Before You Engage the Business in your Data Strategy, Start With Yourself
- Dave Findlay
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
The instinct to act is strong.
Once you’ve bought into the idea of building a people-first data program, it’s tempting to jump straight into conversations with the business. After all, the point is to uncover their needs and design around them. That’s the right direction.
But here’s something we’ve learned:
It’s hard to listen well if you haven’t taken stock of where you’re standing.
If you walk into discovery sessions unclear on your own gaps, strengths, and assumptions, it’s easy to hear what you want to hear. It’s even easier to frame every request through a technical lens rather than a human one.
That’s why we always recommend a short moment of internal reflection before you start discovery.
Not an audit. Not a strategy deck. Just a quick check-in.
Self-awareness makes you a better partner.
The best data leaders we work with aren’t just great at systems thinking. They’re self-aware. They know what they bring to the table, and where they need to adapt.
That’s why we created a 5-minute Data Maturity Self-Assessment.
It’s designed to help you:
Understand your current level of maturity across a few core areas
Get clear on where you’re strong, and where you might need to shift your approach
Prepare for more open, constructive conversations with the business
This isn’t a scorecard. It’s a mindset reset.
Take 5 minutes to center yourself before you step into someone else’s world.
Why this matters
In our next post, we’ll share the 10 discovery questions we use to guide business-facing conversations.
These questions are powerful. But they’re even more effective when you come in ready to hear what’s really being said.
Because your job in those sessions isn’t to fix. It’s to understand. And that starts with checking your own lens first.
At Fuse Data, we believe a great data strategy only matters if it leads to action.
If you’re ready to move from planning to execution — and build solutions your team will actually use — let’s talk.
