The Importance of Data Specialists

Khang Nguyen, Head of Data Analytics & Governance at Tabcorp.

Khang Nguyen, Head of Data Analytics & Governance at Tabcorp.

As reliance on Data & Analytics across organisations increase, so does the pressure to build high-performing teams and retain top talent. The market for Data Specialists has become highly competitive, but with the right strategies, it is possible to manage this challenging environment. In this article, I will share some key strategies that should be considered.

Develop a Strong Team Dynamic: Google's Project Aristotle is a great example of how team dynamics are so critical to success. A positive and cohesive team dynamic will lead to increased trust, communication, and collaboration among team members. It's important to build this early, with cultural fit becoming more of a factor during the hiring process. Once you have the right mix of people, you can then establish clear goals and responsibilities and promote strong social connections. 

Create Psychological Safety: Psychological safety is the belief that you won't be punished or humiliated for speaking up or sharing an idea. Teams with high levels of psychological safety are more likely to be successful, according to Project Aristotle. To create a culture of psychological safety, it's important to encourage team members to speak up and share their thoughts and ideas. This may not always be a straightforward exercise since every person is built differently, so create an environment where everyone has an opportunity to speak, such as having a set agenda in meetings that allocates time for each team member to share their thoughts. This will help build confidence and really harness the different perspectives of individuals.

Provide Opportunities for Professional Development: It's a common theme that employees leave due to a lack of professional development. Offer opportunities for professional development through in-house training, mentoring, and tuition reimbursement. Encourage your employees to attend conferences, workshops, and other training programs. Buddy them with other teams around the organisation, so they have exposure to different business functions, processes, and stakeholders. Provide access to online learning resources and other educational opportunities. Most importantly, ensure they have a clear development plan so each employee understands what the expectations are of not only their current role but also where they aspire to be. We also need to ensure we are offering the time for the team to undertake these development opportunities and hold them to account. Structure it around KPIs and allocate an hour or two in the calendar each week as personal development time, for example.

Encourage Collaboration and Teamwork: Create an environment that encourages collaboration and teamwork and fosters a sense of belonging among team members. Encourage team members to share their knowledge, ideas, and expertise. Facilitate regular team-building activities, such as workshops, retreats, and regular team meetings. There are many paths to solving analytical problems, and sharing different approaches amongst the team allows continuous improvement in how the team operates. Context and perspective are two things that really help shape a great piece of work, so encouraging collaboration, not only within the team but also cross-functionally. This enables more complete outcomes whilst continually challenging the status quo.

Foster a Data-Driven Culture: A data-driven culture promotes continuous learning, experimentation, and growth. Encourage data-driven decision-making and provide the tools and resources necessary to make that happen. Make sure that teams have access to the necessary data and software tools they need to do their job and provide them with training and support to use these tools effectively. Educate and Champion Data across the broader organisation as much as possible. Consistently promote the value of data analytics by showcasing processes or bodies of work that have led to success. Break down barriers by building the data literacy of non-data teams and promote an environment where people start to be more inquisitive. Organise companywide events such as Hackathons to engage all the teams in Data and promote collaboration.

Encourage a Good Work-Life Balance: Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is important for employee retention. Encourage your team to take time off, disconnect when needed, and make sure your policies support the well-being of your employees. With organisations adjusting to Hybrid working post-COVID, we want to ensure there is a balance between having people connect personally and also being flexible enough to continue with a remote working arrangement. Start to become more output driven, as opposed to monitoring time online. This places trust in employees to deliver as expected but also gives them flexibility on how they utilise their time.

Show Appreciation and Recognize Achievements: Another common theme for why great staff may leave is they don't see the value that their work delivers. Regularly recognize and reward the achievements of individual team members and let them know that their contributions are valued. Communicate any decisions made on the back of their work to them so they can see that even the smallest piece of work can have a big impact. Recognize employees for their hard work and achievements through monetary rewards, days in lieu, or other forms of incentives, such as utilising partnerships/sponsorships to create experiences for staff that may be meaningful. 

Regularly conduct benchmarking vs. the Market: It's important to ensure that the Remuneration is aligned with how the market is growing. Too often, organisations fail to be proactive on this front, and situations become more reactionary as other organisations come knocking for talent. The Remuneration strategy should be heavily correlated with the development plans, and employees should be aware of these opportunities to improve their financial position to minimise temptation elsewhere. 

Finally, Open communication is key, make sure your team feels heard, and you take into consideration their feedback and perspective, especially when making important decisions that may affect them. Being as inclusive as possible can help to build trust and foster a sense of ownership and engagement among team members. 

In conclusion, building a high-performing data analytics team in a competitive employment market requires a combination of several strategies. By focusing on Team Dynamics, Psychological Safety, providing opportunities for professional development, encouraging collaboration and teamwork, fostering a data-driven culture, and advocating for a good work-life balance while recognising and rewarding achievements, organisations will start to see the makings of a high-performing team and ensure we're on the front foot when it comes to retention.

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