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A company’s culture often has a huge impact on how certain practices are adopted--or whether they are adopted at all. This is certainly true for companies that are trying to become more data-driven.
In an earlier post, we outlined some of the common challenges that can prevent or stifle a data-driven culture from forming. Recognizing those challenges is a crucial first step...but only a first step. From there, leadership has to act to implement best practices and promote change.
These best practices appear again and again in organizations that succeed in making this change. By following these steps, you can take to change the attitudes surrounding data to create a more data-centered organization and get everyone on board with a data strategy.
Best Practices for Building a Company Culture Around Data
Lead with Data
When it comes to implementing a data-driven culture, leading by example becomes crucial. Effective leadership will not only give orders to start using data analytically, but they will show the organization that they are making their decisions based on data. They will also communicate which strategies have worked, what the outcomes were, and integrate data-based decisions at every level. They will make speaking about data a normal activity.
Those who want to succeed in a data-driven organization will see how important it is to understand the impact of data and the trends within it. This can help to release some of the resistance to this kind of change and see that data can be trusted.
Encourage and Incentivize Data-Centered Learning
Technology is constantly changing, and you want your organization to keep up with the times. But most of your employees will not have a background in data and computer science, and thus might be put off by a data-heavy focus at first. Visualization tools, like Microsoft's Power BI, can make this an easier lift—but they will still have something of a learning curve.
Which means that effective training for data tools needs to be a regular part of the data-driven culture. Find ways to get staff excited about learning by relating it to their projects and showing how learning about new data tools can provide new insights and make processes more efficient, or even provide incentives to learn and use these new tools.
Encouraging data literacy and the use of analytical data tools can help people better understand how data is gathered and managed. This understanding can reduce distrust in data and help sales and management teams feel more comfortable using data for decision making.
Encourage Collaboration Between Business and Data Teams
As mentioned earlier, a lack of collaboration between those working with data and the people making the business decisions is highly problematic. These teams should be working together on a regular basis. Encourage routine meetings where data and business teams can communicate what their goals are and why. Foster an understanding of the importance of the work of both teams.
Business teams should have access to dashboards and they should have the training to understand what they are looking at, at least on a basic level. But they should also be comfortable speaking with data teams about the kind of data they need to achieve certain goals, evaluate performance, or find insights on a particular topic. On the other hand, data teams should be comfortable finding out which data is valuable for the company through discussion about business goals. In a truly data-driven culture these interactions come naturally.
Communicate and Celebrate Data-Driven Accomplishments
Getting into the habit of sharing data-driven accomplishments across different parts of the organization can inspire others to think about what data can do for their team. Make it clear that the use of data and data tools can provide insight in a variety of situations and encourage people to think outside of the box to accomplish their goals.
Case studies where data has made a significant impact can be highlighted in newsletters or in meetings. Make it known that these kinds of accomplishments lead to success in your company.
Make Data Accessible
In a data-driven organization, data should be available for anyone who might be able to use it for improving some aspect of the company. Improvement might come in the form of streamlining a particular workflow, bringing in more customers, or saving the company money by making a process more efficient. When an organization fosters curiosity and innovation, much can be accomplished–if the data is accessible.
Accessibility can mean a few things:
- Breaking down the barriers created by data silos with policies concerning data sharing.
- Implementing data visualization tools that can be used by everyone and the training to use them.
- Improving data governance with clear guidelines about data access, usage, and security.
Ultimately, making data more accessible and establishing solid guidelines about its use within the organization will help a data-driven company culture flourish.
How CSG Can Help
At CSG, we have over 30 years of experience helping companies from nearly every major industry by creating data and software solutions. Our team excels in crafting new systems and modernizing or replacing outdated legacy systems, ensuring that your business stays at the forefront of innovation and efficiency.
When a business comes to us wanting to become a more data-driven organization or to find ways to integrate analytical tools into their work, we start our journey with a thorough enterprise assessment. During this process, our tenured solution architects interview your team members, asking a broad range of questions about your use of technology, your overall data strategy, and how both align (or fail to align) with the organization’s long-range strategy. From there, we work with you to find the optimal solution and get it started.
Contact us today to find the right solution for your company.
