Your persona
Your responses indicate you've got a good grounding in data. You're already using data in your work, and that's great! But there's always more to learn. Perhaps using data is 'business as usual' in your role, or maybe it's an area you're interested in pursuing.
As someone in a position of management or leadership, it's possible that you have other team members who do most of the data wrangling on your behalf, giving you less opportunity to use it yourself. You might be looking for strategies to build on your existing abilities to become even more comfortable with data so that you can lead your team to become truly data-driven.
If you want to become a true data leader, you need to be able to think critically about data and use it to make informed decisions.
Build your skills and knowledge
Develop your critical thinking skills by asking the right questions, identifying patterns, and drawing conclusions from data.
Become a data storyteller by being able to communicate the insights from your data clearly and concisely. There are many courses and training available to help you develop these skills.
Show your team that you're serious about data by using it to make decisions and solve problems.
Learn about the different ethical considerations that need to be taken into account when collecting, using, and sharing data. What are the ethical implications of your team’s work with data?
Carve out time for professional development. Diarise a chunk of time each week where you can take an Apolitical course, explore community articles, or anything else that aligns with your motivations.
Learn about the latest data protection regulations. Data protection regulations are constantly evolving, so staying up-to-date on the latest changes is important. Identifying the colleague best placed to support in this area can help keep your team’s work compliant.
Develop a data protection plan for your team and ensure all employees implement and follow it.
Consider the people you serve. Are you confident you’d be able to explain to the public how your team or department work with data?
Create a community of practice
Create a data-driven culture by encouraging your team to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and use data to support their decisions. Perhaps you could start a monthly working group to share ideas, projects, and progress.
Think carefully about your network or who you work with. Can you identify anyone who might be a source of information or inspiration for further developing your knowledge, skills and abilities in this area? An informal chat about their work could help bring the context to life.
Take a look through the Apolitical Q&As - questions posed by members of the Apolitical community. If you feel you can support the community, consider responding to what’s been posted. Here’s one to get you started: What tools do you use for creating data visualisations?
Keep exploring
Apolitical community members have submitted many thought-provoking articles, and in an area such as data, there’s new content coming up all the time. Keep your finger on the pulse by regularly reviewing what's out there, and consider engaging with the article creator by using the comment function. Here's a link to the article area to get you started: What is the new potential of data-driven decision-making in the public sector?
If you’re looking for inspiration for structured skill development, take a look at our Learning Plans where we have stitched together disparate educational resources into rich, diverse, cohesive and enlightening learning journeys.
What's next?
Not sure if this is the right persona for you? This diagnostic and its suggested outcome have been designed for illustrative purposes and may not reflect your level of awareness or competency.
Find a guide to the statements covered plus the scenario questions here: Data Self-Assessment and Scenario Summaries.
Explore the other personae using the links below:
Leadership: Data Explorer, Data Consolidator, or Data Trailblazer
Non-leadership:Data Explorer, Data Consolidator, or Data Trailblazer
⬅️ Government Skills Impact Tracker | Digital and Data Skills Hub ➡️