Workplace Reflection & Activities

To reinforce the key takeaways, engage in these active reflections and workplace activities to apply data-driven decision-making in real-world contexts.

You don’t have to do all of these but any you do will reinforce the learning objectives of this course.

** ➕ Activity 1: Identifying Data Types in Your Role**

✅ Objective: Understand how different types of data influence decision-making in your workplace.

➜ Task: Over the next week, observe the data you interact with daily. Classify it into the following categories:
– Structured Data (e.g. sales figures, reports, financial data).
– Unstructured Data (e.g. emails, social media comments, customer feedback).
– Qualitative Data (e.g. team discussions, industry trends, expert opinions).

❓ Reflection Questions:
– How does each type of data influence your decisions?
– Are there decisions being made in your organisation without data backing? If so, why?
– What data sources could improve decision-making in your role?

➕ Activity 2: Balancing Data and Intuition in Decision-Making

✅ Objective: Explore the balance between data-driven analysis and professional intuition in workplace decisions.

➜ Task:
– Think of a recent business decision made in your team or department.
– Identify what role data played and where intuition or experience was used.
– If possible, interview a colleague or manager to understand why certain choices were made.

❓ Reflection Questions:
– Could more data have improved the decision?
– Was intuition used appropriately, or was it relied on too heavily?
– If this decision were made purely with data analytics, how might the outcome have changed?

➕ Activity 3: The Data-Driven vs. Intuition Debate

✅ Objective: Critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of both data-driven and intuition-based decision-making.

➜ Task:
– Organise a team discussion or self-reflection on a major decision in your organisation.
– Analyse it from two perspectives:
➝ Path A: Decision based solely on data analytics.
➝ Path B: Decision based purely on intuition.
– Identify the advantages and risks of each approach.

❓ Reflection Questions:
– Would choosing only Path A (data-driven) be optimal, or are there scenarios where intuition is needed?
– What are the dangers of Path B (intuition-only) in a professional setting?
– What strategies could your team use to ensure a balanced approach?

➕ Quickfire Reflection: Instinct vs. Analytics in Your Industry

✅ Objective: Evaluate how your industry handles the balance between data and experience.

❓ Ask yourself or discuss with colleagues:
– Are decisions in your field heavily data-driven or more reliant on human intuition?
– What real-world examples demonstrate both successful and unsuccessful uses of data in decision-making?
– How could your organisation improve its use of data while still leveraging expertise and experience?

Final Challenge: Apply & Improve

Over the next weeks and months:
☑ Identify one decision-making process in your organisation that could benefit from better data usage.
☑ Discuss with your team how to integrate data insights while still leveraging experience and expertise.
☑ Experiment with tracking data-driven outcomes vs. intuition-based outcomes to compare effectiveness.

The goal isn’t to eliminate intuition—it’s to make more informed, explainable, and repeatable decisions using data!