The building blocks
The first thing to do is to work out why data supports your organisation and in what ways it can be utilised by you, your team and eventually the wider business. You will need to break apart the organisational objectives and examine in which areas data can directly or indirectly influence its success. It can help to write down anything and everything that comes to mind when doing this – it will likely be a long document, but this can be edited at a later stage to become streamlined and impactful.
“Data is everywhere and intrinsic in everything we do,” said Sian Maragna, PwC director, chief data office, UK. “It is the role of a data leader to create a well-defined, impactful data vision and strategy that provides clear direction and can be interpreted by everyone, regardless of their background and role.”
There are some core questions you need to ask yourself when devising a data vision:
- Does this vision remain true to your organisational purpose?
- Is it simple and easy to understand for non-data professionals?
- Can you easily demonstrate how the vision is aligned with organisational objectives?
- Is the focus internal, external or both?
- Is this vision inspiring?
- How can this be monitored?
Sian continued: “Our data vision is to use data responsibly to make informed business decisions and create more value for our clients. Keeping our vision simple has been key to its success so far, with our messaging around it being clear and consistent and using different channels and styles of communication to suit all audiences. Our goal is to bridge the gap between data and non-data professionals, by making data everyone’s business.”
The reach of data
Once the initial building blocks have been identified and examined, the next step is to define what you are looking to accomplish with your data vision and how this can be achieved. This can be done with a data mission statement where the relationship between the data vision and the organisational objectives can be clearly defined.
“Data leaders must realise the power of data at three levels namely: 1) deriving insights and uncovering blind spots for decision making; 2) Enabling business growth by helping to find new opportunities; and 3) Monitoring and managing risks efficiently for the business – this is where CDOs should find inspiration to articulate their vision and mission to lead the business towards success,” said Shreyans Dudheriya, partner and leader, risk analytics, PwC, India.
It is important to be all-encompassing with the data mission statement by including all stakeholders across the organisation in the result. This is a prime opportunity to increase the reach of the data office and bring more people into the fold, so ensure the mission statement is inviting, intriguing and inclusive. The main difference between the mission statement and the vision is that the mission statement must be tangible and provide clear guidance, whereas the vision can be aspirational and wide-reaching in its definition.
Ultimately, data is powerful, and it needs to be treated with respect and care – not only for compliance reasons, but for quality assurances too – and this is only possible if everyone is the business understands the data vision. A data vision needs to be simple and clear for non-data professionals who may have a lower level of data literacy. It can be easy to make the data vision overtly complicated to highlight the technical aspects of data, but this is the incorrect path to take. Detail can always be added to specific projects and tasks, whereas the overall vision needs to be simple and all-encompassing. By breaking down the individual components of the final data vision into easily digestible terms, the data vision is more likely to be widely accepted, understood and receive backing from decision makers.
If you are a DataIQ member, you can better understand your organisation’s capabilities of different data areas by taking the free DataIQ assessments for leaders here. These assessments cover:
- Strategy
- Leadership and vision
- Literacy and skill
- Technology and tools
- Quality foundations
- Compliance and regulation
To find out how to become a DataIQ member and take advantage of these leadership assessment tools, plus involvement in conversations with the leading minds in data, click here.
