# Analytics-Induced Anxiety By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2022-10-27 Analysis within an organization often produces [[anxiety]]. Theories are tested, ideas are evaluated, and metrics are scrutinized. If your job was to execute an idea that is now undergoing analysis, and you care about your job, it is natural for anxiety to develop. Some people respond by poking holes in the analysis, pushing it off, fighting it, or ignoring it entirely. This creates many problems for analysts. However, other people embrace it. They use it to pivot and propel themselves forward. This creates a lasting partnership and better analyses in the future. What's behind these two reactions? Within psychology, there is a well-developed model of personality called the Big 5 Personality Traits. This define personalities in five dimensions: Extroversion, Agreeableness, Openness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism. These traits are useful in understanding yourself and others, but we are not limited or defined by these. All models are wrong, some are useful, and this one is not an exception to this rule. However, this model is more grounded in science than many organizational or online personality tests. Using the Big 5 Personality Traits as a guide, we can say that how people respond to stress caused by analysis is tied to their level of neuroticism. If they are high in neuroticism, they are prone to respond erratically to stress. If they are low in neuroticism, they are prone to respond calmly to stress. Note that stress exists in both cases, so it is all about natural response patterns based on a person's personality. Essentially, the two responses to analysis-induced anxiety are naturally programmed behaviors. As an analyst, if we know how a system behaves to stimulus, we can predict likely outcomes and come to prescriptive solutions. Whenever conducting analysis, we should assume that it will cause stress within individuals and the organization. How people and organizations respond is predictable if you take the time to understand them. Thus, effectively transforming stressful moments into positive outcomes is a skill for becoming a great analyst. This is not about mathematics or statistics. It's about understanding the human condition, psychology, and organizational behaviors. It's easy to cause anxiety and go nowhere - analysts do this every day to the detriment of the field. It's hard to transform stress into progress as it runs counter to many people's programming. #### Related Items [[Analytics]] [[Business]] [[Organizational Analytics]] [[Stress]] [[Psychology]] [[Predictive Analytics]] [[Prescriptive Analytics]]