Choosing Your Data Champions
- By Paul Mah
- September 25, 2022
A recurring topic of conversation at many roundtable discussions hosted by CDOTrends with CDOs and data professionals is the role of data champions to advance the data agenda. A data champion is essentially a citizen data scientist who is an influencer or advocate for data-based decisions.
And because they are far more aligned to the requirements and challenges of their teams or departments, data champions are invaluable in moving the needle on data initiatives. Crucially, they also allow data professionals to focus on strategic projects, which increases the likelihood of data-driven success.
But how can businesses even start to identify the data champions they need to lead the way? Below are four criteria for identifying your data champions.
Good listening skills
That data champions are invariably in the thick of things gives them additional context about an issue, allowing them to respond quickly and funnel requests back to the data team. But this might still be for naught if they miss out on vital details or misinterpret key requirements.
Good listening skills are a requirement to understand what the business truly needs and what problems need to be solved before diving into analysis or acting on it.
Speaking in the context of data scientists in general, Deividas Skiparis, a data scientist, said: “Consultants are taught not to jump too fast into solutions, first clarify the problem and only then look for solutions, in other words – to be able to listen. This should also be learned by every data person.”
A storyteller
While the ability to explain insights from data science initiatives and a desire to share them with other employees is important, a good data champion must also be able to communicate the narrative for change. We are wired to respond emotionally, and it can be challenging to get people to agree with you without some ability for inspiring storytelling.
Paul J Zak, a professor of economics, psychology, and management at Claremont Graduate University had this to say: “Stories that are personal and emotionally compelling engage more of the brain, and thus are better remembered, than simply stating a set of facts.”
According to the research he did, stories are an effective way to transmit important information and values from one individual or community to the next. This means your ideal data champion shouldn’t just be an employee who is good with data, but also an impassioned storyteller.
Critical thinker
Just because an idea sounds good doesn’t mean it is. Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, requirements – and data – to form a judgment about a certain topic. For our data champions, this entails the ability to correctly gauge the quality of quantitative information and draw the right conclusions from it.
The good news is that critical thinking skills can be developed through training, ensuring that workers are equipped to make sense of the deluge of information that we are constantly bombarded with to quickly identify what matters.
A business mindset
Finally, our data champions must have an excellent sense of the organization’s objectives, the lay of the broader industry, and an intuitive sense of business. An analytical mindset without a broader appreciation of the business realities is meaningless here; regardless of whether they hail from IT, operations, or human resources, they need to have a business mindset and view everything through the lens of the organization.
Only then will they successfully uncover new business avenues or turn existing problems into opportunities – leveraging data to make it happen. And because they are one of the acknowledged data champions within the organization, this will only further inspire (and nudge) other team members toward data-driven decisions.
At the end of the day, the human element is what makes a data culture work. With the right data champions established as the go-to person for data in their teams and departments, you are on the way to establishing a strong network of data advocates that will lead the organization on its way to establishing a strong data culture.
Paul Mah is the editor of DSAITrends. A former system administrator, programmer, and IT lecturer, he enjoys writing both code and prose. You can reach him at [email protected].
Image credit: iStockphoto/Jomkwan
Paul Mah
Paul Mah is the editor of DSAITrends, where he report on the latest developments in data science and AI. A former system administrator, programmer, and IT lecturer, he enjoys writing both code and prose.