Three Strategies for Building a Culture of Data at your Organization
Listen to the Common Good Data Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.
For many organizations, the challenge isn't just in collecting or analyzing data—it's in making data a core part of the decision-making process. Leaders often find it difficult to embed a culture where data-driven decisions are not just encouraged but are the norm.
Despite having access to valuable data, teams may hesitate to use it due to a lack of confidence, unclear expectations, or insufficient support from leadership.
In a previous episode, we explored what defines a strong culture of data, including leadership commitment, data literacy, and governance. But today, we're taking it a step further by discussing the practical strategies you can implement to cultivate this culture within your own organization.
You’ll hear:
(02:25) How you can create rituals around data to make it a regular part of organizational practices
(04:40) Why asking questions instead of giving answers encourages data-driven decision-making
(08:14) What celebrating data use publicly does to foster a positive and inclusive data culture
Resources Mentioned:
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Drew Reynolds: Hello everyone. And welcome again to the Common Good Data podcast. I am your host, Drew Reynolds. Today we are going to be talking about strategies for building a culture of data at your organization. And you may remember if you were listening two weeks ago, that we had an episode that talks about what makes for a culture of data at your organization.
And we talked about five key things, things like commitment from leadership that the leader really needs to be able to, uh, bring about. Uh, data and data driven decision making is a part of everything that they do. We talked about the importance of data literacy and accessibility. So can staff and members of the organization have access to the data and are they able to use it and have enough data literacy skills to be able to interact in a meaningful way?
And we also talked about governance. So a lot of times for nonprofits, it's about thinking from a board level perspective or from a governance perspective, you know, what are the different policies and procedures you need to have in [00:01:00] place in an organization to, uh, uh, build out a culture of data. And then lastly, integrating data into all your decision making.
So asking those questions. Um, probing, uh, your colleagues, the folks that you're working with about how they might bring data into a conversation and dialogue when you're about to make a big decision. So those are the things that we talked about with, uh, that we see as, as present in, in an organization where that has a strong emphasis or, or culture around the use of data and data driven decision making.
But there's a broader question about, well, how in fact do you bring that about? So how does that actually. happen and how can you as a leader of your organization, uh, start to, uh, to bring some of those things to the work that you are doing. So before we dive into that, though, I just want to give a quick reminder also to subscribe to this podcast, wherever you access it on Spotify, Apple podcasts.
And recently, as we just started on YouTube, please do leave us a review on Apple podcasts at a comment on our YouTube channel. Um, and then of course, share it with a friend if you [00:02:00] can. So someone you think might benefit from this podcast, it'd be great for you to share it so we can continue to grow our audience on this podcast.
Okay, so let's dive into it. So I think that there's tons of ways that you can bring about a culture of data in your organization, but I'm gonna distill it down to just three to make it a little bit easier. Um, and I've learned that it's helpful when people have things in threes that helps you remember them.
So, um, the first one is going to be around the use of ritual, which I think is a really fascinating sociological concept in general. Um, rituals, you know, are those things that you habitually do, a set of actions or behaviors, It's kind of a situation where you walk into a room and everybody knows what to do.
In a religious sense, you might think of this as walking into a church, and everybody who goes to that church knows what to do at that time, right? Um, in an organizational setting, it's when, when you go to a meeting, what are the shared sets of expectations, the unspoken things, that, um, are [00:03:00] already there and present when, before we even walk into the room.
So a good example of that, I've seen some organizations, what they'll do, um, is they will make it a part of their culture to have, um, a dashboard, uh, that has some key metrics on it that is going to be a part of every conversation that they have. Um, if you're doing, uh, project meetings, you know, what are the data that you can bring into that meeting?
Um, and have, talk about every single time that you meet so that you know the next time that you're going to go to that meeting or your staff know.
Sometimes organizations will also focus on a, on a single metric, and I've seen, um, this happen a lot actually in the charter school space where they might look at, um, you know, college acceptance rates or, or graduation rates, things like that, that, that communicate to the entire community that this is an area of, of data that they're tracking and it's important, but also in a way links to a value, for example, a, Helping students, [00:04:00] you know, achieve in school and have options for college.
If that's, you know, what they like to pursue. So that's kind of a good example of sometimes using that single metric that you can bring about across an entire organization that helps students. Create that sense of a ritual, something that's habitual, something that's seen. Um, you can also do things like create a data retreat almost, or even if it's just like a meeting on a quarterly or annual basis where your team gets together and looks at metrics, I think that, um, having something that's regular and predictable around the use of data in your organization and your meetings can really help make that something that's, uh, an example of.
Something that's expected, something that's like a ritual, right? A second thing you can do is, and this is really more about the interpersonal aspects of the work you're doing as a leader. But I think it's a really important one, which is to get in the habit of asking questions instead of giving answers.
So a lot of times as a leader, you might have a staff member reach out and [00:05:00] ask you, Hey, what should I do in this situation? You know, can you help me think through this? What's my next step? And as leaders, sometimes you sort of adopt that, Oh, I'm being asked for advice. I should give my thoughts here. I should give my advice.
But I think what might be an even better response is to go back to that person and say, Hey, what do you think? And as you're developing your opinion on this, what data or evidence would you need to go find to help inform your decision so you feel like you'll be confident in the decision that you're making?
Uh, that really changes the mindset of the people that you're working with. It shows that you trust them, that you, uh, want them to be involved in decision making. And it also reinforces that data is an expectation in the organization and that you're modeling for them, Hey, this is how I would make this decision.
So. I would like to see you also take the same approach in making decision on your own. Um, I've been reading a great book called, um, Multipliers by Liz Wiseman. It's, it's very common. It's been out for about a decade or so. Um, [00:06:00] in the kind of business and leadership space. But I love, there's a phrase in the, in the book that I really love.
It talks about shifting the burden of thinking onto your team members so that you're not seen as this sort of like lone genius expert in your working space, but rather that the, the genius in your organization is something that is shared and is across your organization. You can do that with data too, right?
If you only ask data questions to a person who has the most proficiency in data. You're kind of siloing it and saying only the, only that our data person, our data guru, are you, you know, in some cases the evaluator, sometimes I feel like I'm in that role when I'm working with organizations, you know, that's going to be the person that answers questions on data.
But if you shift that responsibility to everyone and say, Hey, you know, top, maybe you invite in a staff member who might feel a little bit more. Um, and less comfortable working with data or it doesn't always wind up to, to look at statistics, for example, or for metrics when they're talking about, [00:07:00] um, you know, making contributions to meetings, I think that's an opportunity to really share the expectation that it's going to be something that everybody participates in and that you as a leader are not seen as the sole decision maker.
expert in the room, but that that expertise is something that everyone builds up in conversation with data and evidence to make decisions. As a part of that, you're really also modeling collective discussion and decision making, which is another really important piece when you're thinking about How to build consensus and energy and movement in your organization around a particular topic.
When decisions are more collective in nature, you're always going to have more buy in and bringing data and evidence is almost like an impartial and easy third way to bring people into a conversation and debate so that it's less about them and their thoughts or you and your thoughts. It's less about one person's opinion and somebody else's opinion, but rather you're having a shared [00:08:00] dialogue.
around a shared set of, of, of, of information that you can then use to make a decision together. So, to recap, asking questions instead of giving answers in your organization. Try and model that practice. And then third is to celebrate the uses of data publicly. So rewarding examples in your organization, if you're in a position of leadership, you know, highlighting somebody at your next staff meeting that says, Hey, this person put together this report.
I think they did a fantastic job with it. And I love the way that they use that to inform our meeting here today. I think it's also really important when you're having a meeting with someone. To ask them to prepare for that meeting and gather some data or evidence to talk about it And you again, you don't have to be a statistical wizard to be able to do this You know You can talk to maybe somebody who's in the programs or services side of your organization and maybe they don't feel all that confident about You know, um statistics or metrics ask them to gather some qualitative feedback.
Maybe some testimonials from something. Maybe they can share a story of an [00:09:00] example of um You know, an experience that a client had or community had when participating in some services, because you can still always engage people on some of the qualitative aspects of their work, even if they feel less confident about more of a quantitative or metrics driven approach to their work and so reward those examples.
You know, say, Hey, lift it up in a, in a staff meeting. I really thought this was a cool thing. And I think it's important to reward those examples, even if the presentation of data, isn't the same way you would have done it, or maybe has some imperfections to it, um, because it's about the process of starting and trying and improving it.
And you can still in that process of lifting up someone who has used data and evidence and decision in a way that maybe they hadn't previously in their You can also model for them how to provide. positive, um, but also, um, you know, needed feedback on how they can improve. And when your organization sees you model how to do that feedback in a positive and uplifting way, but also in a way that, that [00:10:00] pushes someone to improve and to do better, it really starts to permeate throughout your organization.
Um, also I think it's important to, you know, celebrate, um, The, um, I guess I would say it like recognizing that people have different abilities and backgrounds when they're going into the work and to calibrate and ask of that person relative to their abilities. So not asking someone, uh, to then go do something really amazing.
And it may be, you know, in terms of celebrating uses of data publicly. Maybe the best thing to do is to celebrate someone who isn't very confident in data. And you know, if you, if you see a beautiful report that was put together by an evaluator, a data person, somebody who's like an absolute Excel wizard, and you hold that up as amazing, it almost kind of communicates to everybody else in the room.
Oh, well, that person can do it because they're amazing at it. But for us regular folks over here, [00:11:00] we're never going to be able to do that. So we'll clap and move on, but I'll just, you know, I actually think that if you celebrate the use of somebody who's done something new and stretch themselves, even if they're not the most skilled at it, that can be one of the most powerful ways to, to really, uh, make data and data driven, data driven decision making, sorry, um, as a part of that culture.
So a conclusion, three things to think about. Number one, create rituals that highlight data driven work, something that you habitually do day in and day out. Think about how you structure your meetings. How can you make that as a. As a ritual in the organization in which you serve. Second, ask questions instead of giving answers, asking people to bring evidence and to dialogue and to debate about something instead of you giving your thoughts or opinions right away.
And then third, celebrating the uses of data in your organization publicly, especially for those who may feel less confident in their abilities to use data. So anyways, I hope this is helpful for you as you're thinking about bringing about more of [00:12:00] a data driven culture in your organization. As always, follow us at www.
commongooddata.com and look forward to hearing what you have to say. Add something to the comments on our YouTube channel or interact with us on social media. We'd love to hear from you. Have a good week.
