9 The People Analytics Data Consumer

As humans, we are natural data consumers. We seek out information and apply what we know to the problems and questions we face at any given moment. But few people realize the strength of this natural inclination or put in the time to enhance it as a skill. If you do, you will have a major advantage.

Experts in data consumption quickly become the “go-to” members of any team. They are the people whose opinion is sought and respected because their ideas are backed with facts, insights, and a broader view of the world. Once someone becomes the de facto ‘expert’ on a topic, they also become the first to be thought of for new opportunities and promotions.

It may seem overly simplistic that I’m encouraging you to be a data consumer. Maybe it even seems too easy. Find some information, consume it, done. Right? Sort of. It is now easier to find more information than ever before, but that also means that it has become difficult to filter, sort, and determine the good from the not-so-good information out there. Being an effective data consumer is a real skill that needs to be built.

Just because data surrounds us doesn’t mean we consume or understand it. Let me explain with a (possibly bad?) analogy to the hobby of bird watching. Though billions of birds exist, seeing one doesn’t make you a birdwatcher. Expertise comes through persistent practice. Being a data consumer, like being a “birder” is built through consistent practice. Birders develop their observational and identification abilities over time, learning to see the nuances invisible to the untrained eye. It’s more complicated to be an expert than it seems. But it also doesn’t require much more than dedication, commitment, and patience.

In birding, at first, all you will likely know are simple things like: it’s a bird, it’s blue. But the more you look and the more you study, the more you will see nuances that only come with experience and exposure. Now you know that it is a Jay! Maybe you don’t yet know if it is a Blue Jay or a Scrub Jay. But you know more than you did before. An interesting fact about learning anything is that the more pieces of information you take in, the more you realize how much additional information there is on the topic. Did you know there are FORTY different species of Jay?!

If you want to be an effective birder, you have to go where the birds are. Sometimes you won’t see any, but when you go out and look, you start to learn the best locations for sighting birds. You also start to learn additional things about the birds like the types of habitats they live in or activity patterns. This is what it is like to be an effective data consumer, you have to go looking for the information you need and it may take time for you to differentiate the many data sources to determine which ones are relevant and provide you with the quality of information you need. Over time, you’ll learn to identify these patterns and find relevant resources with increasing ease. Even if you don’t realize it, your knowledge will accumulate over time. Eventually, you might even identify the rare data point that transforms a business issue into a solution, much like a birder spotting the rare Island Scrub Jay.

Simply exposing yourself to relevant information is a prerequisite to being a data consumer. But you’ll also want to develop skills that will allow you to interpret and apply that information later. Here is a small subset of skills you can focus on to make you a better people analytics data consumer:

• Analytical & Critical Thinking
• Systems Thinking
• Curiosity & Creativity

And, the best way to build them is by actively exercising them. So, try out some of the ideas in the “Explore & Engage: Be a People Analytics Consumer” activity to get started.