Posted on: August 6, 2021 | 7 min read

How to Establish a Data-Driven Culture in the Digital Workspace

The following is part 3 of the transcript from the webinar: “Top 8 Priorities When Shifting a Culture to be Data-Driven and Powered by All Employees, Not Just Some” with culture thought leader and Director of Delivery Management at CCG, Steve Brown. Portions of this transcript have been revised with added context and reduced for brevity.   

Read part 1 of this webinar in our blog: What is ROCI – Return on Cultural Investment? 

Driver five, putting the power in the hands of those who can really move the needle, is key. 

How to Establish a Data-Driven Culture in the Digital Workspace 

  1. Start with data 
  2. Create a sandbox 
  3. Prepare managers with perspective 
  4. Centralize the collaboration in a tool 
  5. Celebrate and win together 

In the world, I live in, I fully understand how to execute on the people's side of change. And it's (people) what makes or breaks any change initiative. I'm a professional in this space, and I truly believe that I live in it every day, whether this change initiative is culture, new technology, or a change in the business model.  

So, I'll just say, specifically for culture and moving to a more data-driven culture that empowers employees to seek out insights for performance and continuous learning.  

You must start fast with proven toolsdata. But (of course) with caution. 

We've all heard the sandbox before. Create a sandbox, create a team dedicated to providing feedback of what's being done; that sandbox should be a vicious and fun cycle. 

Prepare managers. Within a sandbox, folks are going to be asked to do something new and different. Prepare them to be creative and add fuel to that fire.  

Set realistic expectations about how it would all unfold. This will be your new set of toys. This is how you will use them and how much time you get to play each week. And if you have questions, this is how you get help. That's how your managers help those fuel in the fire. 

Take it one step farther - stand up a centralized self-containing playground of sorts. Not sure how many people out there use Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, or whatever collaborative tool you have in-house, but create a playground in a central location where all can go and seek the power they need to get started. 

And if you want to really have some fun, think back to the teaming slide, and create a game in which teams can be formed, and problem statements can be shared, and solutions can be driven. 

Have these presented publicly and announce reward a winner, a team of winners, something that's going to get others going and say, “Hey, me, too. That was cool. I want to be part of that team.” Those are big motivators that give the power to enable and let them run wild. 

Celebrating in a Digital Workspace  

Driver six, celebration, celebrating is one of the most, if not the most impactful and cost-effective ways to motivate. 

You tell people, “It's okay to explore,” you motivate them with the help of crazy excited people, the champions we talked about. Of course, you give them power; you start tackling the impossible, then you party, when gains are made, yes, party, celebrate. And then rinse and repeat. 

At your next all-hands meeting or Town Hall, be sure to showcase the incremental gains of the problem you're trying to solve. End gains happen because of the people who are committed to solving tough problems with their new insights, which were driven by data and analytics. 

I mean, this may sound ludicrous. I don't know your organization, but have your CEO or most executive leader; you have access to fire up the crowd and send a personal note to the team. Maybe you send balloons or provide a pizza party. But you know, nothing should get in your way of celebrating. And yes, this can be done virtually as well. 

Uber Eats vouchers and miscellaneous delivery services can make it all possible. I've seen some cool, fun, and amazing parties over zoom and teams over the last 12 to 18 months. 

End transcript 

We at CCG hope you enjoyed this walk-through of the Top 8 Priorities When Shifting a Culture to be Data-Driven and Powered by All Employees, Not Just Some. 

Visit the Learning Brief, where we cover all 8 steps here: Top 8 Priorities in Shifting to a Data-Driven Culture. 

Read part 1 of the transcript with our blog: What is ROCI – Return on Cultural Investment? 

Read part 2 of the transcript with our blog: How Do I Motivate My Team to Improve Culture? 

Written by CCG, an organization in Tampa, Florida, that helps companies become more insights-driven, solve complex challenges and accelerate growth through industry-specific data and analytics solutions.

Topic(s): Empower Employees
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