In this series, professionals predict the ideas and trends that will shape 2016. Read the posts here, then write your own (use #BigIdeas2016 in your piece).

Paradoxically, during the years I commanded a Special Operations Task Force fighting Al Qaeda, I made very few decisions.

At the height of the conflict with Al Qaeda in Iraq, had you walked into our “Situational Awareness Room” where our leadership team worked, in the background you’d have heard the whir of helicopters coming or going from missions around the country, but in the room equipped with a series wall of flat screen televisions and tables of communications equipment — our information portals to the world — was relative calm. 

Less Hollywood than Spartan in our approach, plywood and sandbags were the décor. But the plethora of televisions and laptops reminded us that we were fighting an information-age conflict. Overhead video displayed on-going operations: some showed forces moving toward a target, while others captured the drama of an ongoing firefight. Other screens provided macro data sets about ongoing missions, distribution of assets, or significant intelligence updates. And in the midst, you’d have seen a leadership team that was free to monitor with unprecedented situational awareness, and with that awareness (what we’ve come to call “Shared Consciousness”) were then free to think strategically and long-term rather than dive into the tactical decision-making that so many senior leaders cannot break away from. 

We didn’t come to that level of calm and focus overnight, and it wasn’t easy to create a system whereby those closest to the fight could move with speed and independence. What we needed was the ability to filter massive amounts of data at the appropriate levels so that senior leaders were free to be just that, rather than tactical level decision-makers. 

Big Data is likely to remain a key topic for years to come — the power of data is indisputable. Retailers can track purchasing patterns; public health officials can map out contagion patterns, pinpointing exactly how a particular disease outbreak spread through a city; and marketing analytics can determine exactly how many people viewed your latest online ad and whether it led to a purchase.

While the advances of technology are awe-inspiring, the pure amount of information available is staggering, and will quickly overwhelm a traditional organization. From global conflict to industry to the 24-hour news cycle, we are inundated with raw data. It is important to remember that gathering data points is not the same as gaining a situational understanding. Big Data can show you what is happening, but it falls short of contextualizing why it is happening. Sound decision-making demands more.

This dilemma is particularly salient in business. Because data is available, we expect our senior leaders to know all of it, at all times, and make perfect decisions as a result. But while the capacity of the human mind for thought and processing is impressive, it can’t compete with today’s overload. This leads to a common refrain: if only we worked more, harder, or smarter, then maybe we could master the information and meet all of our requirements.

In Iraq, we were fortunate to have cutting-edge technology that provided advantages that previous generals could have only dreamed of: the ability to watch and listen to missions in real time. We also viewed the country’s economic activity, oil exports, and the sentiments of the population through various polls. Attaining data was not a problem. The underlying problem was communication  and human behavior.

Our operators were the best in the world at planning and executing raids, but were disconnected from the intelligence analysts evaluating the information. In turn, the analysts were unsure of which part of their products would be most helpful to the operators. In short, the raw intelligence shipped out and the analysis sent back represented impressive amounts of data and analysis, but they were missing the filter of human experience and interconnectivity.  

We were able to begin solving the data-overload problem by connecting humans. It started with a meeting (albeit a fine-tuned and highly purposeful one) fusing operations and intelligence into one central forum {Why Unified Conceptual Space is Required - DVS }, then getting the attendees talking not simply about what they were seeing and doing, but about why the data mattered. This enabled us to become a network of “human filters” and keep the onslaught of non-contextualized information at bay.

This meeting, called the Operations & Intelligence (O&I) meeting, was held every day for 90 minutes. In a non-traditional way, we opened up attendance, eventually reaching thousands of attendees. We sat in an open office and installed videoconferencing technology around the globe. But most importantly, we changed how we behaved. 

When an individual briefed, the “update” portion would be covered in the first minute, and the rest of the time would be used for open conversation and dialogue. Instead of traditional questions, (such as “what happened in x?”), we tried to glean more context and generate more interaction (“Why do you think that happened?  What should everyone learn from that?”).

A useful refrain was: what, so what, therefore — this is what happened, this is why it matters, and therefore we should take this action. We used this phrase to drive home the fact that the “why” matters just as much, if not more, than the “what.” Across the network, the minds of thousands of individuals were harnessed to pull out the most relevant insights and draw connections between groups that otherwise wouldn’t have interacted. In the end, the collective knowledge of our global network allowed us to filter and process information at unprecedented levels of speed and accuracy.

Data or intelligence without context isn’t useful. {STA Methodology - DVS} To be successful in 2016 and to move at the pace that your industry demands, you must harness the power of your network to understand the context behind the data. Simply reporting on metrics and results at meetings will not help your organization grow and learn; instead, the focus should be on reporting across and sharing context. The experience and collective wisdom of your workforce is the key to unlocking the potential insights that lie buried within your own mountains of data.