Evidence-Based Management

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions People working in evidence-based management can sometimes feel like they are swimming against the tide. But they are part of something much larger. In this episode we hear from science journalist Helen Pearson about her new book Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works . The conversation steps back from evidence-based management to look...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions Working with evidence-based management can be uncomfortable. It asks people to sit with uncertainty rather than reach for certainty — something many of us are rewarded for in organisational life. This conversation explores what that discomfort looks like in practice, and how uncertainty shows up when people engage seriously with evidence — whether...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode was updated in 2025 to reflect changes to the online course relating to how best to aggregate the evidence (via parallel or serial approaches) and the importance of cross-validation with the parties contributing to the evidence. This episode accompanies Module 12 of the course, which explores how to bring together the various sources o...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode was recorded live with three evidence-based management experts, Denise Rousseau, Rob Briner and Eric Barends, answering and discussing questions sent in by teachers and students of the subject.  During the disucssion, we touched on many aspects of evidence-based management, including: Starting with basic principles rather than complex...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode was updated in 2025 to reflect the use of AI tools such as Consensus and Google Scholar for searching academic databases. This episode accompanies Module 5 of the course, which focuses on gathering evidence from the scientific literature (academic studies) that will help us address the question we are trying to answer. This module alig...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies the last module of the course – module 15, which is all about building an evidence-based management capacity in organisations.  There are 3 levels – you as an evidence-based manager; your colleagues who you can influence and guide in evidence based approaches; and the skills, practices and processes in your organisation. We...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 14 of the course, which is about evaluating the outcome of the decision we’ve taken or the solution we implemented. This is the last stage of our evidence-based management process and is vital to ensuring that we learn from what we’ve done. Assessing outcomes is vital, because otherwise, how do we know if what we did...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 13 of the course, which is about incorporating evidence into the decision making process. Is the evidence appropriate for our situation (is it generalizable). Can we (and should we) action  the evidence? And what are the practical aspects associated with using the evidence that we’ve gathered? The real world is messy...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 11 of the course, which is about appraising evidence from stakeholders – the people affected by our decision or the people who are able to influence it. The acquisition of this evidence is covered in Module 10 and its corresponding podcast episode. In this episode we are reminded that sometimes we engage with certain...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 10 of the course, which is about acquiring evidence from stakeholders – the people affected by our decision or the people who are able to influence it. The appraisal of this evidence is covered in Module 11 and its corresponding podcast episode. In this episode we explore the nature and extent of stakeholder individu...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 9 of the course, which is about the appraisal of the data, information and evidence gathered within the organisation. The acquisition of this evidence is covered in Module 8 and its corresponding podcast episode. In this episode we continue to consider some of the wider aspects associated with the use of organisation...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 8 of the course, which is about the data, information and evidence gathered within the organisation to aid our multi-source evidenced-based decision making. The appraisal of this evidence is covered in Module 9 and its corresponding podcast episode. In this episode we consider some of the things we need to think abou...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 7 of the course, which is about judging the quality of the evidence from the scientific literature that we’ve identified during our earlier searching. This module aligns to chapter 7 of the Evidence-Based Management book. Modules 5, 6 and 7 all focus on the scientific literature, so when you listen to the correspondi...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 6 of the course, which is an introduction to the scientific literature that can be used as part of our evidence-based management decision making. This module aligns to chapter 5 of the Evidence-Based Management book. Modules 5, 6 and 7 all focus on the scientific literature, so when you listen to their corresponding...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 4 of the course, which is all about assessing the quality and reliability of the evidence from practitioners – people who have experience with the problem we are tackling, or the solutions we are considering.  Modules 4 and 3 are difficult to separate fully, so please refer to episode 3 of the podcast for the rest of...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 3 of the course, which is all about acquiring evidence from practitioners – people who have experience with the problem we are tackling, or the solutions we are considering.  Modules 3 and 4 are somewhat intertwined, so the rest of the discussion about practitioner evidence will be in Episode 4. In this episode we co...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 2 of the course, which is all about asking questions – critical questions to understand what the problem is that we are trying to solve. This is because so often in organisations we leap to solutions without being clear what the problem is. This approach can be driven by a desire to do “stuff”, to get things done and...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode accompanies Module 1 of the course which covers the basic principles of evidence-based management and gives an overview of the steps involved in taking this approach.  Everyone uses evidence when making decisions, right? But only one source, or many? And are those sources assessed for their reliability and trustworthiness? Are we activ...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions This episode gives a background to the course - how it was created, its founding principles, the science behind the “learning by doing” approach used by the course (which shows that it is evidence-based!), and how to get the best out of it. The course design recognizes that students come from a variety of backgrounds and have different experience a...

Send us a message with your thoughts or reactions Show notes Welcome to the Evidence-Based Management podcast – dedicated to those studying evidence based practice in the field of management. This episode introduces the regular podcast contributors – those that have been writing, teaching, practicing and promoting evidence based management for the last 20 years. They are all authors of the online...