According to research from Stanford, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania, companies that incorporate data-driven decision-making experience a 5 to 6% jump in output and productivity. However, as company boards and top management are finding out, the impact data has on a business depends on whether it has been widely adopted at all levels, from the C-suite to the junior executive. In other words, data maturity matters.
The detail in the data
Yet, 91% of firms worldwide haven’t reached transformational levels of data maturity. Here is where teams and individuals who think like data scientists can be game-changers for the business.
If you and your team are wondering how it matters, picture this scenario. Your team has been working on a new project over the past few months and unfortunately, the work delivered has seen multiple errors, causing costly delays. While logs were created to document the work accomplished, the data was not analyzed, because of which no one in your team figured out why these mistakes cropped up. A closer look could have shown that your team’s typical QC process was not robust enough for this particular project. Or a deep dive could have shown that the team had been clocking far higher hours per day than planned, leading to more human errors. This would have prompted you to get extra help from other teams or commit to a later deadline. These steps could have ensured project success and improved the bottom line.
Rising to such data challenges isn’t easy. However, with some simple tips to get them started, every individual in your team can learn and hone their data skills.
- The first step: record, manage, and clean data, as a team
All too often, organizations and managers think that data management is the responsibility of one team or person. However, this leaves others in a situation where they are data-disempowered. Instead, make it a team policy to offer everyone equal access to data and ensure that all team members have the opportunity to improve their data literacy skills. Of course, the specialists in the team could take care of the more sensitive data and set the processes, but you can still give each person the responsibility to record, manage, and clean data. It will help them hone their skills and create a sense of ownership.
Here’s a simple exercise to get started. Every team member can report how many interruptions they encountered during their workday and when. By recording this data over time, it is possible to notice trends that generate insights to help you tackle productivity issues.
But that’s not all. There’s more that you and your team can do to build your data-related skill sets. We’ll share details in the next post. Stay tuned.
