Building a high-performance culture with trusted information

In his seminal book Good to Great, Jim Collins, a renowned business researcher and author, explores key principles such as ‘Level 5 Leadership’ and confronting brutal facts.

He argues that leaders must build a culture where truthful, often harsh information is made available and acted upon, without losing optimism. Meanwhile, in companies that failed to make the leap, information was often ignored or not escalated, leading to stagnation or failure.

Strategic and informed decision-making

Building such a culture today requires more than open conversations. Leaders must cultivate a culture of informed decision-making, where accurate and high-quality information is not just gathered but strategically created and made available both internally and externally.

Within the organisation, this means fostering open channels, such as red flag mechanisms and alerts, meetings, debates and decisions with accurate, trusted information. This allows unfiltered facts to rise to the surface. Building trusted proprietary data assets within an organisation greatly enhances its ability to compete and generate value.

By adopting this strategic approach to capturing accurate, high-quality information from both internal channels and external market sources, leaders unlock value through sharper decisions that align with core business strategy. This discipline not only mitigates risks by shining a light on blind spots but also empowers predictive foresight.

Strategy, data and operations

Organisations worldwide are facing unprecedented data expansion, often doubling or tripling volumes every few years. Finding and mapping the correct information within your organisation and assessing the quality of that data is increasingly difficult.

● Four out of 10 companies use big data analytics.

● 48% of organisations have created a ‘data-driven organisation’ in 2024, which is double from 2023’s survey of 24% companies.

Another common hurdle in the development of high-performance data strategy is the gap between strategic goals and operational realities. Each leader will have a different perspective and requirements from the same source of information. CFOs demand certainty and risk visibility. CEOs need a big-picture view to align functions. Harnessing these perspectives requires listening to the leadership team and functional teams individually and presenting back a roadmap for data strategy.

“Our best results come from understanding each leader’s priorities,” says Katie McEntegart, Partner at The Information Lab Ireland. “By tailoring their reporting and information insights to their needs, we create a shared view that drives alignment naturally.”

Having access to trusted business
information at your fingertips is
not optional; it is a standard.

Turning data into tailored strategies

Today’s high-performing businesses expect to access trusted data easily, right from their phone and in real time. That is the principle behind our OneView Platform: building proprietary datasets that map directly to strategy and unlock the power of AI, customised for each organisation. The OneView platform can unlock transformative benefits for the organisation’s future performance, enabling data-driven intelligence that enhances efficiency, innovation and competitiveness.

Connecting the platform to AI enables the organisation to ask business questions using natural language, foster improved decision-making, such as customer records, operational metrics and historical trends — surfacing actionable insights that reduce reliance on intuition and minimise errors.

“We help our customers design and build their proprietary data sets and ensure that it is clearly mapped to and aligned with their strategy,” says Dave Hackett, Managing Director, The Information Lab Ireland. “Having access to trusted business information at your fingertips is not optional; it is a standard.”

From information to action

“Technology is a key enabler, but only when it unifies data into a single, trusted source tailored to strategic needs. With The Information Lab Ireland’s OneView Reporting Platform, data becomes a decision-making asset. Leaders can allocate resources effectively, respond to risks swiftly and seize growth opportunities with confidence. The platform can be customised to each organisation’s requirements,” says Kevin Lynch, Technology Director, The Information Lab Ireland.

Crucially, trusted data will bridge the gap between strategy and operations, aligning leadership goals with daily execution.