How does data governance support Culture Change?

2 Empower data-driven decision making

Another benefit of data governance is that it can enable data-driven decision making across the organization. Data-driven decision making is the process of using data to inform and guide actions and choices, rather than relying on intuition, opinion, or habit. Data governance can empower data-driven decision making by ensuring that data is accurate, consistent, complete, and relevant for the intended purpose. Data governance can also provide the tools, processes, and guidelines for accessing, analyzing, and interpreting data, as well as the feedback mechanisms for learning and improvement. By empowering data-driven decision making, data governance can help you enhance the quality and efficiency of your operations, optimize your performance and outcomes, and innovate and adapt to changing needs and opportunities.

3 Foster collaboration and trust among data stakeholders

A third way that data governance can support culture change is by fostering collaboration and trust among data stakeholders. Data stakeholders are the people who have an interest or role in the creation, usage, or sharing of data, such as data owners, producers, consumers, custodians, and regulators. Data governance can foster collaboration and trust among data stakeholders by establishing clear roles and responsibilities, defining common data terms and definitions, setting data quality and security standards, and facilitating data sharing and integration. By fostering collaboration and trust among data stakeholders, data governance can help you break down silos, leverage collective intelligence, and create a culture of accountability and transparency.

Data governance is not only a technical or operational practice, but also a cultural and behavioral one. It requires a shift in mindset, attitude, and behavior from all data stakeholders, from the top to the bottom of the organization. Data governance can support culture change by aligning data with business goals, empowering data-driven decision making, and fostering collaboration and trust among data stakeholders. However, data governance also faces many challenges and barriers to culture change, such as resistance to change, lack of awareness or skills, conflicting interests or incentives, and organizational complexity or inertia. In the next article, we will discuss some of the best practices and strategies for overcoming these challenges and implementing effective data governance for culture change.

4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?