Become a data firefighter: Stop inhaling smoke

Photo by Vlad Bagacian from Pexels

I don’t recall a time when a client literally yelled at me. But I’ve had plenty of moments where people critically (and unproductively) questioned the validity of data, findings, recommendations. It hurts; stops me in my tracks. Can you relate?

Even the most accomplished entrepreneurs and CEOs have had experiences like this. Julia Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite in a podcast with the humorous and clear-minded entrepreneur and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman recalls an experience as a barista at a local coffee shop in Santa Cruz — she was 14. She says her “biggest lesson was”…

“This woman would show up [at the coffee shop] and walk in and yell at me for like a good 15–20 about how bad it was…the coffee I was making. And I would get a pit in my stomach for the first few weeks. And then I just realized one day — she didn’t have anyone to talk to. It’s not about me. It’s not about the latte. Right? So that lesson was one of the most important lessons I learned in my life.”

What lesson did she learn, you ask?

Reid says, “It’s not about the latte.” The woman wasn’t actually upset about the latte. She had another unmet need — community — and it was, quite ironically, expressed as a criticism of Julia’s barista skills.

Another way to think about this is to consider fire and smoke. Often we sense a fire first by smelling smoke before we see it or feel heat. The source of the smoke is not always obvious. If we don’t know what is causing the fire, we can inhale a lot of smoke before we put the fire out.

Like Julia, I can have the tendency take the feedback or frustrations of my clients or staff at face value. One criticism I encounter most: “The people who answered the survey didn’t understand the question.”

Fair. It’s possible the question could have been better worded. I take this critique seriously and often ask my team to revisit questions, scan the field, and propose a better solution. And yet, most often we find the same exact questions showing up on highly researched and validated surveys used by other organizations, including academics.

If I’m distracted by the smoke, my team and I will spend valuable time researching or creating better survey questions hoping that next time around our staff will realize how valuable the data is and put it to use in their work.

What if, rather than signaling the need for a survey revision, this statement was actually alerting us to a vital weakness in our data culture. Rather than revising the survey, we would spend those precious hours meeting with staff to gather input and share information to strengthen staff attitudes and beliefs about data validity and the role of certainty in informing action.

Getting past the smoke and to the fire is hard work. Here are three strategies I’ve used and that have been effective.

1. Show genuine curiosity. Asking questions is often the fastest and best way to get to the root of what someone might actually need. The best response to a latte moment: “Tell me more.” This simple request helps us resist the temptation to get defensive in the face of what may be bruising criticism. In Braving the Wilderness, researcher-storyteller, author and speaker Brene Brown, calls this phrase “one of the most courageous things to say in an uncomfortable conversation.” I couldn’t agree more.
2. Draw on human psychology and behavioral economics. The worst thing you can do in a latte moment is take criticism, constructive or not, personally. While I’m fully guilty of this at times, when the smoke clears I often realize that the fire was caused by circumstances or events often outside my control. All I notice is the dense fog of smoke in the air and I want to get out. In firefighter mode, I get to the source of the fire which is often plainly human — anxiety, discomfort, vulnerability, shame.
3. Seek feedback from the people that matter most. At Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula we have been fortunate to be a part of a Listen4Good grant cohort through the Fund for Shared Insight. We are committed to surveying our students, families, and school partners to get valuable feedback on the services we provide. Often times, these surveys signal opportunities to improve our programs or meet a need of our students. Program choice, food variety (often junk…), and more academic support are common themes. However, surveys are limited in communicating nuance. So when we see a place for improving our services, we go out and talk to the people who are using those services to learn more and get to the root of the issue. That way, in firefighter fashion, we can design our services to put out the fire rather than focusing on the survey-specific smoke. Food is the best example. Our kids say they want junk food, but what they are signaling is they are hungry. How can we satisfy that need instead of stocking up on Takis?

Ultimately, we need to be humble and accept responsibility. Sometimes the fires are caused by circumstances within our control or sphere of influence. In those cases we have a choice: ignore the fire and let it burn or take action to put it out. What fires are you facing and which path will you choose?