Strategies for Building and Empowering Internal Data Champions

Data projects at companies can be like shiny new toys. You spend months building out the perfect data model or application that finally houses all the relevant information and insights teams have been begging for. You deploy the solution across the organization to heaps of praise and enthusiasm, with leaders calling on everyone to dive into the numbers and start making data-driven decisions. And then a few months later, the fascination dies down. The solution is still just as useful as it was when you first launched it, but teams have reverted to their old ways of doing things because those are the business processes they know best. 

This can be very frustrating for your data teams, explains Opeyemi Fabiyi, an analytics manager at Data Culture. Having consulted with businesses big and small about finding the right data and AI solutions, he’s seen this scenario play out more than a few times. The underlying problem? Many companies don't have a clear data strategy—or they lack a data strategy althogether. 

“They treat data as a byproduct that is coming along the line, but it needs to be a central part of the organization,” Opeyemi says. “Data should be seen as a product itself. Everything needs to be thought through: making sure that they’re collecting the right kind of data, putting in place the right process to ensure that data is of good quality, and understanding how this data will be consumed by people who need to consume it.” 

As a data professional, you probably already understand what it takes to build a strong data culture. But you can’t drive organizational change alone.  

The good news is you don’t need to win over everyone; you just need to empower the right people, who can advocate for data-driven decisions and influence their peers. Internal champions are the missing multiplier for data adoption. And Opeyemi has some ideas for how you can build your roster of allies.  

What to look for in a good data champion 

A lot of data teams face similar challenges: data quality issues, ambiguous data ownership, and a lack of data literacy across their organizations. These challenges lead to constantly changing demands, slow technology adoption, and mistrust in the data when it doesn’t match expectations. Many of these come down to issues of communication.  

“Business people have their own lingua franca,” Opeyemi says. “They understand how to do their own thing. But understanding how a data team will come into their world to solve their problems can be a struggle.” 

That’s why data professionals need to be eagle-eyed when looking for people outside their teams who believe in the value of data and understand its potential impact on improving the business. These individuals are your potential data champions who can act as internal translators.  

What qualities should you be looking for? 

• Curiosity
  Who are the people asking questions during presentations? Who’s genuinely interested in digging into the “whats” and whys” of your data, even if they don’t fully understand all the technical processes? ‍
• Business pain awareness
  Who has expressed an actual need for improvement in a process or an outcome? Who is on the search for efficiency, automation, and better visibility, while being open to new solutions? ‍
• Organizational influence
  Who has successfully driven process change for individual teams? Who is a natural leader or connector comfortable communicating with individuals at various levels of the business? ‍
• Translation skills
  Who understands their team’s business processes the best? Who has enough data knowledge to explain the higher-level purpose of the data team’s work, and an interest in growing their technical expertise over time? 

Ideally, your next data champion will have all four of these attributes. But, we live in the real world. There is one that Opeyemi says is especially important.  

“You could have a champion that has good curiosity and business pain awareness, but if that [organizational] influence doesn’t exist, it becomes very challenging for that person to drive the impact and the change that you need them to drive,” he explains.  

So, make sure you have evidence that your potential champion knows who to talk to and how to get things done at your organization.  

How to build allies at your organization 

You aren’t just going to pluck the perfect candidate out of a meeting and convince them to take up your cause. Building data champions takes a bit of work. Again, Opeyemi has a framework for you.  

Step 1: Understand their pain points 

People care about their pain, not your technology. They just want their problems solved, Opeyemi says.  

He suggests starting the relationship with a pain awareness interview. Schedule conversations with multiple different stakeholders to try and understand the different problems that teams may be facing. Ask questions like: What keeps you up at night? Where do you think the biggest inefficiencies exist? Where are you seeing process breakdowns?  

These interviews serve two main purposes. First, they can help you identify which problems you have the bandwidth and tools to alleviate, creating a value proposition for them to work with your team. Second, they allow you to detect signals that could point you to a potential champion. Are there people that team members keep deferring to for answers? And, who has the most in-depth knowledge of how their teams operate? It may not always be the person with the corresponding title. Use these interviews as an opportunity to do some investigative work.  

Step 2: Deliver a quick win 

You want your potential champions to see the value of working with you. Once you’ve identified a worthy problem, do the next logical thing: Solve it for them.  

In this situation, speed trumps perfection. Swiftly creating a workable, pragmatic solution allows your colleagues to see the benefit of collaborating and helps you build momentum toward winning them over to your cause. You’ll want to identify a solution that will be impactful for them, even if it’s imperfect. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. 

“The reality is that creating something that is perfect and checks all the boxes for best practices would take time to build in any data infrastructure because you would have to ensure the right data quality is in place and build the right data model that supports best practices,” Opeyemi explains.  

Many times, teams will be happy with directional numbers that provide insights, especially if the alternative was having no information at all.  

“If you have a not so perfect solution to give that bit of visibility into what they didn’t have previously, they would appreciate that against having to wait three or six months for a perfect sophisticated data solution,” he adds.  

So don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. You’re really just trying to win them over at this stage.  

Step 3: Equip your champions for success 

Congrats, you’ve hooked a potential champion! Now what? 

“Someone who is curious who is a potential candidate for a data champion would most of the time gravitate toward wanting to learn,” Opeyemi says. “That’s why the onus is on the data team to empower these potential candidates for a data champion, even if this person doesn’t have the preliminary technical skillset to navigate what needs to be done.” 

The easiest way to help them learn is through documentation and educational resources. Opeyemi says that simple things can make a difference like developing short videos that explain different technical concepts in the context of their work. Writing down guidelines with accompanying visuals can provide a step-by-step instruction on how somebody can use different tools so that they can start to become self-reliant. He’s even had team leads request group training for their direct reports, so that they can also begin to build their technical knowledge—exactly the kind of impact you want to see from a data champion.  

They need to know that they can lean on you when they have questions or need assistance. And you can see the fruits of your labor when others throughout the organization start coming to you asking to learn about what is possible with data.  

“Curiosity is a good signal,” Opeyemi says. “Welcome curiosity.”  

Empower your data champions with Domo 

Domo helps data professionals to scale their impact not just through tech but through people. With its collaborative features, accessible UX, and governance tools, Domo gives champions the confidence to share, explore, and advocate for data without needing a technical background. Whether it’s building custom views, surfacing alerts tied to business metrics, or creating department-specific wins, Domo helps data leaders equip champions with tools they can actually use and rally around.  

Are you considering adding Domo to your tech stack? Check out the Domo Community, a place to share struggles and successes when it comes to getting Domo adopted.