NEVER PRESENT COMPLEXITY
A few weeks ago, a senior executive at my firm told me a funny story about a meeting he had been attending with several top talent data scientists. This team of data savvy PhDs’ were tasked with answering several business questions by leveraging their technical expertise to develop sophisticated algorithms.
After months of number crunching, the team had come back to present their findings to a panel of the firm’s top decision makers. Slide after slide of statistical models filled with endless numbers and equations were being shown to an audience of business stakeholders eager to understand what decisions they should be making and why. At the conclusion of the meeting, the senior executive walked out and whispered under his breath “What the hell did any of that mean?”
As he recalled what happened during the meeting he told to me “You know, they needed someone to translate what that black box was saying”
This scenario illustrates two important lessons:
1. While your analyses could garner you a Nobel prize, if the key decision makers don’t understand it, it’s rendered useless.
2. “What the hell it meant” was variable that could have been modified within factual boundaries.
TRANSLATING DATA THROUGH DATA STORYTELLING
Indeed a translator was needed to deliver the message behind the data and that translator is known as a storyteller. Not necessarily a person, but a function whose importance is increasingly apparent as more organizations begin leveraging complex analytical processes to solve business problems. It’s not a revolutionary idea but one more-so embedded in commonsense.
What’s the easiest way to deliver a message? Through a story.
By packaging an analysis as a narrative and delivering it as a flowing logical sequence of events leading to a conclusion, the analysis is far more likely to be understood and well received. Additionally, you have a greater ability to influence the decision makers and thereby the decisions being made; and when we boil down the fundamental purpose of an analysis, isn’t it to influence a decision?
Although this technique’s added benefit may be more apparent in delivering sophisticated concepts, it’s important to clarify that data storytelling is not limited to demystifying complex analyses. It’s a technique that can be applied to any situation where the goal is to build an understanding of data, communicate a message, and/or trying to persuade an audience to make a decision.
VISUALIZING YOUR STORY
The ultimate compliment to a story is engaging visuals that assist in reinforcing the message trying to be conveyed. Whether in a child’s bedtime story or in your quarterly sales presentation, visuals can help build clarity while simultaneously leaving a memorable impact on an audience. Today organizations are putting a strong emphasis on visualizing their data and for good reason. Roles that have not traditionally been exposed to data are suddenly inundated with it. Meaning that when data is being used in the decision making process and the decision makers are unfamiliar with how to interpret data in traditional formats, an increased importance is placed on how to effectively deliver the key messages and conclusions.
THE POWER OF DATA STORYTELLING
The true beauty of data storytelling lies in the power it gives the individual(s) creating the story. Analyses and business insights are all subject to interpretation by an audience. Limitless and potentially drastic different interpretations are possible of one analysis. Using data storytelling with data visualization gives you the ability to ensure an audience perceives a message as you intend it to be perceived.
Thus, as opposed to presenting data, you are now presenting the message you have carefully engineered. This does not mean twisting the facts, but rather giving you the leeway to lead an audience to a conclusion through your interpretation of the facts.
With this in mind, what emerges is what may be the most powerful skill to have:
Storytelling.