When the data stewards are comfortable in their role and feel empowered to actively solve data problems it is a wonderful thing. Stuff just gets done by small groups of colleagues who report the success of what they’ve done without highlighting the issue first, or asking for help.
However this approach, without oversight and guidance from your data governance lead can create a bigger problem than it solved.
For example, the data stewards from Finance, HR, and Marketing who standardised and improved their country pick-lists. Brilliant for them, data that they shared and reports that included data from all their systems instantly streamlined and easier to understand by the lawyers that looked at them.
But – they didn’t include the new matter team when they created the standard. The new matter team had a different country list so was opening matters against countries that didn’t exist in the finance systems so no-one could record time against them. Without the time recording trigger, the matter folder didn’t get created in the document management system – so there was no place to compliantly store any work done on that matter.
The data steward’s intent was good, but the impact of their actions was some unintended consequences.
Some definitions
Intent
Intent is what you have in mind as a goal when you decide to perform and action. It is a reflection of the type of impact you WANT TO create with your actions. Intent is how you think or feel.
Impact
Impact is the result of your actions, which might not be the same as you intended. It is a reflection of the reality of your actions. Impact is how your actions make another person feel.
When you perform an action, you feel a certain way about it.
Why is it important to understand intent and impact?
You can’t control how someone else feels. You can only control your intent and your actions. Once you’ve already committed an action, you can no longer backtrack.
At this point, all you can do is acknowledge how the other person feels because of the impact of your actions.
If the other person feels hurt or offended, don’t ignore their feelings. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t intend for them to feel this way. The reality is that they do. Apologise for the result of your actions. Make sure your apology is sincere and doesn’t shift the blame on the person who felt the impact. Here’s an example of what not to say:
“If you got stressed out by what I did, I apologise.”
This shifts the blame on the other person and doesn’t acknowledge that they were hurt. It only assumes the possibility that they were hurt by using the term “if.” Here’s a better way to phrase an apology:
“I’m sorry that my actions caused you stress.”
This statement clearly takes accountability for the impact by saying, “My actions caused.” It’s more straightforward than saying “if” which expresses doubt that can cause mistrust. The other person told you how they felt — there’s no “if” to their feelings. As a result, you can have a clear, open, and honest conversation.
Why do we need to think about unintended consequences?
Unintended consequences are the outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The law of unintended consequences occurs when an impulsive, emotional decision is made that unintentionally creates more problems than it solves.
For example, I remember when I was part of an Information and Research Team that I created a report on oil and gas company M&A opportunities for the Energy Sector Partners every Friday afternoon. One of the partners (who was also my line manager and with whom I had a great working relationship) asked me for a version of this report that focused only on gas companies in Europe.
It would have been really easy to say yes. The impact on that Partner would have been immediate and positive. The unintended consequences would have been to make my life (and the life of my colleagues) miserable – that would have opened the door for every Partner to request a customised version of that weekly report to suit their own needs. I wouldn’t have had enough time in the week (never mind a single day) to produce over 50 tailored reports.
I didn’t say no either. I asked the partner more about why they needed their own report. When they explained that they found it too hard to find what they needed, we could then have a conversation about improving the layout of the report. Splitting it into sub-sectors, highlighting regions, and adding a better table of contents.
The result: the same immediate and positive impact on the Partner, but without the unintended consequence of increasing the work to an unmanageable extent.
The right way to solve a data issue
Effective communication and collaboration are crucial for data governance. As a data governance lead, you need to use all available tools, such as intranet pages, team spaces, and distribution lists, to increase transparency and improve communication between stakeholders. Set expectations that data governance happens best by everyone “working out loud”.
In the scenario of data stewards just getting on and solving a problem, they should have added what they were trying to solve and how they were going to solve it to the issues log. It could then have been flagged in a data stewards council meeting so that other data stewards had the opportunity to add to their conversation, either there and then or by volunteering to join the small data stewards working group.
Every proposal and decision should have been recorded on the issues log so that all the stewards and owners had an opportunity to be aware of what was going on and contribute their suggestions. The data governance lead could table council discussions with the wider group as and when things came up, rather than having to urgently address them in crisis mode.
By working out loud in this way, the unintended consequences of standardising a country list would have been identified and addressed before they became a problem.
Innovative law firms have big goals for improving the client experience through data innovation.
Through our extensive law firm background, we have developed a unique data governance road-mapping approach to help law firm leaders launch the proper foundation for data governance.
If you want to chat confidentially about how Iron Carrot can help your firm with its Data Governance initiatives, then why not book a call to talk to us?
