The success of a data strategy, as with every strategy, can be measured by the combination of a number of factors:

• Relevance – alignment to, and support for, the corporate strategy (or vision, if there isn’t a strategy);
• Awareness – staff know it exists, and where to locate it;
• Value – in terms of both its usefulness and impact;
• Execution – the ease in being able to apply it to deliver a positive outcome.

Therefore, if you’re an author of a successful data strategy in your organisation you may well have started the first corporate RAVE! As with any rave, it needs people to be willing to come along and give it a go and to be able to enjoy the experience to want to try it again. That’s what you want to sense when your data strategy goes live. Sounds so easy, but it is often the point at which the data strategy flounders.

This chapter seeks to explain the importance of getting traction with your audience in composing your data strategy and, just as importantly, to understand what they may be seeking in order to get a ticket any way they can to join the rave. It aims to explore the role of your stakeholders, ranging from senior executives who need to endorse the strategy through to those who are the end users and will be key to whether the strategy becomes part of the fabric of the organisation in the way it operates.

The point has been made earlier in this book that a broad selection of inputs through consultation and involvement is necessary to prepare for success. This helps keeps the strategy grounded in language that is meaningful to the audience, based upon the knowledge and insights that those who know your stakeholders better than you do can provide. This simple step is so important and yet, so often, seen to be either too time-consuming (‘we will need to explain every step of the way, and it will slow us down’) or constraining (‘we will only focus on the immediate problem, the strategy needs to be aspirational and our stakeholders don’t have that understanding to add value’).

Of course, there is a semblance of truth in those statements, but let me expose why they do not stand up to scrutiny. Firstly, it will take time, there will be a need to position and explain your data strategy, but if this isn’t understood by those working alongside you to develop the data strategy, what hope is there for other stakeholders to grasp the context, meaning and opportunity when they’ve been detached from the strategy process? Indeed, those who join you become valued for the challenge they are able to present, and the way it makes the strategy accessible to the wider audience through having been written to be widely understood. I will touch on this further shortly.

Secondly, the visionary constraint. It might sound obvious, but there is little point building complexity and visionary elements into the data strategy if the key stakeholders cannot relate to that material. Therefore, those who work alongside you in devising the data strategy are there to learn and to become the evangelists of the ‘art of the possible’ and the impact that could have on their respective business areas. Without the advanced ‘sales party’ – those who are trusted to speak the same language as the areas of the organisation they represent and can therefore position your vision to the key stakeholders – it becomes more difficult to bring stakeholders at all levels with you on why they should engage with the data strategy to adopt an approach which probably seems entirely alien to them.

It is often the balance of these two challenges, pushing ahead with the right level of ambition whilst recognising the need to bring all parties with you, that leads to a suitable compromise that can often yield a better result. Do bear in mind that at times it may feel you go slower to make faster progress, but try to avoid losing sight of the visionary aspects, as these are what keep giving that limited momentum a periodic jolt in the right direction.

4.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCESSIBILITY

The term ‘accessibility’ has many applications, most of which are relevant to the context of data strategies. I will work through these in turn, but the key to this chapter is to remember, no matter how polished you believe the data strategy is, you are not the target audience and so not the person who determines whether it is deemed a success.

You must consider how you develop your communications approach to reflect the importance of accessibility and to ensure this is embodied in the communications plan you develop as part of the data strategy programme. There is more on communications in Chapter 7.

Clarity of purpose underpins the accessibility of your data strategy. I have covered the importance of clarity in earlier chapters, but make sure you have a clear understanding of the purpose of your data strategy, how it aligns to the wider corporate strategy and the expectations others might have in terms of what your output will look like. Do refer back to the CLEAR principles in Chapter 2, and use these as a barometer of how effectively you are using these five principles to make your data strategy accessible.

4.1.1 Key stakeholders

There is a need to recognise the stakeholders you are going to be dealing with and their respective roles, interests, diversity and motivations to enable you to progress. You cannot succeed without getting the right level of engagement across your organisation due to the participation the data strategy implementation will necessitate. If stakeholders do not feel they have been party to the data strategy definition, then they may well push back on the content regardless of how pertinent it is, simply through a lack of buy-in from the outset.

Even amongst the stakeholder groups identified below, there will be differences that you will need to distinguish and manage accordingly. The more sophisticated your understanding of the stakeholder groups, the more effective your communications are likely to be, and the greater the chances of success in defining and executing the data strategy.

4.1.1.1 Executive sponsor(s)

As discussed earlier, you need an executive sponsor to help drive the data strategy as a principle and to get engagement through the compilation and execution of it. This means your executive sponsor(s) will need to be briefed at various times on all aspects – think of the standard 5W1H question set applied to the rationale, composition and progress reporting of the data strategy along the way to appraise it in a manner that keeps it focused but comprehensive. The sponsor(s) will not necessarily want large amounts of detail, but enough to ‘sell’ the message and retain the levels of engagement at all stages – this is in your interest, as it makes your job in keeping resources assigned from other parts of the organisation easier to maintain.

Checking in from time to time with updates on progress and to share outputs will also enable the sponsor(s) to identify when the time is right to share more widely, and to review and adjust as needed based on peer review and feedback. Do utilise these opportunities to present based on outcomes, rather than the minutiae, in the sense of ‘we can achieve x if we do y’, as it gives a sense of purpose rather than being seen as a technical step.

The choice of executive sponsor, and their role and responsibilities, is set out in Chapter 7.

4.1.1.2 Senior executives

If the pitch is to be made to senior executives, which may follow on from the opportunity created by the executive sponsor(s), do ensure you focus on what the outcome will be and consider how best to make this as inclusive as possible. For instance, if this is a presentation to an executive board, think about the participants and balance the areas of greatest opportunity on which to focus, as well as reaching out to others around the table to make them feel involved and engaged. Consider the financial logic behind the data strategy. It will almost certainly get scrutiny on this basis as you are going to be tying up resources which could be deployed to revenue-generating opportunities elsewhere, so there has to be some logic behind an investment in the data strategy. Highlighting any competitive disadvantage you face – if you have evidence that competitors are exploiting their data more effectively – or the risks the organisation is carrying is a good way of illustrating the economic reality of why a data strategy makes sense.

Gather input from those working with you in devising the data strategy to get a feel for how best to communicate with their respective leaders, to learn what is front of mind at the point at which you are going to present and to appreciate the way in which they like to receive information. If it requires a bit of preparation, or a pre-meeting with some individuals ahead of the executive board meeting to provide further context, it is worth doing.

If you have the board supporting your work, then it makes it easier to retain the resources assigned to you, gives clarity on direction and keeps your executive sponsor(s) delighted at the perception of progress being made. Start with a poor first impression, or fail to hit the mark in terms of relevance, and it can be very difficult to win over key stakeholders going forward. Be prepared to lay out your pitch, but, if at all possible, you should be listening for a large part of this meeting, capturing key concerns, opportunities and priorities to be focused on in subsequent conversations.

4.1.2 The wider organisation

The data strategy has to resonate with the organisation at large to be translated into action. Therefore, it is important to think about the communications approach to engage the wider organisation at all stages, so that the emergence of a data strategy is not seen as a random event or out of the blue. Bear in mind that you should have representation from the wider organisation as part of your team, and you can use these virtual links back into the organisation to do ‘show and tells’ to present the work done so far and to get soundings back on the feasibility of realising the data strategy.

The range of knowledge, experience and comprehension of what a data strategy is will vary across the organisation, but start with the lowest common denominator as to the level of understanding to ensure you take all with you. As has been discussed earlier in this book, data strategies are often open to varying interpretations, even amongst practitioners in the field, so the risk of an extremely varied understanding across the entirety of the organisation will be high.

Work from the definition upwards, positioning it at all times in the ‘what does it mean for me’ outcomes-based focus to make it real. Your goal is to communicate a strategic vision that is clear, simple and logical, with sufficient emotional pull to get people engaged and wanting to follow. Test the approach on your own team, taking soundings from those who have come from the very teams you are seeking to engage, and be prepared to communicate in bite-sized chunks to avoid overcomplicating the message or overwhelming the audience.

It will be important to understand the lexicon in each and every part of the organisation, and the larger the organisation, the more fragmented that will be, typically split on the functional lines based on the structure of the organisation. Appreciate the acronyms in use, and avoid language that makes the strategy sound like an ivory-tower initiative from somewhere remote from those you are seeking to engage. After all, you want them to shoulder a significant proportion of the burden in delivering the data strategy in their everyday work. If they get it, you can build from there. Lose them from the start and it is a difficult to win them back.

4.1.2.1 Diversity

Do bear in mind that the organisation is inevitably diverse. It is likely that you can slice the audience in a number of ways – ethnicity, age, grade, location, function/department, profession, length of service; the list goes on. Each of these groups will also be diverse – simple demographics do not delineate us into convenient stovepipes – and whilst there may be some level of conformity (for example, all of the senior accountants may well have gone through the same qualification route), it is dangerous to think of any group as singular in thought or action.

Whilst this presents a challenge in how to engage broadly, it also presents a wonderful opportunity to build diverse thinking into the strategy; after all, a strategy is defining a vision which is largely about making a difference, so where better to begin than canvassing diverse opinions to get a rich set of inputs to the process. It also presents a need to segment and tailor communication and engagement in a way that suits the audience, so consider whether social media platforms, intranets, video briefings or other forms of communication are better than blasting a message in a single format – I’m sure we have all had many ‘corporate’ emails land in the inbox that we fully intend to read later but which never seem to make it to the top of the pile.

If you can, I would always recommend having a range of stakeholders who can provide a flavour of this diversity to enrich thinking and challenge preconceptions as you devise the strategy. Harvest the inputs of those who are not necessarily in the mainstream in their functions, who are often the problem solvers or creative thinkers, for these are the people who will challenge you and make your strategy far richer in return.

4.1.2.2 Inclusivity

The larger the organisation, the more diverse it may be in terms of having a broader spectrum of needs, especially when it comes to engaging with your colleagues and delivering effective communication. You are likely to find people, however, in all organisations who need support in being able to access information. You can assist this process and seek to engage by making your data strategy accessible to all. Whether this be accommodating personal needs to enable those individuals to play a part in the workforce, or providing materials in varying formats and/or languages, think about how your data strategy can be made to be as inclusive as possible. This is another form of diversity, but one which can be overlooked or given limited time.

If you want the data strategy to be truly inclusive, think through how to reach all communities within your organisation so it can be embraced by all. Remember, not all can access information in a way that you might be able to, and you should consider how you can make your communications as easy to access as possible to all groups within your organisation.

4.1.3 Third parties – partners and suppliers

The reality in many organisations today is that third parties play a critical role in managing systems, delivering operational activity and providing other services to your organisation. These organisations will also have to be informed, involved and motivated to help you deliver the data strategy, especially as it moves into implementation. This may have a contractual dimension to it which needs careful consideration; it may even incur significant cost, though if there is a ‘win–win’ in it for the partner or supplier organisation, then it may be in their interest to offset the cost, even considering investing their own funds to realise the benefit to their own organisation. It would be wise to keep such organisations engaged so there are no surprises and to enable them to plan ahead to be able to resource to assist your work.

4.1.4 External audiences

In some cases, the data strategy might be serving an audience far wider than your own organisation. If you work in a compliance/regulatory body, a government agency, a charity or some other organisation which is outward facing, then the data strategy may be an industry-wide directive or something which is setting the tone of how you expect others to operate or comply. This is a quite different dynamic to the development of a data strategy for use within an organisation, and usually has rounds of engagement and consultation that lead to drafting of the document before it is finally issued.

However, whilst there are differences, there are clearly similarities. The engagement and consultation processes are much the same, though you may well be working with specialists who have devised their own corporate data strategies and so might be more experienced in this field than you. If those individuals are willing and able to share their data strategies with you I would recommend you take them up on it, as it will give you an opportunity to understand the direction in which their organisation is headed, the maturity they have seemingly attained and the structure to the document with which they are familiar, and to compare and contrast the commonalities and differences across those organisations you are engaging to know how big a challenge you face in bringing coherence to an industry-wide data strategy.

If you are interacting with the public, rather than corporates, then the opportunity to engage is still there but has to be undertaken in a different way – questionnaires, focus groups, publishing drafts for comments – to gather feedback from interested parties. Unless the nature of your organisation is fundamentally different to any other, reach out to other public-facing organisations to learn from their experience in devising a data strategy that got sufficient interaction to give confidence it was in tune with wider expectations, putting it on a path to be successful. Take opportunities that the wider organisation may present to utilise those same information-gathering approaches where others are seeking opinions on topics that can accommodate asking some pertinent questions to support your work. Learn from the work others have undertaken in devising strategies to see what worked or failed to get engagement and useful information from the process.

4.2 DELIVER WITH PRIDE

I use yet another acronym to try to keep the evolving data strategy on track – PRIDE: purpose, relevance, inspiring, deliverable, enabling. This provides a useful way to consider the intent of the data strategy through its composition. Each component is described below.

4.2.1 Purpose

The purpose of creating a data strategy is apparently simple – to devise a data strategy to move the organisation forward in the broadest sense of data-related activities, whilst focusing on how this helps support the corporate strategy and vision.

This is not in doubt; however, there is a subtlety to this that purpose seeks to resolve, and that is more directly related to the delivery of the data strategy – what am I seeking to achieve as I deliver the data strategy, and how will I know I am delivering the purpose of the data strategy? The sense of purpose lies in the focus placed upon the transition to delivering, moving beyond the definition and the need for clarity into ensuring there is a purpose behind the data strategy, and compiling it in a way that gives it meaning.

We will explore this in further detail in Chapter 5, but to be clear here, the data strategy needs to be more than a theoretical exposition of how to manage and exploit data.

4.2.2 Relevance

The data strategy needs to be relevant to those who are intended to read it. This follows on from the accessibility section of this chapter. Unless there is an obvious link between the aim of the data strategy and the roles staff play across the organisation it will be seen to be rather theoretical and not relevant to the very people you are trying to engage. This is all too often a reason for data strategies stumbling between concept and execution.

Consult, engage, discuss but most of all listen to the challenges that staff across the organisation are only too willing to share with you, as these will give an insight into what those individuals are likely to be looking for in terms of direction. Why would you forgo the opportunity to do free research in scoping the key themes to address, and thereby targeting your audience with the answers they will be seeking? The more your strategy gives clarity to their specific challenges, the more the audience will read further and be willing to embark on the bolder strategic vision set out in the data strategy.

Gathering inputs will also enable you to test the frequency with which the same issues recur. This is a useful indicator to where some of the biggest problems might exist, as these are likely to cut across functional boundaries and therefore need more central coordination to bring respective parties together to hammer out the best solution for all concerned. You may discover organisational silos which are blocking progress, and if you can be the catalyst to bringing these together and forging a common understanding, then you are making progress as well as acting as a bridge between two groups who may not believe they have a common goal. If you can inspire curiosity in the data and its potential to enable improvements to be made, and get people engaged in working with you, it will make progress through implementation much easier.

Removing barriers will give your data strategy credibility, as well as demonstrating the value it can have in enabling focus to be put on the key targets across an organisation. It sounds relatively simple, even obvious, but do not discount the lack of cohesion and therefore traction that can be a blocker to solving some relatively straightforward things.

4.2.3 Inspiring

I described in earlier chapters how the data strategy needs to be an enabler of the corporate strategy, in terms of both providing a consistent thread through priorities as well as identifying those things that can raise the bar of the corporate strategy. The norm for many organisations, the larger the greater the likelihood, is for there to be a wealth of information flowing around in a largely unstructured form – emails, notes, conversations and notices via message boards and/or an intranet – such that the typical senior stakeholder becomes immune to reading it all. Your challenge, with a communication headed up as a data strategy and so unlikely to get most executives on the edge of their seat in anticipation, is to position it in a way which will capture their imagination.

This is the big ask in the process – make your data strategy inspiring!

Before considering the data strategy, let us consider the corporate strategy – is it inspiring? Has it had the impact it sought to achieve? Do people relate to it in their everyday work in the organisation? This might give you either positive steers on how to exploit the success of the corporate strategy in devising the data strategy, or it might lead you to take a very different path. Your research here will be highly informative of the route you take.

Whether the corporate strategy is your model or not, the data strategy you are developing needs to be inspiring, and by that, I mean it has to resonate with what people recognise as challenges or issues. It needs to demonstrate how these can be overcome in a way that is believable and has enough detail to give practical hints and advice. To make it feel real to staff it must focus on outcomes, what difference it will make and how it will deliver change to the organisation if implemented. Most importantly, the data strategy has to be something they want to get behind and make happen.

Do not get bogged down in the detail – that is the role of the implementation plan, which we will come to later in the book. Focus on the vision, the outcomes to be achieved and the impact the data strategy will have to realise the objectives in the corporate strategy. Make the storytelling behind the data strategy inspirational.

4.2.4 Deliverable

The strategy sets out the vision, where you intend to be in three, five or even ten years from now. It does not matter what the length of period is: the strategy is intended to lay out the big things to change and deliver to realise the goal. In so doing, the strategy sets waymarkers, points on the journey to be reached to keep the organisation on the path to achieve the desired outcomes as defined in the strategy.

In many respects, there are parallels in strategy design and execution with an analogy of an architect and a builder (for any strategy, but it certainly applies to a data strategy). The architect is the data strategist and the builder leads on the implementation, with the architect providing plans, dimensions, information on materials to be used, loads to be borne by walls within the structure and so on. By the time the architect has finished, there is a good understanding of what is to be achieved, the appearance at the end of the build phase and the space created through the provision of a series of rooms. This is your goal in defining the data strategy, to give clarity on what is to be done, what the organisation will have achieved and look like once the strategy has been delivered, and to provide a series of themes, or topics, within the strategy so it is a complete strategy, with all the rooms working together to provide the building that meets needs.

So where does that leave the builder?

The critical element in this process is to design with implementation in mind. Whilst you must avoid the trap of defining the implementation in too much detail, the waymarkers are intended to guide those who are tasked with executing the strategy to know how it should be achieved without having to guess. All too many strategies – of all varieties – fall down through a lack of forethought about how an implementation plan might be structured in order to achieve the strategy and failure to provide the clarity that is sought to guide the implementation process.

In this sense, the builder is tasked with following the plans set out by the architect, mindful that there may need to be some variation due to unforeseen or technical challenges. It is also likely that the environment may change, due to the organisation changing priorities or the structure of the organisation evolving in a way that might not have been foreseen. Much like minor planning changes required to revise permissions related to the architect’s drawings, the strategy too needs to be reflective of such changes and be seen to be updated as necessary. As with a building, if there is a reason the design is no longer valid or relevant then there is little to be gained from ploughing on. Reassess, regroup and redraft to something that is more reflective of the demands of the organisation.

In much the same way as the builder follows the architect’s drawings, the implementation team need to put the plan together to deliver the strategy. This is likely to be an overarching plan for most or all of the period the strategy covers, but with detail on the next year. The waymarkers turn into milestones, the themes into work strands or specific groups assigned responsibility for delivery, and the critical enabling deliverables – akin to load-bearing walls of the building – assigned appropriate significance to make them key deliverables on the critical path of the implementation plan.

Resources – skilled craftspeople and labourers – are hired or allocated to tasks within the implementation plan to deliver specifics, with oversight from the project leads (site managers) to ensure all is on track and appropriate to meet the objectives and hit the milestones. Project governance on the implementation is driven by a programme management office (PMO) or similar function in much the same way as the builder has a regular meeting with key delivery leads. Stakeholders are engaged and progress is signed off along the way – the implementation of the strategy as it reaches its milestones, the building as it meets building regulation standards to be approved to the next phase.

The key point of this part of PRIDE is to remember that the strategy will need to be delivered, possibly by others, and to avoid being drawn into the detail of implementation. However, it is important to recognise that the more clarity you provide to steer the execution of the strategy the more likely it is to succeed. Strike the right balance and the data strategy has a real chance of delivering the vision you set.

4.2.5 Enabling

The final, but essential, component on the path to success is to remember that the data strategy must achieve buy-in from the wider organisation if it is to have the impact you want. This brings us back to the start of the PRIDE acronym – purpose. If you have the context right in terms of setting the purpose, then you know what it is that you are seeking to achieve. Enabling is the flip side to the purpose question. It is aligning the data strategy to the specific activities that need to be achieved in order to deliver the corporate goals, which therefore makes it clear to all that this is a key enabling strategy for everyone to get behind to increase the likelihood of achieving the organisation’s vision.

This requires all the components of PRIDE to be woven together, such that each component builds on the others to create momentum and absolute buy-in to what have become integral components of the wider organisation strategy. However, to be truly enabling, it must be feasible to measure the effectiveness of the data strategy, and to do this requires objectivity in the corporate strategy to show how delivering the data strategy has had an impact.

You may find that a lack of objectivity in the corporate strategy to enable the measurement of the data strategy contribution is the Achilles heel of being able to achieve PRIDE, but if you reach this point and are able to demonstrate the need for measurement in achieving the corporate strategy, then you have not only delivered a ready-to-go data strategy but have also made the organisation aware of a weakness in its strategy development. If the organisation remedies the omission of the measures around the implementation of the corporate strategy then you have the data strategy ready as a key enabler.

4.3 THE ACID TEST

If you are embarking on devising a data strategy it is imperative to avoid doing so in a silo. It is critical to seek independent review and feedback from an audience representative of the wider organisation to ensure the data strategy achieves the PRIDE objective. It is, therefore, essential to follow an Agile process to develop the data strategy, involving iterations until such time as there is confidence that the data strategy has relevance.

So, what do I mean by the acid test in this context? To succeed, the data strategy needs to become embedded as part of the culture of the organisation. This is evidenced by the organisation becoming more data-focused, information literate and confident in using evidence to make decisions, which in turn delivers benefits that can be directly linked back to the data strategy. This must be underpinned by the organisation being compliant with regulations and operating within legal frameworks. It follows, therefore, that the data strategy has one overarching measure of success – the acid test, if you like – to demonstrate how deep its impact has been: has it embedded itself into the ways in which the organisation functions and made a difference?

The measure of success, it may seem, is entirely back-end loaded, by which I mean: how do you know you are on the road to success until some time has passed after the delivery of the data strategy? This is an entirely reasonable question, but you can make things easier for yourself by taking the right steps along the way as you create the data strategy – laying the foundations for success, if you like.

The five components of PRIDE outlined above aim to create the right conditions for success. Engagement is paramount in delivering these at every step of the way. Whether a working group of representatives from different parts of the organisation is brought together to help shape the data strategy, a looser federation of interested parties is engaged along the way to contribute and review, or a show-and-tell approach is adopted to review and revise the data strategy in its drafting to ensure it has buy-in, getting inputs from throughout your organisation is essential for success. These are likely to be the people within your organisation who have to bring the data strategy to life, so what better approach than to engage them fully in the process of its shaping, drafting and delivery in order to give it every chance of being adopted into day-to-day business activity?

It is essential that you ensure there is a clear link in the organisation between accountability and responsibility. It is one thing to have all parties on board with the data strategy, but some individuals in your organisation will need to hold clear accountability for driving it through delivery, whilst others will be responsible for whatever is needed to make change a reality. Without this, change will never materialise. The authority also needs to reside with both those who are accountable or responsible, as without authority it becomes difficult to have the means to deliver the right outcomes.

There is at least one further critical set of stakeholders to have on board, and that is those who, almost certainly at a relatively senior level in your organisation, are able to sign off on the data strategy. Where this responsibility rests varies, depending on the organisation’s size, type and/or maturity of its operation.

In some organisations there is a dedicated strategy and planning function that drives the approach to strategy definition and adoption, which will need to participate and be on board with whatever direction your data strategy sets. Without the support of this function, you are never going to get your data strategy recognised, let alone adopted, and it should be a key stakeholder throughout the process. This group will have the means to steer your data strategy through whatever channels it needs to follow to be adopted, and it is likely to have the means to hold the organisation to account in its delivery.

Strategy may be driven by each functional director within your organisation, and as such brought to the top table as a deliverable of that function that needs wider support and engagement in its implementation. In such a scenario, it is probable that the relevant director is your sponsor, and therefore they have a clear line of communication through the development of the data strategy. Certainly, it would be wise to engage regularly with your sponsor to keep them apprised of progress, wider business engagement and any areas where assistance or advice would be helpful.

There may not be a focal point in your organisation, which may reflect a lack of maturity of strategy development or strong operational focus. If this is the case, look at how any previous attempts to deliver a strategy within the organisation have progressed for insight as to how you might best succeed in delivering your own data strategy. Find those functions that are most likely to have had cause to develop a strategy – such as human resources (HR), finance, operations (especially in terms of investment strategies for the workforce and/or plant and equipment to support the direction the organisation is taking) and technology (relating IT investment to strategic imperatives and choosing to disinvest in areas not seen as core, for example) – and approach colleagues in similar posts in those functions to see if they have experienced devising a strategy or been party to inputting into another strategy. Learn from what they say and try to see what the characteristics are behind success and failure. Plot a course accordingly, and engage those who seem to share your vision whom you meet along the way – there is more likelihood of traction if there is a groundswell of positivity across the organisation.

If your organisation is small, maybe centred on a single entrepreneur, it may be that the organisation has largely lived on short-term horizons out of necessity and/or been opportunist in growing from an idea into a more structured organisation, moving to formalise its way of operating. This is when governance, strategy and planning tend to come to the fore, and may be needed to secure additional funding, clarity of communication and direction, and possibly the introduction of a more formal board structure to provide governance, control and the delivery of a phase of expansion. Whether for internal purposes or for securing external support in the form of additional funding or assurance to other stakeholders (for example, compliance, governance or recruitment of senior-level staff to buy in to the direction of the organisation), this is a tremendous opportunity to set out the stall for data strategy and ensure it is more than simply a tick in the box.

Increasingly there is a focus on data strategy, both for ensuring compliance and for future revenue growth/cost efficiencies through the better exploitation of data, so this is an ideal time to promote the importance of a data strategy within your organisation. Getting stakeholder buy-in within the organisation is still critical, and likely needs the entrepreneur behind the organisation to be fully engaged and passionate about the role it can play in delivering an outcome that individual is seeking: so be bold, seek support early and have your case well prepared as to why this is towards the top of the list of things to invest time and effort in.

In an organisation that operates in a not-for-profit arena, the case for having your data strategy supported by the senior leaders of that organisation is just as compelling. It is likely that funds are limited and levers might seem to be more constrained than in other organisations, but arguably the impact of an effective data strategy can be all the greater for those reasons. There is a real opportunity to devise ways to make the organisation smarter through the better use of data, identify ways to exploit data which may utilise the experience of other organisations that are more advanced (and therefore deliver an impact quicker, by learning from their mistakes and successes to reduce time to deliver), and put the consumer of the service or product that the organisation delivers at the heart of the thinking and focus of delivery of the organisation.

It may be that the data strategy is an opportunity to give your organisation a refresh, and could be incorporated into wider communications, whether solely internal or also for external promotion. However, it is essential to pitch the data strategy as integral to the way the organisation will operate in the future and get engagement at the level of the chief executive officer (CEO) and/or senior stakeholders (possibly even non-executives, if there are such representatives on the board), as you are likely to be seeking time and resources to deliver the data strategy in an organisation which is not endowed with plenty of either.

Whatever is the right approach for you, the critical point in the work you put in to devising the data strategy is having the right level of challenge and support through the process. It is often left till too late to engage at the right level, or to ensure that the ‘rules of the game’ are fully understood and that the trajectory on which you are on to define the data strategy is going to align with the wider organisational way of operating, and therefore be adopted by the key stakeholders in your organisation.

In terms of developing the data strategy, it is entirely up to you whether you focus on sections of it to iterate and improve, thereby delivering in blocks, or work across the data strategy as a whole, possibly splitting out sections of it to working groups to develop and bring together via a coordinating group. Either way, there should be a common thread running through the data strategy, and so the iterations will also involve ensuring there is alignment and consistency in its approach, timelines and deliverables.

You will need to have one or more colleagues who are able to proofread the document as it takes shape who have enough understanding to spot inconsistencies and a process to realign the discrepancies appropriately. Alternatively this might be a task you take on personally, given this is your strategy to define and deliver, but if so, you will preferably delegate the initial drafting of elements or sections of the data strategy to others under your direction. This may not be practicable, simply through a lack of resources, in which case it takes a great deal of discipline to be able to detach from the detail and read it objectively as a stakeholder being asked to approve and/or implement the data strategy.

It is important to set timelines for completion of the tasks in the data strategy so there is an understanding of the pace and priority inherent within it. Defining a data strategy is a mix of art and science, in so much as some of the outcomes can be scoped and tightly defined in terms of timescales, whilst others require a level of intuition about likely adoption rates and shifts in behaviours, which are notoriously difficult to forecast due to so many outside influences being key to success. Do reflect, however, that whilst there is a tendency to be absolute in terms of deliverables and timings, this is something to be determined at the implementation stage, and the data strategy should focus on setting the direction and establishing the waymarkers to be achieved.

Do not fall into the trap of being too prescriptive – you do not know what lies ahead, and the more you bind those who have to implement the data strategy, the less useful it becomes in an evolving world. Do determine timelines, using broad statements to establish the waymarker and the likely state you are describing. Set a baseline to ensure there is a common understanding of the current situation, as this provides context to the future state you are seeking to describe and aids measurement through the clarity of difference that you are defining to be achieved.

Provide all of these essential elements to a data strategy in a simple, easily digestible manner and your critical stakeholders will be clear on the objectives you are setting before them and the implications of signing up the organisation to implement the data strategy. Ambiguity leads to paralysis, which in turn makes the data strategy meaningless and future efforts to implement a data strategy all the harder.

4.4 TEN TO TAKE AWAY

The key points from this chapter are:

1. To get traction, remember it is about a RAVE. Without relevance, awareness, value and execution, the data strategy is incomplete and so will be lacking an essential component for a successful outcome.
2. Keep your data strategy simple – avoid too much detail, but ensure it is clearly defined and jargon-free.
3. The data strategy needs to be accessible – in all ways – to meet the needs and expectations of diverse stakeholders, which requires a good understanding of their needs and to maintain a dialogue.
4. Define waymarkers to set the direction of travel and goals to be achieved.
5. Keep it grounded, clearly focused on the delivery of the corporate strategy (or organisational goals, in the absence of a strategy).
6. Make it clear why the data strategy matters, what is required to execute it and the impact it will have to position it appropriately in your organisation.
7. Deliver with PRIDE, but be prepared for challenges along the way – inevitably, there will be events and outcomes that are unforeseen that you will need to deal with.
8. The goal is to embed the data strategy into the organisation, having an impact on the future direction the organisation takes and delivering value. Ensure that there is an approach to cascade the data strategy to relevant personnel throughout the organisation to establish clarity of understanding.
9. Understand the sign-off process within your organisation and engage with this process early to ensure that there are no barriers to overcome as you complete the data strategy. Keeping this group onside is critical to being able to move into execution.
10. Establish the baseline that the data strategy is starting from and avoid being prescriptive about its execution. This is to guide an implementation plan, and the baseline will be essential for measurement in the implementation stage.

1 M. McKeown, The Strategy Book: How to Think and Act Strategically to Deliver Outstanding Results. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2019.