When most sprint events are decided by milliseconds, it’s essential that a sprinter hones his or her reaction time and start technique. A fast start enables an athlete to reach her top speed before her competitors, putting her in a better position to win the race.
In various sports such as soccer or ice hockey, the team that scores first has a much greater chance of winning the game. For example, examining data from the Premier League seasons (2014-2015 to 2016-2017), the team that scored the first goal won 70% of the matches. In addition, the winning percentage increases if you’re the home team that scores the first goal (74.3% versus 64.1% for the visiting team). Scoring the first goal builds momentum for the rest of the match, raising the confidence of the players and shaping the game strategy.
Similarly, for data initiatives to be successful, it’s equally important to “score” early in the process or, in other words, show some initial positive results. With most organizations undergoing various digital transformations, companies have found change to be difficult. Large initiatives or programs can take time to deploy and rollout – change fatigue can often set in and derail your progress. However, by targeting quick wins, you can show incremental value to the organization and build momentum for your data initiatives.
For example, if you were rolling out a new analytics or business intelligence platform across your organization, you may initially launch a pilot for a smaller team to demonstrate the new platform’s capabilities and value. In a matter of weeks rather than months, this smaller project can act as a proof-of-concept that can highlight the benefits that the rest of the organization will gain once the platform is fully deployed. Quick wins like this can fuel continued focus, interest, and commitment to completing a larger data initiative.
Essentially, when you deliver a quick win, you not only gain the direct benefit delivered by the project, but you also gain a story or anecdote that can be used to overcome resistance to the new data initiative. The more quick wins you deliver, the more credible the overall data initiative becomes. They become the “proof points” you need to sustain your long-term change efforts.
What Do Quick Wins Look Like?
When you look to pursue a quick win for your data initiative, you’ll want to prioritize which opportunities you focus on because you typically don’t have an endless amount of time or resources. As you review your options, you’ll want to consider the following three criteria:
- Visible Benefit: While the project should deliver a clear benefit to the business, you also need it to be a visible win. The more people who can easily see and recognize the tangible value that your project has delivered, the better. Whenever possible, you’ll want to prioritize prominent wins over less obvious ones to maximize your exposure across the organization. You can’t build momentum with ambiguous, low-visibility projects with uncertain payoffs.
- Short Time To Value: The essence of a quick win is the speed in which it can be deployed in relation to the overall data initiative. If you can’t complete the project in a short timeframe, it isn’t a “quick” win. To avoid delays and accelerate its timeline, your project will need a focused, narrow scope. It must also require a relatively low level of effort and be low risk to deliver. You want to be confident it can generate a positive impact – in a rapid, timely manner.
- Clear Association: To maximize the potential for momentum, each quick win should be viewed as being clearly connected to the larger data initiative. If people won’t associate the short-term project with the overall initiative, you will have missed an opportunity to reinforce why the initiative is both valuable and needed.
When you have a project that meets all three of these criteria, you have something that can help you build crucial momentum for your overall data initiative.
Why Focus On Quick Wins?
Some people may view quick wins as unnecessary distractions that shift focus away from the core data initiative. However, these smaller, targeted projects can be an integral part of the roll-out strategies for larger data initiatives, which can take a long time to fully deploy. In fact, most companies must wait several months or years before they can reap the full potential of their data investments. In these scenarios, it’s easy to lose focus and momentum along the way. Quick wins are a great mechanism for showing progress, building skill sets, and keeping people interested and engaged.
In John P. Kotter’s book, Leading Change, he shares several critical benefits that can be generated by short-term wins. I’ve combined his observations with my own in the following list:
- Provide Payoff Evidence: Quick wins show the short-term costs and sacrifices are worthwhile and can translate into positive value for the business.
- Build Skills: Each project is a chance for the team to develop and refine their skills and knowledge. It can also serve as an insightful microcosm that provides exposure to different facets and issues over a shorter time frame.
- Reward Change Agents And Early Adopters: It’s an opportunity to celebrate the efforts of change agents and early adopters who embraced new data practices, processes, and tools.
- Refine The Strategy: Each quick win is an opportunity to test ideas and refine them over time. Observations and feedback from each project can inform the strategy of the overall data initiative.
- Undermine Potential Resistance: The concrete improvements introduced by quick wins can make it more difficult for detractors and reluctant stakeholders to block or slow the rollout process.
- Maintain Executive Buy-In: Tangible results show your leadership team that the data initiative is delivering value and warrants their continued investment and support.
- Increase Commitment: Each exposure to the initiative via a short-term win is an opportunity to turn neutral bystanders into participants, supporters, and potential advocates.
- Spur Innovation: As more people begin to understand the potential offered by a new data initiative, they may identify additional applications with unexpected benefits.
Until different stakeholders within your organization can see and experience how the data initiative has helped others or can help them directly, all you have to offer is potential. They won’t be sure whether the richer data, new models, or better tools can actually help them make better decisions or optimize their team’s performance. In fact, they’ll most likely be skeptical and guarded rather than optimistic and welcoming. It’s only when leaders and employees get a taste for what’s possible through real-world improvements that they begin to envision a better future state and get onboard.
When industry analysts estimate 60-85% of data initiatives fail, it’s important to leverage whatever means possible to ensure the success of your data initiatives. As you plan your next data initiative, evaluate where strategic quick wins can have an impact. Taking this approach can pay dividends at the outset and along the entire journey. As you build positive momentum for your data initiative, there’s no reason why you can’t overcome the odds and succeed where others have failed.
originally posted on forbes.com by Brent Dykes
Author’s Statement: I’m the author of Effective Data Storytelling: How to Drive Change with Data, Narrative, and Visuals (Wiley, 2020). I’m also the founder of AnalyticsHero, LLC, a data storytelling consultancy. I have over 17 years of enterprise analytics experience at Omniture, Adobe, Domo, and Blast Analytics. In 2016, I received the Most Influential Contributor Award from the Digital Analytics Association (DAA). Follow me on Twitter @analyticshero.
