OREANDA-NEWS. February 19, 2016. I’ll never forget the moment. We were sitting in the corporate board room with 3 C-suite executives. At the time, my co-founder and I were selling “live leader boards” (think gamification) and CRM analytics. The following exchange lead to the biggest aha moment that fundamentally changed our business forever.

C-Suite Executive: “Jon, I love your solution, but if we can’t get velocity of pipeline growth over the past 3 months, then this is a no go. I need that data point.”

Me: “Mr. C Suite executive, forgive my forwardness, but let’s say my co-founder and I went back to the lab and built this feature where you could see velocity of pipeline growth over the past 3 months...respectfully, what actions would you take with that data?”

C-Suite Executive: (Pause Pause Pause.) “You know what, I’m not sure what I would do with it, but I need to know it.”

We left that meeting realizing that way too many smart and successful people are asking for a lot of data that frankly they have no idea what they are going to do with it.

Don’t get me wrong, data is imperative to decisions and forecasting and a CRM is a requirement at any sophisticated organization, however a fine balance is required between quantitative and qualitative data.

This brings me to my aha moments of the year:

Aha Moment #1: Visibility Does Not Equal Control. Just because a manager, VP, CEO, or investor has visibility does not mean they have control. Visibility is the price of admission these days. Sales operations, BI tools, and analytics out the wazoo will not only tell you pipeline variance but also 10 different ways to calculate it. This is the easy part. The hard part is what you do with that data. In our world, the best leaders are ones who can take that data, create a plan of improvement, and lead their team, division or company to greater outcomes. This is control through great leadership.

This leads to my aha moment #2 of the year:

Aha Moment #2: 1:1’s Dive Deeper into the Soul Better Than Any Data. A common theme among great managers are the relationships they build with their team. The best way to systematically build professional relationships is through weekly 1:1’s. To WideAngle, 1:1’s are weekly, 30 minute meetings around a set agenda between a manager and direct report. They are great opportunities listen, understand, and dive deep into the soul of every direct report to uncover what motivates them and drives them to be great. Of course, particularly in sales, 1:1’s provide a superb opportunity for metrics based sales coaching. Too many managers manage behind spreadsheets. If they spent more face time with their direct reports to help them close more deals and provide the necessary support, look for reps to stay longer, improve quicker, and live a much more meaningful life.

Take my aha moments in your daily workflow. Data is imperative, but every data point should be a big green arrow point to an arrow of opportunity to take action. From there, use your leadership skills to persuade, inspire, and do wonderful things in this world.

Jon Birdsong is the CEO of WideAngle: 1:1 Meeting Software. Companies including General Electric, Thomson Reuters, At&t, PayPal, NCR, and many more use WideAngle to make sure 1:1’s happen, are productive, and documented.