With 70% of employees expected to work heavily with data by 2025, knowing how to distill that data down to key insights and present those as a story that everyone can understand is more important than ever.
In my work as an innovation storytelling consultant, I regularly see R&D teams and data scientists stuck so knee deep in the data weeds that, when they need to explain their insights, they assume that the listener will automatically be in tune with the details—and that’s not always the case.
I always say that groundbreaking data needs language that allows it to move and build momentum inside an organization.
The good news is that data storytelling can be a universally accessible language that everyone can understand. It provides context that goes beyond facts, figures, and dashboards, and helps audiences determine what action to take next.
When the data story you tell is the right one, not only will the data stick, but it will spread and get other people on board.
There’s no greater satisfaction than seeing the data you’ve worked so hard to capture facilitate meaningful change. And, when your research triggers action, it creates a virtuous cycle. People will come back to you as the expert you are and want more.
But that only happens when you couple the data with a story that people can take with them.
