You're aiming to enhance data governance. How can you assemble a robust team to back your efforts?

Clearly outline the roles and responsibilities of each team member based on the RACI chart. Some important roles should be: Chief Data Officer (CDO): Oversees the data governance strategy and ensures alignment with business objectives. Data Governance Manager: Manages the day-to-day operations of the data governance program. Data Stewards: Responsible for data quality, metadata management, and data lifecycle management within specific domains. IT and Data Architects: Ensure the technical infrastructure supports data governance policies and standards. Compliance and Legal Experts: Ensure data governance practices comply with regulations and legal requirements.

There are also the Data Owners who are essential for effective data governance. Data owners have specific responsibilities that include data security, access control, data lifecycle management, decision-making, compliance, risk management, and collaboration. Data Stewards should ideally have a strong collaborative relationship with Data Owners, creating an effective ecosystem to ensure data quality and data is strategically used, harnessing the full value of an organisation’s data.

1. ensure a mix of skills by including data stewards, analysts, and IT professionals. Each role should have specific responsibilities aligned with the overall data governance objectives. 2. prioritize cross-functional collaboration. Engage representatives from different business units to ensure diverse perspectives and comprehensive coverage. 3. provide ongoing training and foster a culture of continuous improvement. Regularly updating skills and knowledge ensures the team stays effective and adaptable to evolving data governance needs.

One interesting learning in my experience is that prior data governance experience is beneficial but certainly not a must. Data governance means different things across industries and sometimes renders itself to be to rigid in what it means for some professionals (e.g. coming from banking) while requiring a different perspective when moving to other fields. Looking for individuals with a combination of deeply caring about data compliance and quality combined with strong project/program management and communication skills have proven to be a successful mix in my group.

Understand what motivates each of your teammates to keep working, ask “what do you enjoy doing that can contribute toward our objectives”, (i.e) learning enablement, project management, strategy, facilitation, tool studies, policy setting, user research, requirement gathering, case tracking, etc. Most people are most motivated to collaborate when they can take ownership of what they love to do, and the swim lane is defined. This allows them to share what they love without fear of it being trampled or being taken away.

1. align objectives with overall business strategy to ensure relevance and support from leadership. 2. define specific, measurable goals such as improving data quality, enhancing data security, and ensuring regulatory compliance. 3. establish timelines and milestones to track progress and maintain momentum. 4. regularly review and adjust objectives based on feedback and changing business needs to ensure ongoing alignment and effectiveness.

I feel, monitoring KPIs is most crucial for ensuring good data governance. It helps you track progress, identify issues, and make changes when needed. Even with a great team and clear goals, KPI monitoring is what ensures success. It's like having a dashboard to guide your data governance efforts

Any team can become robust and efficient if they align themselves with the Data Governance strategy of the Firm. To enable this, firstly the Data Strategy should be defined and have KPIs to track the progress. Thereafter the team who is the key driver of the strategy should comprehend the strategy completely and clearly. A team which is clear in it's goals would be efficient and robust