When Data Rules Supreme, Leadership Fails

Data is a tricky balancing act: You need it to make sound decisions, but if the numbers become the be-all and end-all, it can lead to some pretty questionable corporate behaviors and leadership decisions.

“Data is dangerous without context,” Bryant Vernon, Aviva’s chief claims officer, recently told attendees of the Ontario Insurance Adjusters Association’s Claims Conference in Toronto. Relying on data and managing by numbers isn’t a good way to lead staff, Vernon said.

To illustrate his point, he told a story from earlier in his career when he created a balanced scorecard for adjusters; it included the target numbers required to prove someone was doing well at their job. People ended up doing “the craziest things,” as a result, he recounted.

For example, in order to meet target average handle times numbers, staff would hang up with clients in the middle of a conversation or get their friends to call and speak to them for a few minutes.

One adjuster would come in early and cherry pick the easiest cases, get them done and make it look like her productivity was high.