^{READ TIME: 5 MINUTES}

We're on a mission to empower teams to use data more effectively. In our next webinar, we'll show you step-by-step how to build and design a metric map – and how to solve real business problems with it, just like Moonpay and Bumble have.

Register now

👷🏽‍♀️ Roll your damn sleeves up.

🗣️ When was the last time you spoke to a customer?

🏭 When was the last time you walked the factory floor?

📦 When was the last time you went out on a delivery?

📟 When was the last time you used your own product?

If your answer to any, or all, of the above questions was a sheepish: never, then it’s high time you rolled your sleeves up and got stuck in.

👉🏼 How I got stuck in on day one as Head of Data at Pizza Hut 👈🏼

Our job in data and analytics isn’t to simply answer business questions. It’s to help solve them.

When data people are nowhere near the customers our business serve then how can we truly claim to be aware of, let alone solving, business problems?

Failing to get away from our dashboards and exposing ourselves to the wider business can create a major disconnect.

If you want to do high-impact work that drives business value, builds trust with stakeholders, and creates momentum for your data strategy, you need to get closer to the business in all the ways you can.

Unfortunately...
Most data teams are removed from the day-to-day reality of the businesses they’re a part of. They aren’t exposed to customers. They don’t hear the struggles of other teams, operations and most importantly - their customers - first hand.

And that distance is quietly killing their relevance.

Today, we’re going to dive in and check out why this is a problem and what you the data leader can do to solve it!

BUT! Before we go any further - this week’s poll👇🏻

_{(make sure you scroll all the way down to check out last week’s poll results👇🏻 )}

🚫 Why this is such a problem:

It’s weird to me how little data people think about this part of their job. Somewhere amongst all of the tools and coding languages we lost the actual context for why our roles exist at all: To understand business challenges and solve problems. 

Ignoring qualitative data and not sourcing insight from all corners of the business means we’re missing out on more than we realise.

Here’s what that looks like:

🔹 Shallow understanding of context: Without proximity to the business, your team operates off assumptions and half-formed briefs. That leads to average outputs that can easily be scuttled or undermined by more well informed colleagues.

🔹 Frustrated analysts and data scientists: Talented data professionals want to solve interesting problems and not sit on a ticket queue. They yearn for the opportunity to go beyond the numbers and explore the business in more detail.

🔹 Low strategic value: Without the right context your team’s work won’t move the commercial needle. Your lack of initiative will be noticed and the business will sideline you to reactive support. This is not where an influential leader wants to be.

🔹 Zero influence at the table: Your lack of wider context beyond the numbers will absolutely kill you at the leadership table. No one wants to be wheeled in there to give the numbers and be sent right out again. I’ve been there, it’s absolutely sucks.

But here’s the good news: you can fix this today. And you don’t need to overhaul your entire operating model to start. Continue below to check out my actionable steps on how to address for yourself and your team.

“Can we fix it? Yes we can” - Bob the Builder 👷🏻

Getting closer to the business is a mindset shift first, then a tactical one.
Here’s where to start:

✅ Get in the room: Sit in on marketing stand-ups. Join sales pipeline reviews. Ask to observe product sprint planning. Visit the staff in store. Ask to take a shift on the factory floor. Go out on a delivery.

✅ Bring business guests into your team rituals: Invite stakeholders to your team meetings or show & tells. Let them share what challenges they’re facing this quarter in their own words.

✅ Shadow customer-facing teams: Get your team members to listen in on sales calls, customer support chats, or UX research sessions. One hour listening to customers will teach more than 10 dashboards.

✅ Prioritise business fluency: Build the habit of talking in business outcomes, not technical outputs. Encourage your team to always ask, “What problem are we really solving?”

✅ Assign ‘Business Anchors’: For larger teams, assign data leads to embed more deeply in different departments. Their job is to understand goals and surface opportunities before a ticket even exists.

This is how you shift from “order takers” to trusted problem solvers.

You don’t need permission to do this.
Start by walking down the hall, getting in the room, and listening.

That’s where the real work of understanding your business begins.

📸 Will you be my insta-friend?

I’ve recently started out on Instagram but my following is woefully pathetic. Help change that by dropping me a follow! I’ll be sharing data and strategy gold, but close to 0 thirst traps.

My handle is @tris.j.burns.data

Find it here!

🛠️ DIY Coaching Tools

If you’d like the benefits of my coaching program but are not quit ready to invest - then don’t don’t panic!!

There is another way!

I’ve put together 2 self paced coaching products I know you’re going to love.

• DIY Coaching - This self-paced email series and accompanying exercises provides actionable tools to help data professionals navigate career transitions, set goals, and achieve success.

• Data Leadership Frameworks - This self paced email series contains 10 value-packed frameworks, each tackling and tearing down major data leadership challenges.

⚡️ Previous poll results

Last week I asked you: How intentional have you been about building your personal brand as a data leader?

Here’s how you all responded:

Tristan Burns

Find me on LinkedIn or Book a 1:1 call