Empowered by Data

Chapter SevenPractical Guides for Getting Started

By now you are probably keen to get started, take some actions, and see a few quick results in your organization. In the following pages I give you several suggestions of what to do right now if you want to make a start or kick off the next phase for your analytics community. I also pose a number of questions, because every community is at a different point of maturity, so there is no one-size-fits-all solution. At the end of the chapter, following the description of different activities, are a number of templates you can use, take as guidance, and adjust to run events and plan your next steps.

Purpose and Mission

Without wanting to curb your enthusiasm to roll up your sleeves and get started, I want to begin by addressing the question of purpose and mission, because this will guide what you do next.

What is the purpose of the community you are building? Perhaps it fits one of the following descriptions:

• Our community is intended to enable knowledge sharing between and upskilling of our employees.
• Our community's purpose is to break down silos and enable better collaboration.
• Our community will help us showcase our expertise to the wider industry.
• Our community will spread the adoption of data-driven decision making across the business.

Maybe your community ticks a few or all of these boxes. Or you have a different purpose altogether. It is important to be clear on that purpose and to communicate it to community members ...