Improving data literacy in your organization
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WHAT IS DATA LITERACY?
Data literacy is the ability to extract insights from data, just as literacy is the ability to obtain useful information from the written word in general. Many companies are recruiting data analysts, who have specialized technical capabilities when it comes to dealing with complexities that come with data. Data literacy includes knowing what kind of data to use for a certain reason, visualizations of data such as diagrams and maps to be interpreted, and understanding the various data analytics techniques and processes, as well as where and when they can be used.
Why is data literacy important for your business?
The majority of companies deal with a massive volume of data. However, gathering data is not the same as comprehending it. There is a vital skills shortage. Many organizations are stymied by a lack of data awareness, which is stymieing digital change efforts around the board. Data literacy is as critical as literacy in a world increasingly driven by data, and an organization’s ability to survive would be highly reliant on its employees’ ability to understand this modern language.
Knowing how to communicate with data
According to a survey by Accenture and Qlik, only 21% of the global working population were completely secure in their data literacy abilities, with only a fifth ready to use data before starting their next job. This not only affects employee morale but also prohibits businesses from reaping the benefits of data-driven decision-making, as 36% of overworked workers said they found other ways to accomplish assignments without using data. Although businesses strive to capture, archive, and interpret data, the true value of this information is largely unrealized. Very few businesses said they were able to derive tangible and observable value from data.
Providing data training to employees to empower them
Data literacy preparation helps tackle this obstacle in a variety of ways. Some companies incorporate it into their current educational programs, while others deliver standalone E-Learning classes or specialized classroom training. Data literacy advisory services, which offer access to education, consultancy, and guidance to help organizations drive higher data literacy rates while optimizing the value locked in their data, are also gaining traction.
Market leaders must recognize the value of data literacy in the modern age and ensure that people are a core component of their data strategy. Businesses who give their workers the knowledge, access, and resources they need will reap huge rewards with data-literate companies having a 3-5 percent higher enterprise value.
How to remote data literacy in your organization
1. Employee coaching should provide data literacy
Incorporate data reading, analysis, and interpretation through the normal employee training programs. Train the staff to correctly view consumer and product data.. Organizations can develop personalized programming for various types of teams. I
2. Decentralize the data access
Employees with greater visibility are more likely to make strategic decisions from the outset of a project’s planning stages. Rather than defending actions after the event, teams should review evidence before producing a project proposal. Decentralization does not imply that all workers have full access to all data. For the sake of anonymity, it is required to impose limitations. Teams, on the other hand, should have easy access to the data they use to complete their tasks.
3. Assign each employee a KPI
Split up KPIs so that each team member covers the whole range of applicable metrics. One individual on the marketing team can track ad metrics such as click-through rate, while another monitors consumer feedback metrics such as brand recall. At team meetings, employees will present the most recent findings from their KPIs. This way, everyone gets feedback on team development without having to keep track of each KPI individually.
Employees are more motivated when they understand their metric thoroughly, and how it relates to the company’s strategic goals. They may recommend more important KPIs to work on whether they believe the metric is no longer actionable or is too stagnant.
4. Empower staff to improve their data literacy
Encourage the team to apply their skills when they’re ready as part of developing data literacy. Offer workers more responsibility as they gain experience in data processing. Request that they provide data in their original project plans without specifying what they should look for. This will help them gain trust in their ability to analyze results. It would also help you save time.
Barriers to data literacy
1. Company Culture
The ethos of an organization can be a stumbling block to greater data literacy. To begin, all leaders must practice what they preach and take a data-driven approach to leadership. There is no reason for workers to follow a data-first mindset if administrators do not need data to be used in meetings, proposals for new goods or services, or to support decision-making.
Acceptance to progress and the ability to take steps to bring about change are prerequisites for a data-first approach.
2. Adoption of Data Literacy
Another challenge to data literacy is how far an organization has progressed on its data literacy acceptance as a priority. Companies do not prioritize data literacy as one of their primary focuses rather they put their efforts on data collection instead of teaching employees how to analyze and leverage the data.
3. Data
Data itself is very much prone to be tampered with in many ways, and if the data is not secured then decision-making could be very difficult. If the data available is non-evident the primary operations can also be obstructed because data literacy is all about the information needed to understand what data it is and what kinds of data exist. And thus if the data tampers, the interpretations will also be adversely affected.
Future of data literacy
In the face of technical innovation, data literacy is now one of the most sought-after skills an organization can possess. Although recent surveys suggest that the majority of senior-level executives, managers, teachers, and the rest of the workforce lack data trust, there are policies and tools in place to promote greater fluency in processing data through the enterprise system. Employees that can capture, manage, evaluate, and submit data in a tailored manner are the need of the hour. The emphasis here is not on computer scientists – but rather on the staff of specialized departments. They must be in a position to deal with data and make decisions based on the data.
CONCLUSION
Employees must use higher-order skills such as strategic reasoning, problem-solving, computational, and logical thinking to deal with the increasing amount and variety of data that companies now have access to regularly. Data enhances an organization’s ability to create both tangible and digital market opportunities by optimizing performance, increasing performance, and enhancing the workforce’s capacity to provide more value. To be able to discover the keys to good enterprise and strategic advantage, it is critical to be able to view, evaluate, and convey data results.