Data literacy is the ability to read, work with, analyze, and argue with data, focusing on the competencies involved in effectively utilizing data.
However, only 24% of the global workforce is fully confident in their data literacy skills, while many organizations struggle to leverage their vast amounts of data.
Building a comprehensive, scalable data literacy program is a crucial evolutionary journey for organizations seeking to become truly data-driven and competitive in today’s information-rich landscape.
Data Literacy Fundamentals
In a data-driven world, both workers and organizations must develop strong data literacy fundamentals to stay competitive. Yet, only 24% of the global workforce feels confident in their ability to read, work with, analyze, and interpret data. This gap in technical data literacy skills poses significant challenges, as many organizations are overwhelmed by vast amounts of data without knowing how to effectively use or manage it.
Why Data Literacy is Essential
A successful data-driven organization relies on:
Solid analytical skills to make data-driven decisions
Domain knowledge to contextualize and apply data insights
Proficiency in data visualization and data storytelling to communicate findings effectively
Employees who understand how to work with different types of data in practical, real-world scenarios
Without these competencies, organizations risk falling behind in today’s competitive landscape.
Building a Data Literate Workforce
To close the data literacy gap, companies should focus on these key steps:
Offer data literacy courses that teach employees how to:
Understand data and use tools for data analysis
Apply data management practices for efficient handling of data resources
Use programming languages to explore and manipulate data
Communicate insights through data storytelling
Foster a strong data culture by encouraging:
Continuous learning through self-paced education
Hands-on experience with real-world data and various types of tools
Collaboration across teams to enhance data-driven decision-making
Empower non-technical staff by providing:
Access to easy-to-use tools that allow them to work with data efficiently
Training to enhance their ability to interpret and analyze data without needing advanced technical expertise
The Value of Data Literacy for Organizations
By investing in data literacy programs, businesses can:
Ensure their workforce is equipped with the data skills necessary to succeed
Unlock the value of their data and turn it into actionable insights
Promote data-driven decision-making across all levels of the organization
Addressing the Data Literacy Challenge
Despite the growing importance of data literacy, only 24% of the global workforce feels confident in their ability to work with data.
This presents a significant challenge as many organizations not only struggle to analyze data effectively but also fail to determine when not to use certain data.
With data culture being a key driver for data-driven decision-making, organizations that address this gap and invest in data literacy will gain a competitive edge in today’s information-rich landscape.
The Data Literate Organization
Until an organization becomes data literate it cannot be data-driven. The data-literate organization (see Figure 1) has many traits including:
Has invested in enterprise data governance
Has enterprise data that is secure, accurate, timely, consistent, authoritative, reasonable, well-defined, accurate syntax, and appropriately formatted
Has invested in world-class metadata management
Has built a sound data science team
Has enabled data-driven insights through advanced analytics, AI/ML (artificial intelligence and machine learning), business intelligence, and visualizations
Has decision makers who understand how to access data sources, work with data, interpret data, and avoid data analysis errors
Has an executive-level Chief Data Officer (CDO) with a significant team, authority, and budget
Is adhering to or exceeding their industry’s data privacy and security requirements
Has defined and implemented its data ethics
Figure 1: The Data Literate Organization Data Literate Thinking
Most organizations erroneously believe that data literacy is nothing more than a training class that they record and ask their employees to view, whenever they have some spare time. This approach fails to have any quantitative component and is ineffective at best. A properly built data literacy program needs to be automated, quantitatively measure its own performance , and be scalable to the enterprise. The data literate program must target the development of the six types of data literate thinking:
Critical Thinking
Scientific Thinking
Statistical Thinking
Visual Thinking
Skepticism
Ethical Thinking
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is being open to different assumptions or conclusions; to being willing to adopt new ideas and perspectives on a subject.
Scientific Thinking
Scientific Thinking is the knowledge of the scientific method, scientific principles, and the ability to apply a scientific approach to formulate and test hypotheses.
Statistical Thinking
Statistical Thinking is understanding how statistics work how to apply them and to apply quantitative reasoning to problems.
Visual Thinking
Visual Thinking is the ability to understand and interpret information conveyed visually, through graphs, charts, and other means.
Skepticism
Skepticism is the willingness to question the data, to go beneath the surface, and to understand the context in which data is created and presented.
Ethical Thinking
Ethical Thinking is understanding the potential for good or for harm of any actions or conclusions from data; to actively prevent harm.
The combination of these forms of thinking will be unique to each organization but all data-literate organizations have all these forms – and they all operate in concert to enable the effective use and management of data and information.
Strengthening Data Literacy Skills for a Data-Driven Future
Developing data literacy skills is an ongoing, evolutionary journey, not a short-term project. For any organization that aspires to be data-driven and fully leverage its data analytics capabilities, building a world-class data literacy program is essential. Here’s why and how organizations can make this transformation:
Create a solid foundation for both technical and non-technical staff to understand data, work with data, and turn data into actionable insights.
Offer data literacy courses that teach employees the concepts and tools required for data work. These programs are critical for aspiring data analysts as well as existing staff who need to improve their skills.
Foster data-literate employees who are proficient in interpreting, analyzing, and communicating data through data storytelling. This ensures they can make informed decisions in today’s world, where demand for working with data is at an all-time high.
Practice using data in real-life scenarios through hands-on data learning sessions and interactive exercises that strengthen the ability to work across various types of data.
Equip teams with the power to unlock the full potential of data analytics by teaching them the language of data and providing resources that promote continuous learning.
To stay ahead, organizations should ensure their employees are always learning, adapting, and creating value from data. This way, they can thrive in a data-driven life where understanding data is key to success.
By building a comprehensive data literacy program, organizations can develop employees who are empowered to make better decisions, contribute to research, and effectively drive value from their data. Investing in this long-term course will enable businesses to meet current needs and prepare for future challenges, keeping them competitive and innovative.
