How do we know if we are a great analyst?

It will be a disappointment to some analysts, but being great is not directly correlated to your level of technical expertise, nor is it something you can evaluate yourself. Undertaking a self-assessment of our technical skills (which is how some analysts evaluate their ‘greatness’) will not provide a true reflection of our contribution to the organisation.

Additionally, traditional PDP (Personal Development Plans) generally stick to SMART targets, and this has the benefit of having goals and tasks that can be easily measured. However, whilst this can effectively monitor the progress of an analyst's development and achievements they often fall short of reflecting our value to the organisation.

So how are we measured when it comes to the key question of whether we are good or great analysts?

The answer is, in most cases, by people’s perceptions, especially our stakeholders.

Our role as analysts is not to produce reports and analyses, this is merely a means to an end. Our true role is to help stakeholders achieve their goals - this is the ultimate end game. This is the primary role of most support departments around organisations -? to help the people who have decision making responsibility. This is rarely measured objectively but is accrued through people’s subjective perceptions of how we engage with them either individually or as a team.

More often than not our contribution to the organisation is measured through people’s perceptions rather than monetary value.

It’s disappointing that, despite working with hard and fast numbers, our own contribution is not measured in an objective way. I’ve experienced many times where anticipated monetary benefits from a piece of analysis have not come to fruition simply because the analyst has not effectively communicated and translated their work for the stakeholder and this has led to a lack of confidence in the work and a lack of understanding of how it can be actioned. No matter how good the technical work may be, if stakeholders don’t use the analysis to affect their decision making because they’ve either not understood it or it’s been poorly communicated then it’s value is zero.

In one example from my own career, a whole department of highly skilled statisticians was disbanded due to their inability to effectively engage with the rest of the business which resulted in very little of their (undoubtedly) hard work being implemented. This is an important lesson:-

The value of any piece of analysis is derived from its application and not its creation.

So, we have to have some mechanism to be able to understand whether we are having a positive impact on our stakeholders - a method that will enable us to develop a picture of their perceptions.

One way to try and gauge stakeholders’ perceptions is to ask yourself the question ‘Have I had any positive feedback (especially unprompted) from my stakeholders in the last few months?’. If the answer to that is no, then this may not be an indication that you are doing a bad job, but it should make you question whether you are having a positive impact on stakeholders.

Getting unprompted positive feedback is a good indication you are on the right track. However, it’s important to pro-actively reach out to get this feedback rather than wait for it - partly because some people will vote with their feet, rather than deliver what may be considered negative feedback.?

Some organisations? employ ‘360 degree’ appraisals in order to glean this information. These are (ideally) anonymous surveys where the appraisee provides a list of stakeholders, peers and, if appropriate, direct reports to complete a questionnaire. The questionnaire is designed to elicit the kind of constructive feedback that’s needed to gain an understanding of their impact on others. These can work very effectively and should be encouraged - however, if this facility is not offered by your company you can implement your own version.

Here are the steps to getting a handle on your stakeholder’s perceptions:-

• Get into the habit of seeking feedback on all your work once you’ve delivered it. Feedback is key to continuous improvement - you can only get better by understanding where your weaknesses are and addressing them. Don’t wait for feedback to be given, go and seek it.
• Use open questioning to get feedback. Asking closed questions such as “Was that piece of work ok for you?” will not encourage constructive feedback. Instead, use open questions that will require a more considered response from the stakeholder. For example:-

? “What could have done to help you more with the reports we have just produced?”

? “How could we improve our communication with you moving forwards?”?

“Describe when you have felt our reports and analysis have helped your decision-making process."

• Use a regular stakeholder survey to measure general service levels. As well as anecdotal, ad-hoc feedback on specific pieces of work, schedule some regular sessions every 3 or 6 months to meet with your stakeholders to get more general feedback on the overall service you deliver either as an analyst or as a team. Use a survey tool such as Survey Monkey to objectively score your service levels in order to measure progress over time.
• Capture all feedback. Whether feedback is delivered in a structured survey or provided verbally ensure you capture all comments and make sure you thank the commenting stakeholder regardless of whether the feedback is positive or negative.
• Take Action. Use the feedback to set specific remedial actions to address any areas for improvement. Capture these actions and re-visit to monitor progress.

“Feedback is the breakfast of champions” - Ken Blanchard

Earning the accolade of being a great analyst is not achieved through tick boxes and climbing through levels like a video game, it is bestowed upon you by others. Only by getting feedback can we more accurately gauge people’s perceptions of our real value to the organisation.

If you are interested in our forthcoming free Feedback Challenge, designed to embed these practices whether for you or your team then email me at [email protected] and I’ll provide you with the information and templates when the challenge goes live in the next few weeks.

Steve Hulmes - Analyst Coach, Sophic

Sophic run development workshops for data analysts to arm them with the behaviours, practices and techniques to help them build trust and credibility with stakeholders and become the trusted consultants they aspire to be and your organisation needs them to be. You can find out further details here.