Dr. Aaron Barth on why truth is stronger than optics

If you’ve ever tackled the task of understanding employee sentiment, you’ll know that it’s hard to do. And often we fall into the trap of using our intuition rather than empirical methods to gather and use this information. This can create myriad problems at every level of an organization.

That’s why Dr. Aaron Barth advocates for a scientific approach, which results in the truth rather than simply one person’s biased view of the world. These optics get in the way of understanding the real cause of problems at work, and therefore the solutions to solve them are flawed. 

In our latest episode of People at Work, I talk with Aaron about his model for scientific HR in particular. This starts with identifying what you care about, then the intuition-busting step of exploring evidence-based frameworks to solve the problem, and finally, observing actual lived experiences.  

If you’re about to tackle your next engagement survey or are trying to uncover what’s at the heart of a problem in your workplace culture, take a listen. You’ll hear great ideas for how to keep truth at the core of your discovery, and force optics aside.

Listen to the episode

"There’s an art involved in being able to translate insights to practical, workable solutions that make a real difference in people's lives. That’s a nontrivial task, but it’s the task of HR and leadership.”

Dr. Aaron Barth

President, Dialectic

Bio

At Dialectic Aaron provides progressive leaders and HR directors the confidence they need to use scientific methods to tackle their hardest people problems. His band, Blind Sages, just released a new album and is embarking on a five city tour. 

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