DIGGING DEEPER INTO DATA – HOW TO ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
When it comes to maximising the use of data, we’ve barely scratched the surface! The problem isn’t the data itself but our understanding of what we can do with this data.
I continue to believe data will be the world’s next commodity in facilities management and beyond. One of the benefits of being in the industry as long as I have is watching our approach to FM evolve and improve. A huge part of this has been developing innovative software and technology, which gives us unprecedented capabilities to collect and track data and then leverage it for insights.
As accessibility to data has increased, so too has the importance of being data literate. On any given day, facilities managers can be exposed to massive quantities of data, and the proficiency in understanding and interpreting this data, while often assumed, may not actually exist. Therefore, it’s time to get back to basics, ensuring everyone who comes into contact with data has a fundamental understanding of what information it conveys.
The significance of data literacy
When talking about data literacy, I’m not suggesting we’re all reading from the same playbook, but there are basic data skills that can be acquired to make data more readable. In fact, both a data scientist and receptionist can be equally data literate so long their data management enables them to fulfil their duties.
It’s often easier said than done, with more and more people disclosing they are not confident to manage the data they’re given.
As managers and leaders within a business, it falls on us to ensure our staff have the tools available to grow and learn. Data literacy empowers the individual to make critically informed decisions, resulting in greater time, cost, and productivity savings.
Who knows what?
When it comes to analysing data, two crucial roles come into play. First, we have data scientists who are adept at cleaning the data once it has been collected to uncover the desired insights. Second, we have managers tasked with implementing new systems and processes at an operational level that leverage these insights. But, data scientists don’t necessarily know the business (nor should they, lest they have biases), and so managers need to ask the right questions for them to be able to extract relevant insights from the research.
You can see this relationship between managers and data scientists is cyclical, with managers providing the information to data scientists and articulating what they need to know—the scientists cleaning the data and providing the insights in response. The breakdown comes when managers don’t know how to ask the right questions. In this case, they won’t receive the insights they need for optimisation. The cycle will continue as managers become increasingly frustrated over why the data isn’t telling them what they need to know.
Taking data to new heights
Asking good questions, like data literacy, is a vital soft skill in a manager’s toolkit. When used effectively, the benefits to a business are remarkable.
In a previous role, terabytes of data were being created in a short space of time; we certainly had Big Data, Data Streams, and Data Lakes (buzzword bingo anyone?), but no actionable insights from it. While it was an intimidating amount of data to confront, only once we started to consider what insights we needed and what questions we could ask did we realise there was an incredible opportunity for optimisation for both the client and ourselves. Over time, we delivered significant savings ($100,000's) to a client's operating costs by leveraging data insights to optimise operations.
This model of optimisation applies to many roles. For example, consider a team of cleaners at a mine site village. We can create data points based on what rooms need to be cleaned, the distance between rooms, and room configuration, then determine how we can optimise the collective time taken for the team to maximise the number of rooms cleaned.
One project we’re currently working on is the deployment of Smart Kitchens. The goal is to create a series of data streams to optimise workflow in the kitchen. Considering the cyclical nature of how the hardware performs and our approach to providing services, we expect to save up to 240 minutes of wasted time each day.
The art of questioning
Knowing what questions to ask is not an innate talent; as I’ve already mentioned, it’s a soft skill, which needs to be developed and nurtured over time.
It may seem a strange parallel, but I believe the adage, “teach someone to fish, and they’ll have food for the rest of their life”, comes into play. So likewise, teach someone to ask the right questions, and they’ll reap the benefits of data for years to come.
It comes back to Management 101. We expect managers to pick up many skills by osmosis, but this often results in training inconsistencies with up-and-comers lacking the soft skills they need to succeed.
With their contextual knowledge about the area of the business they’re operating in, individual managers are best positioned to ask questions specific to the problems they are experiencing. Regardless of the scenario, I would always start by asking myself:
1. What is the specific problem I am trying to solve?
2. Why is this a problem?
3. What do I already know, and what are the gaps?
4. What data do I have available?
5. Is there anything that’s working well which could be further optimised?
A management resolution
Throughout the management chain, we need to be asking ourselves how we can get people in tune with the right line of questioning.
Teaching people to ask the right questions is an incremental approach. Instead, we need to allow managers to step into the shoes of the data scientists and demonstrate best practices to show how data can become a platform for success.
Every manager who interacts with a dashboard needs to understand how data works and treat data scientists as their strategic partners. In turn, our data scientists should coach our managers to make their questions more granular and specific.
One of my goals this year is to challenge my teams to refine their approach to asking questions and optimise the relationship between data scientists and managers. I encourage other leaders to do the same. By asking the right questions and engaging everyone, you’ll soon see the benefits.
My team and I at Sodexo are dedicated to using the technology and software available in FM to lead the charge in the effective use of data. To find out more about current trends in the FM industry, including data mining and predictive data, read our Facilities Management Trends Report here: https://bit.ly/2SwE7d3.
Senior Contract Specialist, IFMS-Rio Tinto
3yReally good read. Thanks Darren.
General Manager Commercial | Chief Financial Officer | Commercial Manager | Non-Executive Director | Company Secretary.
3yGreat article. We all need to start by being more curious and enabling our partners to better assist us to achieve our shared objectives.
Regional Sales Manager - WA at Comcater
3yGreat Article thanks Darren
Head of Operational Risk Assurance E&C SEB | Risk Management
3yGreat share !
30+ years in Executive & General Management | Stakeholder Relationship Management | International Experience leading teams and generating business growth
3yGreat insights though more Yoda like than Spock like.