Business leaders looking for competitive advantages in every facet of their business — from operations to sales to recruiting – cite employees' data skills as a top need. But when it comes to providing data-training opportunities for employees, many are falling short.
Recently, Tableau commissioned Forrester Consulting to explore organisational issues and challenges in data literacy and cultures. Unsurprisingly, Singapore has one of the highest data literacy expectations globally.
The majority (91%) of employers surveyed expect basic data literacy from employees in every department — including product, IT, HR and operations. However, only 28% of businesses carry out data training for all their employees.
This is problematic as over 70% of Singapore employees are more likely to take a job at another company that offers data training. In other words, the lack of data training contributes to employee attrition.
The expectation gap employers must bridge
There is a gap between what employees know about data and what employers think their employees know about data. Nearly 80% of local bosses believe that they are providing adequate data training to help their employees thrive, but only 37% of local employees share this view.
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Data skills are the new currency at work, and companies play a critical role in creating the pathways for their employees to learn, grow and drive business outcomes. But who is responsible for providing data skills, and how should we do this?
Employers must teach people data skills – and they are ready for it
One thing business leaders and their employees agree on: The value of data is not restricted to the traditional realm of analysts and data scientists; it is applicable to everyone, in every role.
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Forrester found that decision-makers and employees in every department consider basic data skills the single most important skill needed to drive employee success. By 2025, close to 70% of Singaporean employees are expected to use data heavily in their job, which is almost double the figure in 2018.
So, where should one start? Here are three recommendations.
#1. Leaders, it is time for you to practice what you preach
Leaders are uniquely positioned to be force-multipliers. If they model the change that they want to see, the rest of the organisation will follow at scale.
One simple example: Management should move away from static spreadsheets to a dashboard with “live” data, query the data in real-time, and make data-driven decisions. Not only will this benefit your organisation, but it will also encourage everyone in the company to follow your lead.
#2. Build data communities
It is not easy to drive change. One way to mitigate the uncertainty and discomfort associated with change is to set up support groups. An internal data community housed by experts and those with passion around data can help other employees accelerate their data journey by providing support to those that wish to grow their data skills.
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The next time you hear a remark like “I do not need analytics in my job”, try gamifying what training looks like. Make it fun.
For example, what started as a social data experiment to see different visual interpretations of the same data set, our Makeover Monday community has generated over 10,000+ visualisations to date, capturing everything from consumers’ favourite pizza toppings to influenza trends over the years.
People soon learned that working with data is not scary. In fact, it promotes creativity and can bring meaning to their work.
Photo: Lindsay Betzendahl / Tableau
#3. It is okay to raise your hand for help — Outsource data training to the experts
Consider strategic partners for data training to help ease the process. Consulting partners, technology vendors, data literacy specialists and others can supply a wide variety of on-demand, in-person, individual or group training for specific technologies and roles tailored for your organisation.
A sales representative does not need the same level of knowledge as a data scientist, but they both should be able to use data in their roles. An external data literacy specialist can create a programme that works best for everyone.
Data training helps the bottom line
Organisations that commit to data literacy efforts see benefits such as better decision-making, reduced costs, improved retention, and increased revenues.
Investments in data skills are happening across all industries. Jaguar Land Rover reported seeing a 96-fold return on their data investments as they built an analytics engine that powered their business with insights.
When it comes to investing in data skills, the question is no longer who is responsible. It should be about how do we fast-track our way to becoming a data-first business by getting everyone on board.
Ajay Advani is the vice president of Business & Partnerships for APJ at Tableau at Salesforce
