By Steffen Hedebrandt, Head of Marketing, Airtame
I remember a video interview by Quentin Hardy, Deputy Tech Editor at the New York Times, with the entrepreneur and venture capitalist Ben Horowitz. In this interview, they discussed the future of software. Summing up, Quentin Hardy said:
“We have never had more information, we have never been more confused about what to do next.”
This notion has really stuck with me ever since.
Do we have too much information in our hands? Is it confusing us or driving us forward?
For me, obviously, the democratization of information is a good thing. Allow me to be grandiose: the democratization of information empowers mankind and gives every person a shot at making a decent life for themselves.
However, in a business sense, one must be careful about how much information to digest. It’s like being on a sailboat and having the wind blowing from all sides. It definitely rocks the boat, but it does not necessarily make you go fast forward.
As a Founder, CEO and Manager, you’re the Captain of the Nantucket. You must decide where to sail your ship. It’s not an easy task. The wailers might protest, but very likely it will be in their own interests to align around a direction, a few common goals.
Don’t worry! I am getting to the good news now.
With the rise of Cyfe, the data you believe is valuable for your teams to focus on is more accessible and easier to comprehend than ever before.
The first step is to set the overall direction for your company. A classic feat to overcome is to make your objectives s.m.a.r.t. Speaking of too much information, a bunch of stuff has been written on this topic, so I will not elaborate further.
What I will elaborate on, however, is how to democratize data to increase performance towards achieving your company goals:
Build a dashboard for each team
When you, as manager, have set the overall objectives and key results, the smart goals should start to trickle down to the team goals each time. Find out what the key drivers to achieve your team’s contribution to the overall company goals.
Make it simple
Make sure that these goals remain smart and understandable for your teams. Having too many goals or goals that sound very similar to one another will cause team members to run off in different directions. Keep it simple and this will unite team members so they pull in the same direction.
Do weekly follow ups
An important factor to get your teams on the same page is to provide constant feedback. Make sure people feel noticed. Make them know that their and their team’s efforts are important for the company. Speak with them. Try to co-learn why they are ahead or behind budget. Just care.
Get it up on the wall
Goals are easily forgotten. If you do not show constant care, employees will start to think that you did not really mean it and that things are going fine, whether they pay attention to performance or not.
To make sure that each team has its sights set on the right goals, you should put a screen up near each team. On this screen, you should show your Online Dashboard with the related data. You will see that it quickly becomes a conversational tool that enables you to make better and faster decisions.
Democratizing data. Helping people make better decisions. Motivating employees.
That’s only a few of the reasons why we at Airtame are excited about the new collaboration we are initiating with Cyfe. They provide the software. We handle the hardware. You put them together and reap the benefits.
How do you work with goals and share data in your company? Let me know in the comments or send me a tweet @SHedebrandt.
Airtame in plain english
Airtame is a small wireless HDMI device that plugs into the HDMI port of any screen or projector.
Unlike other wireless HDMI devices, nothing is plugged into your computer or smartphone.
You simply download our app and stream your content to the selected screen from any major computer platform, tablet, or smartphone, and you can set the default display to show a website or a business dashboard like Cyfe.
