Data literacy is becoming increasingly important. Businesses are starting to realise that the key to success is how they analyse and use data—not just how big of a database they have.
In fact, taking a data-informed approach could be the difference between your business failing or flourishing. In this blog I’ll discuss how you can begin to develop data literacy skills in yourself and others, and set your business up for success.
What is Data Literacy?
Data literacy means knowing what data can do for your business and being able to use it appropriately, being able to derive actions from insights, and understanding how to use data to inform effective decision making.
You might think of data literacy as being able to take in the data and make it work for you. But at a more basic level, data literacy is about being comfortable when you encounter data, and embracing your natural human curiosity to dig deeper into understanding what numbers really mean.
How to Start: Developing Data Literacy Skills
There are a number of skills that I believe all people in a business, regardless of role, should develop, in order to maximise the benefits of being a truly data driven company.
Data Handling
For example, understanding how data is collected, the flow from raw data to final numbers, how metrics are calculated.
While non-technical people may think this is something the engineers and developers can worry about, it provides valuable context for interpreting the end result. A better understanding of where and how your data originates helps you to more effectively translate numbers into insights, and those insights into action.
Communication Skills
In order to speak intelligently about your insights gained from the analysis of data, you need to be able to communicate your findings with others. You need to understand what’s being communicated and why it matters, but more importantly you need to know how to ask questions if you’re faced with numbers that don’t make sense.
A fear of looking dumb is often the biggest barrier to non-technical people asking questions about data, but the risks of accepting metrics at face value even if it doesn’t feel right is far greater.
Most analysts are curious people, and love to talk about their work – asking questions needs to be normalised and accepted if a business is going to reap the rewards of becoming truly data driven.
Statistics Skills
One of the primary ways data is analyzed is through statistics—the application of mathematics and logical operations on variables for the purpose of analyzing a set of numbers or making predictions about future events.
Stats doesn’t have to be boring, and the benefits of becoming more comfortable with statistical concepts are immeasurable.
As a place to start, I thoroughly enjoyed the book Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data. It’s a highly entertaining read which provides even the most math-averse executive with enough understanding of stats to improve data literacy and decision making.
Embrace Challenges with Curiosity
Overall, the biggest challenge to overcome on the path to enabling data driven businesses is the fear of the unknown – data can be daunting! Embracing opportunities to learn and grow as they’re presented day by day is the first step to developing solid data literacy skills for everyone.
ashleigheg 