It's time to put on your slippers and get started.

Last week I spoke to a group of MBA students (the Santa Clara University Executive MBA class of 2007). Their comments and questions gave me food for thought. For starters, is evidence-based management anything new? Is it a movement that should be enthusiastically promoted, or simply a day-to-day activity that people should be encouraged to do? And what should it be called (assuming it even needs a name)? I avoid using "data-driven" as a substitute, because evidence doesn't always arrive in the form of hard data. Likewise, we could call it "fact-based" management, but not everything can be reduced to a set of objective facts. And while I think "research-based" management is a decent description, that might trigger the dreaded MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) response.

Setting those questions aside, if your goal is to improve management outcomes, here are three things you can do, starting now:

1. Put on your slippers. Remember: It's easier to put on a pair of slippers than to carpet the world. Set an example by using evidence consistently, transparently, and effectively. Though not everyone will spontaneously adopt systematic processes as willingly as you have, you can plant the seeds for bottom-up adoption of better, more evidence-based, methods.
2. Raise the bar. Expect people to gather facts and knowledge from a wide variety of sources; say explicitly what is the current, best evidence; and then show how they arrived at their judgments, proposals, and recommendations. Don't settle for remarks like "I don't think customers care about that product feature." Instead, gather some systematic intelligence: What *are* your customers doing and thinking?
   
3. Use unknowns as guideposts, not roadblocks. One of the biggest payoffs from evidence-based management is discovering what you don't know: This can prevent people from hurriedly adopting poorly conceived plans. But formal acknowledgments of uncertainty can also draw people into a "paralysis of analysis" cycle that keeps them from doing anything, using comment periods, customer feedback, and evidence-gathering as delay tactics. So instead of casting shadows over new, potentially profitable ideas, try this: Establish explicitly what it is you don't know, then figure out how you can gather more complete information as things unfold. Identify key unknowns and develop a plan for eliminating those unknowns -- this will help you demonstrate whether your projects or products are performing, and where adjustments are needed.