Empowering Your Workforce with Data Literacy, Analytics, and Core Data Concepts
Jul 28, 2025
by Fiona Crocker & Sarah Burnett | Co-Founders, Dub Dub Data
Have you ever said, “I’m just not a numbers person”?
You’re not alone. That belief is surprisingly common – and it’s also one of the biggest barriers between people and better decision-making with data analysis. At Dub Dub Data, we help teams shift from data fear to data fluency every day. Recently, we caught up with Dr Selena Fisk, educator, coach and author of I’m Not a Numbers Person: How to Make Good Decisions in a Data-Rich World, on our podcast unDUBBED to unpack this journey.
🎧 Want to hear the full episode?
Listen to unDUBBED: Not a Numbers or Data Person? Good. Start here with Dr Selena Fisk here
In this post, we explore how leaders and teams can go from uncertainty to confidence when working with data and why data fluency is not a technical skill, but a human one.
Overcoming the Mindset Barrier to Become Data Literate
Selena shared that one of the most common phrases she hears in her workshops is, “I get it, but I’m not a numbers person.” This mindset often forms early - shaped by school, home life, and cultural narratives – and persists well into our professional lives.
At Dub Dub Data, we’ve seen executives and managers across every industry shy away from data conversations because they didn’t believe they belonged in them. Yet ironically, these same people often use data every day without realising it - tracking fitness, navigating traffic, reviewing budgets, or optimising schedules.
The myth of the “numbers person” keeps people from engaging with data meaningfully. The truth is, anyone can become data fluent - and that’s when real transformation begins.
Literacy or Fluency
While Selena’s work often uses the term “data literacy,” we prefer to talk about “data fluency”. Why? Because fluency captures the full spectrum of engagement, from beginner to advanced, and speaks to how naturally someone can use data in their daily decision-making.
Data fluency is not just about understanding charts. It’s about confidently asking questions, recognising patterns, and taking action. It means knowing when to trust data, when to seek more, and how to weigh it against lived experience and context.
At Dub Dub Data, our consulting work is built around this idea. We help businesses embed data fluency into leadership, operations, and everyday behaviours so that teams are not just collecting data, but using it with purpose. For the purposes of our article, we will use them interchangeably.
Building Data Literacy Skills Through Reflective Data Use
One of the strongest themes in our conversation with Selena was the importance of reflective data use. Most of us are familiar with passive data experiences - we get reports sent to us, dashboards updated for us, KPIs tracked by others. But reflection means taking a more active role.
Selena shared her own story of superannuation - how for years, it was a “set and forget” process. But once she became a business owner, she had to actively consider her contributions, forecast retirement impacts, and weigh short-term trade-offs. That shift - from unconscious to reflective - mirrors what many organisations go through as they mature in their data journey.
At Dub Dub Data, we support this progression by helping clients build data-informed cultures that align with strategy, not just compliance. Reflective data users don’t just read numbers. They question them, act on them, and track outcomes.
Why Curiosity Is Key to Developing Strong Data Literacy Skills
You can’t build data literacy without curiosity. Selena reminded us that resources have always been available – it’s the desire to explore that makes the difference.
When we run gamified training programs with clients, we see curiosity light up teams. People start asking things like:
- Why are our churn rates high in this region?
- What would happen if we shifted investment to this product?
- How are these metrics connected to what I can control?
Data literacy starts with a simple question – and grows as people learn that it’s okay not to know, but powerful to ask.
Triangulation: The Power of Multiple Perspectives
One of the most valuable frameworks Selena shared is the concept of triangulating data. Too often, leaders make decisions based on a single dataset - which might be incomplete, outdated, or biased. Triangulation involves reviewing three to five data sources to verify whether a trend holds true.
This approach is essential when making high-stakes decisions. Whether you’re reviewing customer sentiment, financial health, or employee performance, looking at multiple perspectives strengthens your confidence and reduces risk.
In our data visualisation and insights consulting, we coach teams to combine metrics from sales, service, marketing, and operations to get the full picture. Triangulation prevents overreactions, tunnel vision, and costly missteps.
The Importance of Data Literacy in Building a Data-Informed, Not Just Data-Driven, Organisation
There’s a lot of hype around being “data-driven,” but Selena and the Dub Dub team prefer the term data-informed. Here’s why.
Being data-driven implies that numbers are the sole driver of decisions - which can lead to cold, mechanistic choices that ignore human nuance. Being data-informed, however, recognises that data is one input among many. It sits alongside context, intuition, qualitative feedback, and lived experience.
Fiona recalled a time when performance was measured by a single KPI. Despite all other indicators being positive, that one number could trigger punitive action. It’s a cautionary tale about how data, when misused, can actually harm performance.
Our approach at Dub Dub Data is grounded in human-centred design. We believe in combining people, process, and platforms to empower informed decisions - that's the power of data.
Democratise Access, Don’t Centralise Power
Another challenge we often see is data gatekeeping. Teams have access to their own metrics, but not to others’. This leads to duplication, misalignment, and frustration.
Selena shared a powerful example: a marketing team that couldn’t access sales data, and vice versa. Both had rich insights - but without cross-team visibility, neither could fully optimise performance.
At Dub Dub Data, we prioritise data democratisation. That means building a culture of data that is secure, with smart systems where people have access to data they need - when and how they need it, to interpret data. Our AI and automation consulting helps clients streamline reporting, break down silos, and enable faster, smarter action.
Key Data Literacy Skills: Asking the Right Questions to Build Data Fluency
Data culture isn’t about how many dashboards you have. It’s about how often people ask great questions to further their understanding of data.
Selena has created a brilliant tool for this - her Data Cards - that prompt users to reflect on insights and actions. We’ve integrated them into our own workshops and coaching sessions. They’re especially powerful for analysts and team leads learning to have more strategic conversations.
If your team struggles to go beyond “what the dashboard says,” start with one question: What might we do next?
Building a Data-Literate Organisation: Culture Change and the Challenges of Data Literacy
Tom Davenport wrote that building a mature data culture takes three to five years. Selena agrees and so do we. It’s not because change is slow. It’s because it’s human.
At Dub Dub Data, we offer fractional consulting support to help organisations stay the course and implement a data literacy program. Whether it’s coaching leaders, designing better dashboards, or rethinking KPIs, we act as your embedded data partners. helping you get aligned, improve analytical skills, and get moving.
Transformation isn’t instant. But with the right habits, tools, and data analytics mindset, it is absolutely achievable.
FAQs: Data Literacy and Organisational Success
1. What is data literacy (fluency)?
Data fluency (also known as data literacy) is the ability to confidently understand, explore, communicate, and act on data. It goes beyond basic literacy and includes critical thinking, storytelling, and decision-making skills.
2. How does being ‘data-informed’ differ from ‘data-driven’?
Data-informed decision-making uses data as one of many inputs. It balances numbers with experience, context, and people. Data-driven approaches can neglect nuance and often oversimplify complex situations.
3. What is triangulating data?
Triangulation means using three or more sources of data to validate insights. It reduces the risk of relying on a single, flawed dataset and ensures you act on stronger, more complete evidence.
4. Why do organisations struggle with data?
The biggest issues are often mindset-related: fear, overwhelm, or lack of clarity. Others include inaccessible systems, poor visualisation, and misalignment between metrics and strategy.
Not a Numbers or Data Person? Good. Start here with Dr Selena Fisk
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Takeaways
- Data anxiety is a widespread issue that can impact how decisions are made.
- Challenging the mindset of being “not a numbers person” is key to building confidence with data.
- Actively engaging with data leads to stronger, more informed decisions.
- Triangulating data helps cut through noise and reduces the impact of bias.
- Confirmation bias can distort how data is interpreted, often reinforcing pre-held beliefs.
- A sense of curiosity is critical for building data capability and staying open to insights.
- Democratising data is essential for empowering people and driving success across organisations.
- Being data-informed, not just data-driven, supports more thoughtful, balanced decision-making.
- Data storytelling is a crucial skill for analysts to translate complexity into clarity.
- Post-decision analysis is gaining traction as a key component of data literacy and growth.
Links
Ready to Build a More Data-Fluent Team?
It's increasingly important for everyone to understand and use data, but it doesn't have to be intimidating. It can be a tool for clarity, confidence, and culture change.
If you're ready to move your team from data avoidance to action, we’re here to help.
Contact us to start your journey to data fluency.
How can Dub Dub Data help?
We offer data visualisation consulting, AI and automation services, gamified learning, and fractional leadership to help teams move from confusion to confidence. Whether you’re just starting out or scaling up, we’ll meet you where you are.
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