Your persona
Your responses indicate that you're comfortable with the data. Maybe you use it regularly in your professional practice, even if you’re not in a data specialist role or a less data-driven culture, or perhaps you’re looking for new ways to use data to tackle practical aspects of your work.
As someone with strong foundations, you’ve got many options to build on them and specialise and hone in on particular aspects of data knowledge or skills that are the most relevant and useful to you - and maybe even influence and motivate colleagues to join you.
Build your skills and knowledge
Explore your department's approach to bias assessments of data sources and algorithms used in decision-making to identify and mitigate potential bias.
Conduct a data needs analysis for a specific problem relevant to your work. Identify which decision-making frameworks or matrices incorporating data-driven criteria are in use by your department. Can't find any? Try drafting one.
Identify how you can contribute to/play a role in upholding your department's data governance framework.
Set a regular calendar reminder to refamiliarise yourself with your departmental strategy to tackle data breaches. If possible, involve others who may be less confident in their understanding.
Share this assessment with your line manager. Discuss your outcomes and strategise which priorities might align with your departmental objectives.
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.
Create a community of practice
If you feel ready, nominate yourself as a data champion or superuser in your workplace. Alternatively, identify a colleague who is in the early stages of developing their data competencies — perhaps you could support or mentor them.
Connect with colleagues from other departments. How are they using data? Are there opportunities for cross-functional collaboration?
The Apolitical community is full of discussion around best practices in using data. Community members regularly post questions and ask for advice in this area. You could read and respond to any queries you feel well-placed to answer. Or, you could use this as a way to post your own discussion question and connect with other data users similar to you. Here's a link to Q&A to get you started: What tools do you use for creating data visualisations?
Keep exploring
Read and reflect: Apolitical articles cover a breadth of data subtopics. Take some time to explore what's out there, and consider engaging with the article creator by using the comment function. Got something to say? Why not consider submitting an article on an area you excel in? Take a look at this article on open data to get started: Why should governments open up their data? If you're interested in submitting an article, here's everything you need to know to post an article.
Apolitical hosts events with thought-leaders discussing a variety of topics - often including data. Keep an eye out for what’s upcoming, and in the meantime, you can catch up on data-centred recordings from past events such as Data Natives.
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 which can have a transformative impact on both our professional and personal lives.
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 ➡️