Is The "Not-Knowing-You-Can't-See Phenomenon" Affecting Your Business?

Back in June, our VP of Administration, Debbie, shared a personal story here.

Looking back at the experience she was able to make a remarkable connection between her son’s problem – and that of business.

This connection led to her coining The “Not-Knowing-You-Can’t-See Phenomenon.” It’s a serious phenomenon that many businesses face on a regular basis.

And, of course, they don’t even know it’s crimpling their operation.

Because it’s like we always say, “You can’t manage what you don’t know.” When you don’t know what’s affecting your bottom line…that is a really big problem.

It’s been several months since we touched on this subject. So, we figured now is a perfect time to rehash this important phenomenon before the New Year.

Are you ready? Let’s get started.

About The "Not-Knowing-You-Can’t-See Phenomenon"

Most executives, managers, owners, and staff suffer from this problem. They put in processes and procedures and let them run. They believe that everything is running fine, smooth, are highly efficient and yes, are even proud of them.

The truth is, because they don’t know that they can’t see, they are operating with bias and need some business-glasses.

The glasses that you need to see the stuff-that-you-can’t-see in your business is analytics. Simply defined, analytics are an analysis of data that allow you to see patterns and other meaningful information gathered.

Good analytics should be simple to access and understand.

So, for example, how long does it take us to respond to a wet spill in this general area? Is there a deviation of wet spill response time by type of event (or location, or personnel)?

The questions may be simple, but they should be tantamount to the success of your operation.

The secret to useful, meaningful analytics is good data. How the data is captured is essential.

Do you have processes in place that capture data ad hoc?

For example, when an incident occurs, is the data being entered after the incident is handled or as the incident is being handled?

If any of your data is being captured after the incident, you my friend are suffering from the Not-Knowing-You-Can't-See Phenomenon.

Data after the fact is not reliable and you cannot depend on its veracity. Instead, you have information that was in some way altered or remembered, and as such is not reliable. 

Good data is the only way for you to have good analytics and the only way for you to really see!

Invest in Progressive Solutions for Data You Can Use

Invest time and money in processes and systems that allow your staff to capture the information at the same time that they are doing their job.

Here’s an example:

Use software that captures response times because incidents are reported from dispatch, through all of the stages to ‘closed’. Capture everything about an inspection, as the inspection is being performed, not after.

Only utilize software that’s easy to use so that everyone uses it and everything gets captured. Software that eliminates clipboards, handwritten notes and manual data entry are your operations Lasik surgery.

Once Debbie’s son put his glasses on, his world changed, as seeing was indeed life changing for him. Many very efficient, well managed, and smooth running operations suffer from the Not-Knowing-That-You-Can’t-See Phenomenon. Putting the data-glasses on is life changing for organizations.

Fortunately, all you have to do is look at where, when, and how your data is being collected. Tweak those processes to ensure there is good data for good analytics.

Over to You

We want to limit the number of Not-Knowing-I-Can’t-See type of stories this upcoming year. Put on your glasses, implement the right systems, and analyze you operation.

So, is the “Not-Knowing-You-Can’t-See Phenomenon” affecting your business, and are you ready to do something about it?