“Most of the world will make decisions by either guessing or using their gut. They will be either lucky or wrong.” – Suhail Doshi
Oxford Language Dictionary defines statistics as; “the practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample.”
Statistics Are Vital
“The human side of analytics is the biggest challenge to implementing big data.” – Paul Gibbons
Statistics are a vital component of every business; from planning, inventory, employee productivity to customer/client identification, preferences, and behaviors, data is informative and valuable. Once collected and organized, statistics can be examined and evaluated for quality decision making and marketing strategies.
Statistics enable you to map consumer trends market shifts and effectively guide company practices and protocol. Think of statistics as a map; it will show you where you are and several ways to choose to get to where you want to go.
Organizing Data
“Statistics is the grammar of science.” Karl Pearson
Organizing data has been around a long time; how else would we make sense of the information, much less appreciate its usefulness? The sports world is in the early stages of integrating analytics. Many old school coaches and players differ in their opinions of its effectiveness.
It’s not a question of the use of analytics but its priority in the field of play. Organizing and utilizing data has been guiding draft picks, contract talks, and determining professional sports salaries for decades. Statistics reveal and can help us to maintain consistency.
Hall of Fame Pitcher Tom Seaver said, “In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics, you get shortsighted; if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end.” No matter how you view numbers, they’re essential in so many ways.
We all use statistics in many ways. In home budgeting, bookkeeping, accounting, financial markets, small businesses, libraries, everywhere we look, data is being collected and organized because it helps us make sense of the world around us for all kinds of reasons.
Commenting on organizing data in the field of Psychology, Kendra Cherry says, “When dealing with an enormous amount of information, it is all too easy to become overwhelmed. Statistics allow psychologists to present data in ways that are easier to comprehend. Visual displays such as graphs, pie charts, frequency distributions, and scatterplots allow researchers to get a better overview of data and look for patterns they might otherwise miss.” (1)
A statement from Wilkes & associates says, “With so much data flying around these days, it’s easy for a company of any size to get overwhelmed. If something important falls through the cracks, say a contract renewal or outstanding bill, your financial standing and reputation could suffer.”(2)
When it comes to the many uses of statistics, there isn’t an absolute right or wrong; it’s vital through research or trial and error to choose the best use of the data that works for you and your organization. Adam Savage says, “In the spirit of science, there really is no such thing as a ‘failed experiment.’ Any test that yields valid data is a valid test.” We cannot remain competitive in an information age without the advantages accurate statistics provide.
The following three questions from our Master Operating System’s Statistics section can help you and your people sync your statistics with your Company’s vision.
Does each person in the organization have a specific weekly statistic which they are responsible for, which directly aligns with the vision of the organization? Do you have a system in place which allows each team member to grow from one week to the next based on their statistics from the previous week? Do you utilize a software program that helps you keep track of each team member’s statistics and allows the leadership team to produce reports quickly, showing each employee’s effectiveness?(3)
“The goal is to turn data into information and information into insight.” – Carly Fiorina
End Notes
(1) Why are statistics necessary in psychology? https://bit.ly/34bXY84
(2) Wilke & Associates https://bit.ly/3a9nmPz
(3) Learn more about our Master Operating System https://bit.ly/3fxSTLx
*** This article was authored by John Picarello, Chief Leadership Officer at Lions Pride Leadership Co.***
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