How to Set Up an Analytics Team: A Guide for Non-Data Professionals

How to Set Up an Analytics Team: A Guide for Non-Data Professionals

If you’ve been tasked with setting up an analytics team but don’t come from a data or analytics background, the challenge might seem daunting. However, it’s an opportunity to build a function that can truly transform decision-making within your organization. Drawing on my experience setting up and advising on analytics teams, I’ve put together this guide to help senior leaders navigate the process.

Understand Why the Business Needs Analytics

Typically, an organization decides to invest in analytics to address specific needs:

• Generating reports or answering business-critical questions.
• Analyzing the performance of new products or services.
• Supporting strategic or operational decision-making.

Before starting, clarify the primary goals. This understanding will guide you in hiring and prioritizing tasks for the team.

Start Small and Focus on Value

Often, the first hire for an analytics team is a single analyst, though some organizations with a more urgent need may sign off on multiple hires. If you’re starting with one hire, choose wisely and focus on delivering measurable results quickly.

Hire a "Doer":

• Look for someone with a broad skill set who can independently import, transform, and analyze data, as well as communicate insights to stakeholders.
• Prioritize candidates with 4-5 years of experience and the ability to work autonomously.
• Emphasize in interviews that you need someone self-sufficient and resourceful since you won’t be able to provide technical support.

Deliver Value Within Weeks:

• Analytics should start generating results almost immediately. For example, your new hire might analyse marketing campaign performance or produce insights from existing sales data.
• Quick wins help build trust and demonstrate the value of analytics to the business.
• Avoid long, exploratory projects in the early stages. By the time such projects yield results, the business may have moved on.

Scaling the Team

Once the first analyst is delivering value, the demand for analytics will grow. Here’s how to expand effectively:

Hire Junior Analysts:

• Instead of hiring another senior analyst, add a junior team member, such as a graduate or someone with 1-2 years of experience.
• This approach avoids competition between senior analysts and creates a natural hierarchy where the senior can delegate tasks, freeing them to take on more strategic initiatives.

Foster a Mentor-Mentee Relationship:

• The senior analyst’s role evolves into mentoring the junior hire while continuing to deliver results. This dynamic motivates the senior and provides growth opportunities for the junior.
• You can then in turn mentor the senuor analyst to understand more about how the business works.

Broaden the Team’s Impact:

• With additional capacity, explore new areas where analytics can add value, such as strategy, sales, or product development.
• Demonstrating value across departments strengthens the case for further investment in analytics.

Building a Sustainable Function

As the team grows, you’ll need to formalize its structure and processes:

Develop a Business Case for Expansion:

• Once you have two team members consistently delivering results, start planning for the next phase of growth. For example, propose hiring another senior and junior analyst to replicate the initial structure.

Introduce Leadership:

• At some point, you’ll need a team lead or manager to oversee the analysts’ work and support their career development. This person should come from a strong data background and be capable of managing both the technical and strategic aspects of the team.

Shift to a Strategic Role:

• With a team lead in place, your role transitions to focusing on the strategic growth of the analytics function, ensuring alignment with broader business objectives.

Key Takeaways

• Start with a Senior "Doer": Hire someone versatile who can show value quickly.
• Focus on Quick Wins: Demonstrate measurable business impact within the first few weeks.
• Scale Smartly: Add junior analysts to increase capacity without creating conflict.
• Plan for Leadership: As the team grows, hire a lead to support the team and allow you to focus on strategy.

Remember, the goal of building an analytics team isn’t just to produce reports or run analyses, it’s to drive better, more informed decisions that add tangible value to the business.

By starting small, focusing on results, and scaling strategically, you can create a sustainable and impactful analytics function.

If you have any questions or would like to share your experiences building an analytics team, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s discuss in the comments!

In my book 'Data Culture', I explore in more detail how to build Data Teams, what to do and what to avoid.

You can buy it from Amazon https://amzn.to/3Pg6lqk or from the publisher, Kogan Page's, website https://www.koganpage.com/business-and-management/data-culture-9781398614208