You have a data champion. Maybe it’s your data analyst, your Deputy Director who loves spreadsheets, or the program manager who always comes to meetings with numbers. Everyone goes to her. She pulls reports, builds dashboards, and answers every data question.
Your data culture feels alive. And it is, inside one person.
I have personally watched organizations lose three years of data culture progress when their “Sarah” left. Within six months, nobody was looking at dashboards anymore. Not because the dashboard changed, but because the culture lives in one person, not the organization.
Champion Dependency is the most dangerous pattern because it looks like success until it isn’t.
The leadership move is to distribute ownership. Make data everyone’s responsibility, not just who asks for it, but who interprets it and uses it. Build data into your meetings, your decision-making, and your onboarding.
Sarah will leave eventually. They always do. Make sure your data culture stays when she walks out the door.
This is Part 6 of 6 in our miniseries on 5 Resistance Patterns that Kill Data Culture by Candra Reeves (See this introduction to the series.)
Pattern 1: The Overwhelm Response
Pattern 3: The ‘Doesn’t Apply to Me’ Response
Pattern 5: Champion Dependency.
That’s all 5 patterns. But there’s a bonus tip on AI and data culture next week.This is the work the Ardelle Group does every day, building data cultures that survive staff changes and organizational transitions. Ready to start? Schedule a consultation at Ardelle.group
Let’s talk about YOUR data!
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