The road less travelled

Taking an evidence-based approach to decision-making may feel like unfamiliar territory. But it brings far better outcomes than taking the well-trodden path.

If you were standing at a fork in a path, and the path was well-trodden in one direction but overgrown in the other – which would you choose? Probably the well-trodden one, right?

That’s how some organisations make decisions. Whether it’s who to hire, what training and development to invest in or how to make their people more productive, they follow what others have done and what they hear is ‘best’ – without any evidence that it’s going to work for them. Unsurprisingly, it sometimes doesn’t. And the impact of that can be huge.