Thoughtful processes and technology require supportive employees to implement them. Too many people talk about being more efficient but then save files on their personal drives and name documents based on personal whim. Some workplaces instill this type of data culture by providing little incentive to share data or develop data literacy.
It’s true — it may be easy to perform tasks as you always have. But such resistance to change can scatter data across locations and reinforce the data silos that everyone should know, by now, are bad. That makes it hard to know when data is missing, biased or incorrect, and while that’s unfortunate in general, the proliferation of AI makes it dangerous.
Data “availability doesn’t automatically mean that folks can understand or apply or interpret it properly,” says Dr. Melissa Cummins, Deputy Director and Chief Data Officer at the Houston Police Department’s Office of Planning and Data Governance. “Someone needs to own the leadership role of starting the conversations about the importance of data, … finding ways to push forward both in conversation and culture.”
Indeed, agencies and offices need to strengthen their workforce skills and spirit, and they can begin with three tactics.
1 — Establish Simple, Consistent Rules
These should clearly define who can see which types of data and under what conditions. The rules should focus on everyday situations — how to request access, how long access lasts and how to handle sensitive data, among other endeavors. Agencies should maintain the rules in a central, easy-to-find location.
2 — Invest in Training and Skill Development
This learning should focus on daily tasks for the employee’s role: what data the person works with, what shared tools they use and when they need the data. Opportunities such as microlearning often work best because they make skill-building a more natural, convenient part of the employee’s day.
3 — Assign Roles for Data Ownership
Data stewards or teams should take ultimate responsibility for the data, which means helping ensure that governance standards are met and communicating them to the workforce. Such stewardship encourages employees to think of data as a shared resource and helps dissolve data silos.
A version of this article appears in our new guide “How to Make Gov Data Accessible and AI-Ready.” Download the guide for more practical, proven ways to unlock data insights.