How to build trust in your data for better decisions today and years ahead
If you suffer from report overload, questionable data and finding it hard to take decisions due to a lack of trust in figures - you are not alone. Analysts and leaders of data strategy may benefit from this simple approach. Here are 3 questions you can ask to challenge your data relevance and help analysts as well as data strategists to add more value to your decision-making:
- How often are you checking if the data you have collected is still valid?
- How well do you understand the decisions that cannot be taken due to missing data?
- What are you doing to discover the future data your company will need?
The data you have
Never forget that the data you have today is based on a previous set of beliefs of what the company needed in order to take decisions in the past. With certainty, you are wiser today and have discovered mistakes in your past data that led you to false beliefs. This fail and learn process will remain a constant therefore data collection, dashboards and decision-making tools need to constantly change as new and smarter ways of working become evident.
Don’t forget to constantly challenge your data and question the validity. If a stakeholder lacks trust in data - take the time to understand Why. As a leader of data strategy, don’t let bad data lie dormant, invest time to clean up the past. Decisions depend on data credibility – garbage in, garbage out. Flag it fast and fix it.
The data you need
As head of data strategy, you need to make it a point to know the decisions that every member of the organization take every day. It is not just managers and people who have dashboards who take decisions. Everyone takes decisions – and everyone can use data to help. If you don’t take the time to understand how all members of an organization take decisions, you will not know the data that is needed – and what you do not know – you cannot improve.
A data strategy needs to define the basic elements of what a company needs to thrive, just as fire, water, food and shelter are to sustain life. Open up channels to communicate data requirements and build awareness among every member of the organization about who the analysts to-go-to are. Instill a culture to ask questions about data – if it exists, where and how to get it. If this process is in place, you will rapidly succeed in your strategy to get the data you are missing because you have opened up input channels to the masses.
The data you don’t know you need
If no-one is asking for it – is it necessary? Make your bed for the future. Curiosity and a data democracy are a foundation to accelerate learning. Analysts and data scientists need to have exposure across the organization and continually improve their business acumen to be able to ask relevant, critical questions, that challenge the status quo. Furthermore, all members of an organization need to know what data exists so that the collective brain power of making new data discoveries is not limited in the hands of a few.
Consider this model and 3 tips for your data collection
If your data strategy can address these 3 questions, it is a good bet you are forming a healthy data-driven culture. For more inspiration on building a data-driven culture, check out how Coca-Cola, Ford and Adidas manage self-service analytics or read my Linked In article, 7 Tips and 3 checklists to improve analytics performance.
Reach out if any questions.
Robert Johnson