Tell me if this sounds familiar:
An organization runs into some challenges at the strategic level, and after some retrospective analysis, finds that the challenges could have been avoided if someone had been looking at a piece of information. Leadership rallies around a new initiative to become more data-driven, using the missed opportunity as the case study and motivation for change. Over the next quarter, there’s a flurry of activity, with an explosion of Excel spreadsheets and charts that come with tracking things and building out new reporting systems. Teams are encouraged to “use the data” more, and there’s a buzz around becoming a data-first organization.
But after just a few months, things start to slide back into old habits. The enthusiasm to generate all the new reports wanes as people grumble about inefficiencies and not seeing anything they didn’t already know. People begin to revert back to the old way of running meetings and making decisions. Then, with the exception of a few rare exceptions, things are back to the way they were.
Why does this happen? Why do so many data-driven initiatives fall flat after the initial push?
It happens because you can’t build a culture through mandates.
Culture is built through the actions and behaviors that are rewarded (positive) and tolerated (negative).
To build a data-driven culture, you want to incentivize the positive habits and avoid the bureaucracy & one-size-fits-none mandates. You can do that by making data accessible to everyone, regardless of their role in the organization. I don’t care if you’re a financial analyst, creative director, front-office admin, or security guard. There’s data that can make your job easier and your life better.
Start small, aim big. Trust your team to know what they need, then give it to them in a way that’s easy to use. Expect the requests will change over time – that’s not a sign of poor planning or flippancy. That’s evolution! More importantly, that’s a really strong signal that your data-driven culture is taking root.
Be worried if people’s needs don’t change over time.
If your reports and dashboards don’t change over time, it’s a pretty good sign that either:
- You’re dealing with forces of stagnation
or - No one is actually using the data
There’s a whole book I could write on driving adoption and fostering data democracy to build data-centric cultures – but it all starts with sharing data with everyone in the business.
It’s the nature of bottom-up traction to drive adoption and shift cultures. When people choose the data they need to do their jobs better, they have a stake in the process, feel that what they’re getting is relevant to their specifics, and ultimately will end up more creative and accountable.
There is just one catch…
Access isn’t enough to democratize data. Your data needs to be easy to access and easy (if not fun) to use. There’s a lot of work that goes into making data accessible. The user experience (aka UX) is critical. Is data a pain in the butt to access? Will default views constantly need to be changed to suit the user’s needs? Stuff like this kills adoption rates for data projects.
Remove friction between your team and their data, and you’ve got the best-case scenario for a successful start on culture transformation.
Want to be more data-driven? Give everyone the data they need. If it sounds daunting or hard, feel free to give us a shout. We love helping with this kind of thing!
