8 Ways to Improve Data Literacy In Your Organisation

Data literacy, in simple terms, is the ability to understand and work with data. In today’s fast moving, data-centric world, having a high level of data literacy is crucial, however many organisations and employees have struggled with building this key skill set.

In earlier blog posts we looked at what data literacy is and why it’s so important, as well as exploring some of the major barriers to data literacy. In this blog post, we will take a look at several different ways to improve data literacy across your organisation.

1. Make sure that leaders are committed

Getting buy-in and commitment from the most senior leaders is crucial for any data literacy program or plan. Make sure that everyone is involved in the program and that key roles and responsibilities are identified. The top leaders must take ownership of the different data literacy initiatives and be involved in their implementation in order for them to succeed and be sustainable in the longer term.

2. Make learning about data fun and rewarding

Try to build a company culture where learning about and being knowledgeable about data is fun and rewarding. Offer a variety of learning methods and create an environment, which encourages a thirst for knowledge, exploration and learning. Give people the space to learn and improve, and reward them for their curiosity and willingness to learn and develop.

Recognise that everyone learns differently and may find different methods of training and learning more effective than others. Make sure that your data literacy program incorporates a variety of learning media including both group and individual-based learning options. Ask employees what they feel would work well for them and aim to tailor the training options to their needs and preferences.

3. Evaluate your current data literacy situation

Before you can improve people’s data literacy levels, you need to have a clear understanding of where they are at currently. Evaluate what skills people currently have and identify the key areas to focus on. Establish what roles need which skills and develop a plan from there. Have a data audit: catalogue what data you currently have, review it for quality.

The ODI’s Data Skills Framework offers a great overview and breakdown of the complex landscape of data skills required by different people within an organisation.

4. Find a balance between developing data and technical literacy skills

Technical skills, although hugely valuable, are not the only skills needed to get the most out of data. A balance needs to be created in developing both technical and data literacy skills amongst employees.

The Data Skills Framework helps to explore this further and can be a useful tool to help develop the right skills across an organisation. It aims to show how technical data skills need to be balanced with other skills including service design, data innovation, change leadership, to name a few, in order to ensure that data projects are impactful and effective for everyone.

5. Create a common language

Establish a consistent and standard way to communicate, talk about and refer to data throughout the organisation. It is often the discrepancies in language and terminology that create confusion and miscommunication between employees and across teams. Set some organisation-wide data standards and get your data literacy plan off to a good start!

6. Create forums for sharing knowledge

Using data effectively is an organisation-wide activity, so your employees need to be able to break out of their teams and departments! Develop appropriate channels for people to communicate about ongoing data projects, so they can find out if there’s existing work that relates to their project, find the data sets they need, and bring in expertise from other teams. This enables them to keep data formats consistent, avoid duplicate work, and get rewarding feedback by sharing their own work with others.

7. Invest in the right infrastructure

Having the right technical and data infrastructure in place that enables employees to easily access, use, manipulate and engage with data is really important for any successful organisation.

See our article on The four pillars of modern data architecture for more insight on this.

Software tools that are user-centric and that are easy to understand, use and interact are best placed to support an organisation hoping to improve data literacy. Registers.app, for example, is a powerful data management tool, which offers easy access to organisational data, whilst also harnessing state-of-the-art technology.

8. Know what success looks like

It will be difficult to know how effective your data literacy program has been without identifying key measures for success. Think about what you’re hoping to achieve and what metrics will help you to track progress. Communicate your goals clearly and monitor progress against your metrics and measurable performance indicators on a regular basis. Being open and transparent about the progress and results of your data literacy program will encourage and motivate others to continue with it. Set good examples for data management by identifying existing data quality problems with an audit. This will help in the long term by guiding work to improve data quality - and in the immediate term it will start important discussions about what good quality data is like and the development of organisational standards for data.

These are eight top tips to improve data literacy in your organisation. If you’d like to explore this further and get more help with your organisation’s data challenges, do get in touch. We would be delighted to hear from you and to explore the best options and solutions for you and your organisation.

Data literacy is just one key component to building data maturity. Explore our Building data maturity services for more options on how to maximise the value of your data in your organisation. Also see CDO as a service if you’re striving to become a data-driven organisation and want to stay ahead of at the competition.