Today I’ll share three things I consider must dos to get great value from your data team.
Because most data teams I see are failing to add value.
Well… at least compared to what they COULD be adding.
Great data teams can focus a business on the right problems to be solving. They can help iterate towards impactful solutions faster. And they can help businesses to accelerate into growth.
Sadly, most data teams just become the people who fetch data. Most data teams end up in demotivating situations like the one described here by Chad Sanderson:
So let's cover my three must-dos to get a seriously impactful data team by your side!
Must-Do 1: Align Your Incentives
Misaligned incentives are the main breakdown of data team value.
Do you really know what your data team is trying to do? Have you ever asked them, “what are YOUR goals?” Do you think they know exactly what YOU are trying to achieve?
If not, consider this your nudge to go ask 😉
Because I’ve NEVER been asked, or seen someone ask their data team, these questions. And misaligned incentives is what I’ve come to see as being the biggest source of friction and waste.
A quick story: the first time I led a department’s data team, the company made it a requirement for every individual to have personal and business goals. The department VP wanted me to share his goal of hitting our top line metric target. I pushed back. “How could I possibly be responsible for such a goal?! I don’t have any decision-making power. That’s HIS problem.” Furthermore, when it came to performance reviews and promotion decisions by senior data science leadership, I wasn’t evaluated on the topline metric. At a high-level, I was evaluated on my influence over decisions – over his decisions!
The misalignment was out in the open. He wanted me to pull data that HE thought would help him be pertinent to topline growth (without needing to explain to me why it mattered). I wanted to do work that had a meaningful influence on his choices (without necessarily caring about what they were about).
Understanding and aligning with each other was a HUGE win (aside from an important learning experience for me). I was able to tune my team to focus on solving problems to accelerate top line growth. The VP and his reports adjusted their approach to think through and articulate their actions when interfacing with data.
So, go ask your data team what their incentives are. You might just be surprised!
Must Do 2: Share Problems, Not Solutions
Have you ever walked into a medical specialist’s office and requested a specific surgery?
Unlikely. Because they are better qualified to treat your symptoms (underlying problem).
But, when it comes to data teams, we all get this wrong (I’m guilty too).
Data team requests often sound like, “Can you get me this number?” or “Can you make this dashboard?” I hope you can see that these are asks for a solution (much like requesting a specific surgery).
If data requests come in the form of problems, they sound more like: “I’m under pressure to report our progress to the board but don’t have the latest figures” or “I want to create a focussed growth strategy but don’t know if we have an acquisition or retention problem.”
Yes, data specialists have the skills to get and present data, but think of this as the “front-end” or “Interface” of their skills. Behind it is deep expertise in finding the right data, analysing it in the right way, and producing information to solve problems.
Chances are you’ll get FAR more valuable output from a data team when you approach them with your problems instead of your solutions.
As a bonus (which ties into the next Must Do), data teams are much more excited and motivated to solve problems instead of being mere data fetchers. So this is a great way to build better relationships and stand out as a person that top data talent will gravitate towards.
Must Do 3: Recognise Contributions
Have you ever done great work only to have someone else take the glory?
Well, that happens a lot to data teams. It’s not for malicious reasons. It’s just being human. The data team provides support and input to others to make decisions. Those people, under pressure to move fast and perform, rarely get a chance to stop and think about the contribution of their data team.
So, where you can, try to find a moment to publicly recognise the work of your data team. Because, I promise you, you’ll do a lot more than just share the glory (which is also important).
I can tell you first hand that all data teams struggle to articulate their value. It’s painful for them. So when you stand up and sing their praises, they will love you for it. You’re showing that you believe in the value of data and the data team, and you’re willing to tell others about it.
So if you want more from your data team, some public recognition can go a long way!
Great Data Teams are Great Partners
At the end of the day, we’re all people and data teams need some love too.
These Must-Dos:
Aligning Incentives
Sharing Problems
Recognising Contributions
...are what I find will help build great relationships and partnerships.
So go and share the love.
You might find the key to your next ground-breaking insight is just one “thank you” away!
Until next time, thanks for reading! 👋
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