Empowerment

It is vital to empower leaders to have the capacity to promote data-driven decision and analytics. One way this can be accomplished is through the creation of C-level individuals such as Chief Data Officers or Chief Analytics Officers. By including positions such as these, an organization clearly commits to the pursuit of analytics and their priority of using data analytics to address problems. Creating these roles also increase the odds that analytics will become integrated into the organizational culture because strong analytics leaders now hold influence and power. Prior to these positions, data management was typically reserved exclusively for the IT department or was isolated into disparate departments. Today, big-data and analytics are a pervasive component of high-performing companies. Surveys by McKinsey & Co revealed that "highly engaging, evangelizing leaders" should convene a data team to drive desired data agendas. This theme of empowerment is supported when the right individuals are provided the opportunity to have a seat at the table and exhibit to the company the importance of embracing and leveraging data.

There have been four distinct leadership roles that take on the challenges of navigating big-data and analytics for organizations. The Chief Data Officer is a senior position rising in popularity, as it is estimated that 90% of large companies will hire a CDO by 2019. A CDO should act as the data owner and architect and should set data definitions and strategies. Typically, the position of the CDO is primarily focused on finding data initiatives that will add to the business and understanding the rollout speed of which to integrate these initiatives.

Data scientists tend to be highly technical individuals and classically trained as data engineers, mathematicians, computer scientists, or statisticians. Data scientists will excel as leaders if they are proficient in their understanding of business and are capable of asking questions relevant to the domain of work. Analytic positions serve a primary role of integrating real-time data to develop business insights. High-performing companies are creating Chief Analytic Officer roles to engage with the C-suite board and offer their expertise to the executives. The CAO often owns a board realm of responsibilities and functions to maintain forward-thinking progress. Finally, the leadership role of the data manager or data leader serves as the organizer and architect of data. The data manager oversees a fluid connection between the data agenda and technology agenda. Again, this position can only reach its full potential if given a seat at the executive table.

Empowerment for Data and Data Analytics

Another way to develop an organizational culture that emphasizes empowerment towards analytics is to invest in employee trainings in analytics. This can create a data literate company that is capable of infusing analytics throughout the organization. According to the survey by Marshall et al., individuals categorized as leaders are 110% more likely to support training all employees in analytics than those categorized into strugglers. If an organization creates a culture where all individuals have a working knowledge of data science, they will be able to ask the right questions and make stronger data-driven decisions. This emphasis on data literacy can also be promoted by adding analytics competencies to every employee role in some manner so that the organizational culture is one with a steady foundation of analytics.

An organizational culture is more likely to embrace analytics and big-data if employees feel empowered to implement drastic changes based on their findings in data. Often, resistance towards change comes at a top-down pattern due to historical norms or hierarchical structure. Big-data may introduce challenge to what is thought to be dogma, and therefore, all individuals in an organization must feel empowered to speak up and address these findings regardless of their implications. Employees must feel empowered to take manageable risks or follow leads using data-driven information. Without a culture founded in empowerment, big-data and analytics goals will often be blocked or inefficient.

Distributed Leadership Roles

Consistent with themes of empowerment, building an organizational culture that elevates analytics can be achieved through distributed leadership roles. As discussed, there are several positions that can be added to emphasize the commitment to big-data and analytics, such as the CDO and CAO. Organizations can also hire positions with analytic objectives across the board and invest in analytic training opportunities for their employees. One way this can be accomplished is if the organizational culture rewards expert authority over hierarchical authority, inherently distributing the typical structure of leadership. These types of leadership will be discussed in later parts of the chapter.