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La Fosse was delighted to host a roundtable event on the 20th of October to gain insights into how businesses are managing this challenge. The event took place in London and was facilitated by Lucie Cassius. We took away the following points:<\/p>\n
Your data team doesn\u2019t live in a vacuum; their actions and outputs should affect every element of your business, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean everyone is automatically on board. You may come up against HR and key stakeholder constraints, and budget limitations could be an issue if the people within those departments aren\u2019t bought into what you\u2019re trying to build.<\/p>\n
\u201cMake friends\u201d internally \u2013 develop relationships with the right people to drive your agenda. Understand what different areas of the business need and communicate how the data function will support authentic evaluation and improvement for each. Showcasing a project to the wider business can help to bring about some faith in the pathway you\u2019re trying to forge.<\/p>\n
Whilst the basis of technical ability is obviously key, softer skills like stakeholder management and communication are just as vital to the success of your team. It\u2019s often a rarity to find individuals that possess both these criteria; those with exceptional technical ability are often lacking when it comes to interacting with stakeholders, and those with fantastic communication skills don’t usually have the depth in practical expertise.<\/p>\n
Senior members of the team need to have a strategic understanding, so they not only know how to build dashboards, collate data, engineer and produce reports, but they also drive the \u2018why\u2019 and can monitor the impact the data team\u2019s work is having on the wider business.<\/p>\n
The market is highly competitive, and with new ways of working leading to a more accessible interview process, lateral movement within the industry is prevalent. Many graduates have an unrealistic expectation of career progression \u2013 with so many employers fighting for them, it\u2019s not hard to see why \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t necessarily align with the roadmap you can provide.<\/p>\n
The need to attract top candidates shouldn\u2019t replace hard work; promotions and title changes are still the result of contribution and success. Adding individuals to an already entrenched team needs to strike a balance between talent-attracting packages and equality with the existing employees.<\/p>\n
Defining what a role means in terms of responsibility is important, especially for those in more senior positions. Should the title \u2018Lead\u2019 or \u2018Principal\u2019 be defined as an individual contributor role? Would you expect someone with the job title \u2018Manager\u2019 to be managing a team? Are you using the correct terms and titles to attract the right candidates? Ensure clarity on what these roles encompass from the outset.<\/p>\n
Building tribes or squads that are focused on different elements of a product\/business, for example, mobile or customer success, naturally depends on the size and structure of the wider business.<\/p>\n
Although renaming your team won\u2019t make you instantly more effective, it is a great way to promote teamwork and innovation, as well as give individuals a sense of enablement and ownership. Smaller business units have still seen great success from building a centralised team and identifying a \u2018data champion\u2019 across different business units that can communicate directly with the data team.<\/p>\n
Set quantifiable measures from the beginning. What are OKRs and success indicators when it comes to the data team? Those objectives need to be reviewed at least every quarter, with goals updated so that people know they are working towards a roadmap in their careers.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s motivating for your team to know where they are making an impact and the areas for improvement to concentrate on going forward. Team leads should also look at self-reflection; are they improving the delivery and accuracy of the team, are they improving the delivery and understanding across the business?<\/p>\n