What are your key areas of focus for data and analytics in 2022?
We have a big year coming up. Key areas of focus are continuing to grow an agile team with ever expanding skills in a competitive market, delivering an ambitious Snowflake migration to take us to the next level of capability, maturing our federated model to ensure appropriate business enablement driven by centres of excellence across data, analytics and intelligent automation to really improve agility, driving absolute focus on our industry data commitment to our customers, and an extensive list of centrally-driven delivery initiatives running in parallel. Year-on-year the team delivers more, and 2022 is no exception.
Tell us what leadership means to you in the context of your role as a senior data leader.
Leadership as a data leader is supporting and developing my team to ensure they have what they need to succeed in driving the organisation forward in a rapidly changing landscape, listening to our customers and the organisation to translate their needs into delivery of a data strategy, influencing and negotiating the right blend of top-down strategic business intent and bottom-up technical strategy and expertise to broker the right result for our stakeholders. Most importantly, it is about having sufficient clarity of an end goal to drive and motivate the team with sufficient flexibility to veer from it when the world evolves around us, and ensure we do so with integrity, humility and above all having some fun along the way.
What key skills or attributes do you consider have contributed to your success in this role?
Ultimately the ability to influence stakeholders, set a vision and draw on programme delivery experience to drive excellent execution has been key, however the softer skills are more critical. Keeping a focus on humility, relationship building, listening, flexibility, bravery and integrity has been hugely important. Most importantly, a genuine passion and energy about what we want to achieve is so important.
How did you develop – and continue to develop – these skills or attributes?
From a technical standpoint, keeping skills and knowledge relevant to the fast-paced burgeoning data industry is critical; working with peers across the DataIQ Leaders community, sharing best practice and developments allows me to keep my finger on the pulse and challenge our thinking. That external read is so critical to ensure that we look up and out beyond our own industry. On a personal level, feedback (be it requested or spontaneous!), listening to those around me and keeping a regular critical eye over where there is room for improvement with a view to looking forward on how to improve both individually and as a team. As the organisation evolves, so does the team dynamic and the skills that require particular focus at any point in time. Regularly checking in on what is important for each next phase is key.
Is the data tech you have keeping pace with your goals and requirements? Are your providers leading or lagging behind your demands?
Our goals have required an open-minded approach to data tech, ensuring the right balance between tactical solutions and future proof investment in solutions that will stand the test of time. Striking the balance between tactical and strategic solutions has been critical, as has keeping a flexible approach to the changing landscape of our business needs and the tech solutions that could support it. The providers that seek to truly listen and understand our needs have been a much welcome part of helping us to land a data ecosystem that suits our maturing landscape.
