participants and delivery mode. We prepare a proposal at no obligation.
The problem it solves
Some companies measured for years and changed nothing. Not through neglect: every month someone reviewed the figures, remarked on the striking ones, and moved on. The data arrived and stopped there.
What is missing in that stretch is not more information. It is a rule, written in advance, about what happens when the number says something — and someone with the authority to do it. Without those two things, data produces commentary, not action.
And the instinctive response makes it worse. Seeing that the dashboard changes nothing, more indicators get added, so now there are more numbers that also change nothing, and the organisation concludes that data does not work.
What it covers
The talk deals with the final stretch, which is what decides whether measuring was worth it. It rests on a simple and rarely practised distinction: a descriptive number reports what happened; an actionable number arrives with a rule about what to do if it leaves range.
It then works through why those rules are written beforehand rather than in the moment. A rule decided while the number is already red gets negotiated against urgency and against whoever carries most weight in the room. Decided cold, it holds.
The closing part is the uncomfortable one: what an organisation does when the data contradicts the instinct of whoever is in charge. Without an explicit answer to that, the whole investment in measuring stays subordinate to the opinion of the most senior person present.
What participants learn
- Tell a descriptive number from an actionable one.
- Write the action rule before the number leaves range.
- Identify who holds authority to act on each indicator.
- Understand why adding indicators does not shorten the distance to a decision.
Agenda
- Where data stops, and why
- Descriptive numbers versus actionable ones
- The rule written beforehand: cold rather than hot
- Authority: who can act on each indicator
- Why measuring more does not decide more
- When the data contradicts the person in charge
- The cost of an organisation that measures and does not act
- What the installed stretch looks like
What the organisation leaves with
- A classification of your current indicators as descriptive or actionable.
- A written action rule for your three most important indicators.
- An owner with authority assigned to each.
- A criterion for deciding which indicators to retire.
Programme details
- Format
- Executive talk
- Also available as
- Workshop · Corporate training day
- Languages
- Español · English
- Includes
- Participant workbook
- Action plan
- Post-training resources
- Facilitation
- ALUD Consulting LLC — Global Business Transformation.
Who it is for
- Leadership teams that review figures and change nothing.
- Owners who invested in measurement and see no return.
- Managers who report indicators without authority to act on them.
- Organisations that accumulate dashboards and retire none.
Frequently asked questions
- Do we need a dashboard for this to be useful?
- No. It works just as well on the monthly report you already receive, or on three figures written by hand. The stretch being worked is the same whatever shape the data takes.
- Why is this a talk rather than a workshop?
- Because the content is short and honest: a few distinctions and one discipline. Stretching it into a workshop would add exercises without adding judgement.
- Does this replace the Business Intelligence workshop?
- No, it comes after. That one decides which questions the company must answer and where each figure comes from; this one is about what happens to the answer once it arrives.
Related articles
Having information is not the same as being able to decide
Most businesses don't suffer from a lack of data. They suffer because the data they have doesn't arrive in time, together, or in a form that allows a choice.
Read more →The decisions you make without noticing you are making them
Not deciding is also a decision, and it usually costs more. Four decisions most businesses make by omission, and what each one costs.
Read more →Request this programme
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Working this inside the organisation
If this challenge will not be settled in one session, ALUD Consulting LLC works it as consulting: management consulting, human resources, strategy, organisational design, leadership development and business transformation.