(coauthored with Karsten Monteverde)

To outperform competitors, companies must apply more insights from more data to more decision-making that matters to customer, business, and employee outcomes. Why does it matter? Because it pays to be an insights-driven business. Yet most companies’ focus on data and technology capabilities is not balanced with focus on people and process capabilities. Paying attention to that balance is not an academic exercise. If we’re not accelerating decision-making that matters, how can we justify continued investment in data and tech? Think about it: How can we expect people, whatever their role or level in the firm, to change the way they work without context that they can relate to? Or without support, collaboration, and showing them the way?

The time is now to lean into key human skills and ways of working. Join me at our annual Data Strategy & Insights event on November 18–19, 2021. In one of the event tracks, Inspire Teams With Confidence, I’ll be presenting two sessions in which I’ll share actionable approaches you can walk away with and apply immediately.

My first session, Drive Transformation With Data Storytelling, provides you with my practical Five-Step Playbook For Data Storytelling that works. You and your team members can use the playbook to drive more decision-making from data — and other changes in ways of working, such as getting budgets for adding people or technology or proposing an organizational change. Having and using this repeatable process across a team enables both efficiency and effectiveness.

My second session, Transform Data Analytics Work With Three Change Agent Personas, guides you in how to amplify key human skills that matter by deploying three change agent personas within existing positions in your team. I call these personas evangelist, catalyst, and the reimagined data wrangler. I’ll share examples of how other firms have done this, along with specific skills and attitudes to look for within your existing team members that indicate potential fit as one of the change agent personas.

Join us November 18–19! You can find and download the full agenda of the Data Strategy & Insights event here.