Data literacy is a key enabler of the value and impact from data. How are you approaching this within your organisation?
I think of data literacy in two ways: people being numerically data literate, meaning they can read a balance sheet or analyse a triangles report; and the literacy of the language we use as data professionals – for example, what does the term data-lineage mean?
The former is the most challenging and is often something that people have learned as a skill through their chosen career: an accountant or actuary will be numerically literate. If your role does not need you to be numerically literate, you typically do not learn that skill. That said, I would encourage anyone who wishes to progress to senior management or higher to learn finance basics, either through some self-learning or with a coach. We encourage learning of all skills in data, and we plan to form an academy to support this initiative.
Terminology around data literacy is (perhaps) easier to grasp, as the terms used can be simply explained and requires no maths. We have rolled out a data management platform that contains a glossary of business terms for all to read, rate, and comment on.
We have an active data community, with training and demonstration sessions held once a month. Our data delivery squad holds showcases of the previous sprint to a very engaged audience from the business and technical community.