Championing Your Data Governance Program

The path to setting up a data governance program is clearly far from smooth. In our previous blog post, we delved into the different challenges that CIOs are likely to face while setting up data governance programs.

Two of these particularly stand out, if you absolutely aim to be a data governance champion. They are –

1. Convincing their organizational leadership to invest in a data governance program
2. Championing the importance of adhering to the data governance policies by communicating this regularly to the larger organization.
    

Without tackling the first, there will be no data governance council, no funds allocated to the program, and no program really to speak of. And without the second, all the effort and resources put in to create the data governance policies will come to nothing. Therefore, it is crucial that CIOs are prepared to handle both of these.

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Follow the trail of breadcrumbs
Look around the organization for teams or projects that have suffered a failure as a result of unavailable or unusable data. This could include lack of the right data, delays in procuring the data and data not in a format that is easy to analyze. You might also encounter multiple teams duplicating data collection/analysis efforts, decisions delayed as a result, and so on. Once you find these problem areas, you have the necessary material to build a case for how better data governance can help improve efficiency and functioning.

Set business metrics for data
Your case for data governance becomes stronger the moment it is backed by strong baseline metrics that will help justify the organization’s investment of time, effort and resources into it.

A data governance program can be measured through metrics in many different areas such as:

• Data quality
• Reduction in risk events/exceptions
• Timeliness of data access
• Operational efficiency improvements
• Reduction in operational and management costs
• Compliance with regulations
• Maturity level on a data governance maturity model/scale

These will help post-program rollout as well, in monitoring the success of the program.

Paint a picture of success
It is natural for the board to have apprehensions about any massive organizational shift—like data governance. To allay these concerns, it is important that as the CIO, you not only present a strong case for the benefits of data governance but also demonstrate how the program can be rolled out with an optimal use of resources and without undue disruption of existing systems.

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Find more data governance champions
The more backing your program gets from the leaders of different teams and functions, the more the word gets out and the more seriously it will be taken. So talk to others in the organization who believe in the value of data governance and who will work with you to promote and implement it. All the members of the data governance council will need to become evangelists of the program and also help identify others like them.

Prepare an elevator pitch
To most employees in the organization, data governance will be a novel concept and it is up to the core team to initiate interesting conversations around it. So it is important to have all the champions of the program speak the same language and share the same message across the organization. A prepared, well-rehearsed elevator pitch for the program is very helpful in this context.

Brand the program
Marketing a data governance program is very similar to marketing any newly launched product: you have to build awareness, pique interest and generate a desire to participate. To this end, branding the program with a unique name and perhaps even a logo that appears across organizational portals and communication material can be very helpful.

Communicate proactively
Create communication collateral including articles, brochures or decks to be circulated to the larger team. Conduct regular talks or discussions with different groups to ensure that the message reaches everyone. It is not enough for employees across the board to know about the program but also to associate improved outcomes with the efforts that went into it. So make sure that you publicize small wins and interim milestones achieved.

Data governance is a crucial part of the digital transformation that organizations must go through to adapt to a changing business environment and meet their strategic goals. As CIO Water Cooler puts it, “We can change our technologies, our infrastructure, and our processes. But without addressing the human element, lasting change will not happen.”

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