Communication as the Pathway to Promotion in Data & Analytics

Last week someone said to me "You get promoted to the level of your communication in data & analytics" and while not 100% true all the time the statement is worth looking into. Let me break down what this means and the factors at play that make this true some of the time. We must consider:

1. Non-Technical Stakeholders
2. Technical Workload
3. Lack of Data Literacy

Each factor contributes to strong communication ability giving rise to higher promotion likelihood.

Engaging Non-Technical Stakeholders

One of the key challenges in the data & analytics field is bridging the gap between technical expertise and non-technical stakeholders. To excel and move up the career ladder, professionals must learn to communicate complex data insights and activities in a way that is accessible and actionable to a non-technical audience.

This involves not just simplifying the language but also connecting data insights to business objectives and outcomes. The ability to translate data into strategic decisions is a highly valued skill that can significantly enhance one's prospects for promotion.

For example: building a robust data pipeline to ingest data from a variety of enterprise systems is difficult to understand. A data engineer may use an analogy to explain how each system needs its own key and car designed to transport data effectively with safety measures like seatbelts in place.

Managing Technical Workload Effectively

Handling a heavy technical workload is one thing, but communicating about it effectively is another. As professionals advance in their careers, they often find themselves in roles where they need to delegate, manage projects, and explain the intricacies of their work to others. Effective communication here means being clear about timelines, dependencies, and potential bottlenecks. It's about creating a narrative around the technical work that aligns team efforts with management objectives. Those who master this aspect of communication are often seen as natural leaders, paving their way to higher positions.

If you can communicate your workload well then others can understand how you're helping the business which leads to them understanding your value. For example: if you're a data scientist beginning to work on data quality for a model you can explain the significance of this to stakeholders and how whilst 'data cleaning' may sound simple it affects the whole project outcome.

Addressing the Lack of Data Literacy

In many organisations, there's a significant gap in data literacy, which can be a barrier to the effective use of analytics. Promotable professionals are often those who help bridge this gap. They not only excel in their technical skills but also contribute to enhancing the data literacy of their peers and superiors. This might involve conducting training sessions, creating easy-to-understand dashboards, or simplifying complex data sets into more digestible formats.

Part of addressing data literacy is communicating your work in ways that allow folk to learn and understand from you. Positioning yourselves as on the same side of the battlefield against the messy data that needs to be wrangled can be helpful.

For example: Explaining relational databases to non-technical people can be made easier with a familiar analogy. One commonly used analogy is comparing a relational database to a library system.

How to Improve Your Communication Skills

Great, we've identified that communication can help with promotions now how can an individual go about improving it?

1. Talk to Your Manager: identify with a leader in your organisation that this is a skillset you'd like to improve and get feedback on. Ideally, they are supportive and can put in place a pathway for growth.
2. Facilitate a Lunch & Learn: address data literacy and by running a workshop on 'What does a Data Analyst do?' or another topic to help fellow stakeholders understand what you're doing in your day to day.
3. Join Your Local Toastmasters: Toastmasters is a global public speaking organisation who has locally led meetup groups every 2 weeks (usually) in all major cities around the world. Here, you learn the fundamentals of public speaking and communication from experts - also you make friends! Check it out at www.toastmasters.org

DR Analytics Recruitment:

I'm Douglas - former data analyst and Founder of DR Analytics Recruitment. We grow people and businesses with an exclusive focus on recruitment of data & analytics professionals. Companies use us because of our industry expertise, specialisation and technical testing.

Get in touch to learn more!

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