In many organizations, leaders and team members request reports and dashboards to answer questions and make decisions. Whether it’s regularly-needed data for a Monday morning status meeting or preparing for an executive review, they often need data quickly and conveniently. While dashboards can make accessing information easier, they don’t always provide the actionable insights required to drive meaningful change.
The Common Approach: Building Dashboards and Reports
We often respond to requests for dashboards by building what’s asked for—reports with the requested metrics, charts, or tables. Sometimes this approach works, but other times, it falls short. The data may be accurate, but the insights aren’t impactful enough to guide strategic actions. So, what’s missing?
Why Dashboards Alone Aren’t Enough
To truly help teams make better decisions, we need to go beyond just delivering data. We must challenge the requests and dig deeper into the real questions driving them. For example, a Sales Leader may want to:
- Increase sales
- Reduce customer churn
- Identify customer issues before they arise
- Improve overall customer experience
The challenge is identifying what actions genuinely help achieve these goals and what data tells you the action you need to take. This requires asking more targeted questions.
Asking the Right Questions to Drive Better Decisions
Before building a dashboard, consider the following:
- What specific metrics are being tracked? Understand why these metrics matter and what impacts them. Are they simply a result (ie. sales) of another actionable metric (ie. sales touchpoints)?
- What insights can these metrics provide? Clarify what the data indicates about the current performance of the business. Is there a way to identify outliers?
- When and where is the data reviewed? Determine if the data is being used in meetings, reports, or real-time decision-making. This will impact what you build.
- What actions does the data inspire? Identify the steps the team will take based on the insights gained.
- What do customers expect from our business? Use customer expectations to shape the metrics and insights provided, to ensure you’re always focused on customer impacts.
These questions can help uncover root causes and lead to data-driven solutions that are more effective.
Case Study: Helping a Sales Leader Improve Performance
Let’s say that the Sales Leader asks for a dashboard showing weekly sales data. Instead of just delivering the numbers, dig deeper:
- Ask which customer segments are critical to track and why.
- Explore whether tracking churn by region could reveal patterns worth addressing.
- Determine what insights could help anticipate the customer experience.
This approach might lead to creating a dashboard that not only tracks sales but also includes churn indicators, customer satisfaction scores, and predictive alerts for potential issues.
Transforming Data into Actionable Insights
To move from data to decisions, start by understanding the action a metric should drive. When teams focus on insights that influence action rather than just presenting numbers, they can make more impactful business decisions.
Tip: Always ask, “What will you do when you see this data?” If the answer isn’t clear, refine the metrics or look for additional data sources.
Pushing Teams Beyond Basic Reports
Building dashboards that truly make a difference requires challenging the initial request and asking better questions. It’s not just about providing data—it’s about ensuring that data leads to action. By focusing on the problem teams are trying to solve, we can deliver insights that drive real results.
Want to learn how this has worked in real life? Read how one major CPG brand empowered stakeholders to make more informed decisions that drove significant revenue growth.
* This content was originally published on Nousot.com. Nousot and Lovelytics merged in April 2025.
