Forbes
Bob Kulhan
May 31, 2022
getty
Edited by
Joaquim Cardoso MSc.
Health Management Transformation
Institute for better health, care, cost and access for all.
June 21, 2022
Executive Summary
- Data can change the world, but our data leaders — the people who help spearhead this change — often struggle to do their jobs well.
- Organizations make tremendous investments in amazing technologies but rarely focus on data management. Various employees across the organization are asked to juggle data along with their other responsibilities.
- Most companies don’t actively practice data management because they don’t know how. …they implement solutions or build analytical capabilities without intimately knowing their stakeholders’ requirements and intended business outcomes.
- Therefore, technologies go unadopted, data initiatives fail, and data leaders end up out of a job — a waste of time, money, and other resources.
- Most organizations don’t have a chief data officer, so the data strategy is largely driven by the technology function, which can operate more as a service than an agent of change.
- Many technology leaders would be glad to be rid of data because it requires working with people across many departments.
- …the data leader becomes an afterthought, which leaves many data leaders super frustrated.
- An important thing to note is that most data management best practices focus solely on the data
- In order for data managers to go from corporate collateral to agents of change, everyone needs to work together to be part of the solution.
- Data is nothing without people. Solving problems with data is complex and requires lots of collaboration, and companies/data leaders struggle to get everyone working together.
- Leaders need to bridge the gap between data and people.
Aside from minor data issues, the biggest challenge data leaders face is stakeholder management.
- “The paradox is that super technical resources are required to work mostly with people, and most data leaders aren’t ready for the people part.
- …most data leaders misallocate their focus to data and fail address the more obvious challenges of the job — people and communication.
- The truth is technology rarely fixes a people problem.
As a data leader, you must bring clarity and focus to your organization while obtaining buy-in along the way. Forget about the data. Focus on the people.
Data can change the world, but our data leaders — the people who help spearhead this change — often struggle to do their jobs well.
Moving past big data buzzwords, the challenges they face and what keeps them from leading effectively within their organizations, move past the date and center on the people aspect of leadership.
In order for data managers to go from corporate collateral to agents of change, everyone needs to work together to be part of the solution.
Leaders need to bridge the gap between data and people.
In order for data managers to go from corporate collateral to agents of change, everyone needs to work together to be part of the solution.
Leaders need to bridge the gap between data and people.
As someone who has studied all aspects of a communication and collaboration-based art form — improvisation — for almost 30 years, the people side of data is intriguing to me.
So, I sat down and spoke with Taylor Culver, Founder of XenoDATA and an expert in bridging the gap between data and people.
Bob Kulhan: What is the current state of data management inside organizations today?
Taylor Culver: Neglected. Organizations make tremendous investments in amazing technologies but rarely focus on data management.
Various employees across the organization are asked to juggle data along with their other responsibilities.
So, you have salespeople cleaning data in the CRM and not selling, or finance folks compiling reports in Excel instead of analyzing data.
However, naturally their data responsibilities take a backseat to their primary function because that’s what keeps them employed.
They must take on more because the company isn’t managing data the way it should. By not actively managing data, it becomes a part-time unpaid job for everyone which becomes frustrating and at times demoralizing for leaders.
Organizations make tremendous investments in amazing technologies but rarely focus on data management.
Various employees across the organization are asked to juggle data along with their other responsibilities.
They must take on more because the company isn’t managing data the way it should. By not actively managing data, it becomes a part-time unpaid job for everyone which becomes frustrating and at times demoralizing for leaders.
Kulhan: How does data management work inside a corporation?
Culver: Most companies don’t actively practice data management because they don’t know how.
Best practices are largely academic, and the path is pretty much unproven.
So, they implement solutions or build analytical capabilities without intimately knowing their stakeholders’ requirements and intended business outcomes.
Therefore, technologies go unadopted, data initiatives fail, and data leaders end up out of a job — a waste of time, money, and other resources.
Most companies don’t actively practice data management because they don’t know how.
…they implement solutions or build analytical capabilities without intimately knowing their stakeholders’ requirements and intended business outcomes.
Therefore, technologies go unadopted, data initiatives fail, and data leaders end up out of a job — a waste of time, money, and other resources.
An important thing to note is that most data management best practices focus solely on the data.
Data is nothing without people.
Solving problems with data is complex and requires lots of collaboration, and companies/data leaders struggle to get everyone working together.
Companies that do this well focus on uniting the data to the business through people.
An important thing to note is that most data management best practices focus solely on the data.
Data is nothing without people.
Solving problems with data is complex and requires lots of collaboration, and companies/data leaders struggle to get everyone working together.
Kulhan: Who is responsible for leading these initiatives?
Culver: Most organizations don’t have a chief data officer, so the data strategy is largely driven by the technology function, which can operate more as a service than an agent of change.
But, once again, this is not their main job.
Many technology leaders would be glad to be rid of data because it requires working with people across many departments.
The average IT person did not go into IT because they want to work with people all day long. They like solutions.
Most organizations don’t have a chief data officer, so the data strategy is largely driven by the technology function, which can operate more as a service than an agent of change.
Many technology leaders would be glad to be rid of data because it requires working with people across many departments.
If there is a data leader, they carry the responsibility. However, the organization often happily makes decisions around them.
As a result, the data leader becomes an afterthought, which leaves many data leaders super frustrated.
…the data leader becomes an afterthought, which leaves many data leaders super frustrated.
Kulhan: Tell me more about these data leaders.
Culver: Most data leaders want to help people do cool things with data.
They know what’s possible and they want others to see what’s possible too.
Yet, it’s easy for them to become cynical about the state of data management. So many of them don’t last long.
Kulhan: What challenges do data leaders face at work?
Culver: Aside from minor data issues, the biggest challenge is stakeholder management.
Data leaders need to ensure others know what they need to do and how their work will benefit the organization, and that typically doesn’t get done.
Most people aren’t taught how to navigate the complexities of corporate relationships in school. It’s a skill that takes time to master.
Many data leaders turn a blind eye to this and over-hedge on improving data quality and implementing solutions without intimately understanding what their communities need.
Aside from minor data issues, the biggest challenge data leaders face is stakeholder management.
“The paradox is that super technical resources are required to work mostly with people, and most data leaders aren’t ready for the people part.
They are analytical problem-solvers, not over-confident storytellers. It’s like hiring an engineer to be a diplomat. It’s probably not going to work.
“The paradox is that super technical resources are required to work mostly with people, and most data leaders aren’t ready for the people part.
Kulhan: So, data leaders have a burden of knowledge and speak to a often disengaged audience on a potentially boring topic, and they end up burying their audience in information versus bringing them clarity?
Culver: Yes, most data leaders misallocate their focus to data and fail address the more obvious challenges of the job — people and communication.
In many cases people even speak past each other, which makes it hard to generate real traction.
For example, sales will say “revenue” means what they sold. Finance says “revenue” means what they billed, and marketing says “revenue” is what was sold directly attributable to marketing. All three parties are talking about “revenue” subjectively, and there needs to be a common language, shared throughout the organization.
…most data leaders misallocate their focus to data and fail address the more obvious challenges of the job — people and communication.
Because data leaders aren’t bringing clarity to how their organizations will use the data, stakeholders get confused which leads to disengagement. Once they’re disengaged, it’s not easy to get them back.
Because data leaders aren’t bringing clarity to how their organizations will use the data, stakeholders get confused which leads to disengagement. Once they’re disengaged, it’s not easy to get them back.
Kulhan: Communicating data in a compelling way seems to be a fundamental problem with data management.
Culver: Yes, data leaders struggle with finding a path to success because there’s no universally proven roadmap to success.
It’s up to the data leader to communication information in a way that brings people in. A simple approach is to create a basic, universally agreed-upon framework to extract value from data.
Kulhan: We’ve found that stories are a great way to turn data into meaningful, impactful and memorable messages.
You know, data is such a trendy topic, talked about a lot, but the data communication is often ignored. Why aren’t leaders talking about the real problem?
Culver: People want their problems solved, and don’t want to be told that they need to work harder to do it.
It’s human nature to find the fastest solution to a problem, and in this case, leaders default to the latest and greatest technology to work around the pain of fixing the actual problem.
The truth is technology rarely fixes a people problem.
The truth is technology rarely fixes a people problem.
Kulhan: So, if a leader has gone down the wrong path to solving a people problem, what is a strategy for pivoting?
Culver: Reflect on what problem you’re solving for and for whom.
- Is the business still engaged?
- Does our proposed solution still meet their requirements?
- Do all stakeholders of this data community agree with the go-forward plan?
If not, it’s okay to stop and adapt.
Your data strategy is only successful if you have a user.
Collaborate with others in building your solution. That active participation will increase the likelihood that they will effectively understand and use the data.
Kulhan: How can Data Leaders help themselves?
Culver: Like getting healthy, no one can do the work for you. Consultants can’t do the work for you, and no software solution is going to drive change without you at the wheel. Both are supporting solutions and not the active change agent.
Data management requires tremendous organizational discipline and focus.
As a data leader, you must bring clarity and focus to your organization while obtaining buy-in along the way. Forget about the data. Focus on the people.
Data management requires tremendous organizational discipline and focus.
As a data leader, you must bring clarity and focus to your organization while obtaining buy-in along the way. Forget about the data. Focus on the people.
Taylor’s words really resonate with me.
Despite being top of mind for most executives, data rarely gets the long-term investment and support it needs to be successful at most organizations.
Data leaders have a tremendous opportunity to become change agents simply by treating their colleagues as collaborators.
Intimately getting to know their pain points and resolving them will take a data leader far.
Applying a clear and consistent framework across the organization can help identify true gaps as well as areas for opportunity.
In today’s world, a data leader must bring clarity to their data so they can set their organization up for success.
In today’s world, a data leader must bring clarity to their data so they can set their organization up for success.
The more I learn about the struggles of data leaders the more I see how similar they are to the struggles of others — communication, collaboration, storytelling, relationship building — and the solution is strengthening people skills and human connection.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Originally published at https://www.forbes.com.
Names mentioned
Taylor Culver,
Founder of XenoDATA and an expert in bridging the gap between data and people.
