Data doesn't have to be scary
On our drives to and from her new school, my 5 year-old daughter keeps getting scared …
Of a giant skeleton in a luau outfit on someone’s lawn.
When she sees it and mentions that she’s scared, I tell her that it’s okay to be scared, but that this isn’t something that is going to hurt her.
“Look at its outfit – it’s a silly skeleton!”
Despite it wearing a hula skirt and, for whatever reason, a watermelon inner tube, this ridiculous, yet looming figure was frightening to my kid.
In my work, my favorite training to lead is called “Don’t Be Afraid of Data.”
Over the years working in schools and nonprofits, I’ve found that people tend to have some very real fears around using data.
– They worry that all evaluation is the same as performance evaluation – that whatever is uncovered will reflect poorly on their performance.
– They start thinking about their own insecurities – about when they were bad at math, or that they’re not sure how they’re doing in their role.
– And I think most of all, they just feel intimidated, probably because they just haven’t gotten a lot of practice with data and analysis.
So I love to help child- and family-serving professionals talk through and dispel these fears.
Sometimes it takes a perspective shift (“the silly skeleton”).
Sometimes it takes actual instruction and guided practice around a new skill.
Now that we’ve been taking this route to and from school for over a month, my daughter has gotten repeated exposure to the luau skeleton.
The other day, instead of saying that she was scared, she said, “Mom! The skeleton has flowers in its hand!”
I smiled because I could see her progress.
She was able to see, after some time, that this intimidating, scary thing wasn’t scary after all.
And I hope that in my workshops, people who were data-averse start to feel that way too.
If you’re looking to overcome your data fears and work towards telling your organization’s story, you’re in luck.
On Friday, October 16 from 10 AM to 12 PM EST, I’m offering a workshop to help you do just that.
During this interactive session, we will talk through your data fears, discuss all the different forms data can take, and take actionable steps towards telling your organization’s data-driven story.
You’ll walk away with tools and guidance you can use in your everyday work to help your team collect, use, and share its data – to improve the services you provide and appeal to funders and prospective clients.
And hopefully, you’ll see that just like the silly skeleton, data doesn’t have to be scary.