08.29.2022 Executive Data Bytes – Embracing Data Literacy and Its Culture

Executive Data Bytes

Tech analysis for the busy executive.

Welcome to another edition of Executive Data Bytes! This week, we are discussing the current culture shift toward automated and data-oriented companies. 

Focus piece: “Businesses That Value Workers Also Value Data Literacy”

Executive Summary

A lack of professional development is one of the top reasons for employee turnover. Businesses cannot afford to wait and allow other, more data-forward enterprises to win top talent. This Forbes article explains why data literacy education is crucial for success.

Key Takeaways

• The modern workplace is rapidly changing, and data plays a central role in many of those changes. However, despite these changes, only 21% of employees believe their employer is preparing them for a more data-oriented and automated workplace.
• CareerAddict's survey shows that 82% of employees would quit over a lack of career progression. Employee churn costs organizations money and makes other employees feel less secure about their own positions.
• The way forward is to embrace data literacy as a foundational pillar to build around for long-term success in a world that runs on data. Widespread data literacy engages and grows employees while empowering them to make every decision a better one.
• Education systems at every level need to begin teaching these critical skills to adults and children alike. Data literacy education fosters a positive and ongoing relationship with data, enabling higher-level thinking and skills.

Focus piece: “Why you need data literacy in your workforce”

Executive Summary

Today, companies are amassing more data than ever before, and also undergoing a digital transformation to become more data-driven. Given the changes in the data and analytics landscape, non-data professionals need to become data literate. Read on in this article from Eliiza to learn more about how both business and employees can benefit from improving data literacy across the workforce.

Key Takeaways

• Businesses are adopting a data mesh architecture where data and analytics functions are delegated to individual business domains. These domains share their data as a product with other domains.
• The data mesh architecture brings many advantages, but it also means that non-data professionals will have to work with data in one way or another. The problem is that most people are not confident or competent when working with data.
• A recent study found that only half of C-suite executives reported full confidence in their data literacy skills.
• Organizations that invest in data literacy programs see benefits such as improved customer experience, better decision making, improving productivity, and greater employee satisfaction and retention.

Focus piece: “10 Steps To Creating A Data Driven Culture” 

Executive Summary

A data-driven culture is an organizational mindset that uses data to inform business decisions, predict customer behavior and drive transformative technologies. To create a data-driven culture, follow these 10 steps in this article from Hexacta.

Key Takeaways

• The key to making complex data work for a solution-oriented management system is asking the correct questions and knowing how to solve problems. Root Cause Analysis can help identify business problems and priorities early on.
• Senior leaders can play a substantial role in actively building a data-driven culture by using analytics in top-level decision-making and setting examples for employees. This encourages data curiosity and helps the organization anticipate and respond promptly to market trends.
• Every organization should invest in specialized training for employee skill growth. This will help the employees to handle data-related responsibilities and will also help the organization save resources and be more cost-effective.
• Data Narration and Data Visualization methods are a great way to cultivate a data-enthusiastic workforce. They make complex data-driven insights simple, effective, and easy-to-understand, and promote data curiosity and accessibility in the workplace.

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