How to Talk About Data

People often fear data and statistics.

Vast quantities of data are everywhere. In today’s workforce, whether you’re an executive, in human resources, a project manager, or in sales and marketing, you must make “evidence-based decisions” that you derive from data and the most up-to-date analytical techniques. 

For example, analytics anxiety might manifest as fear and discomfort over data acquisition, analysis and communication to colleagues. Analytics anxiety affects the quality of a person’s decision-making. It also affects that person’s ability to collaborate. Individuals with analytics anxiety are more likely to avoid complicated data, and to be misled by biased data or evidence that lacks precision and rigor.

A variety of factors – including lack of statistical understanding, fear of data quality, uncertainty that data provide an adequate justification for decisions, and “data fatigue” (reviewing too much data over a given period) – can cause analytics anxiety. You can deal with analytics anxiety in different ways, depending on whether you make decisions or present data.

People making decisions may need to improve their knowledge of data...