"what do you make of this?"
Whenever you communicate with someone about your analytic findings, that communication should include a clear and specific recommended action that you want your audience to take. For some analysts, this step may not be part of their usual process. However there are a few key reasons why including a recommendation is essential to making sure that the hard work that we put into our analyses doesn’t go for naught.
Everybody sees something different in the data
If there’s something you think the analysis shows, be painfully specific about it, because no two people will interpret the same graph, chart, diagram, or data table the same way.
It’s not enough to assume that the takeaway is self-explanatory. For us, as analysts—working with our data on a daily basis, and in great detail—the right action might seem obvious.
It isn’t.
That is the dreaded “curse of knowledge” at work: once we know something, it’s hard to imagine things from the perspective of someone who doesn’t.
Instead of worrying that you might be offending your audience’s intelligence by explaining things to them that they already know, take the opposite approach.
Assume that you—the person who spends the most time with the data you are reporting on—are the expert, and communicate your analysis, your position, and your recommendation concisely but thoroughly.
If your audience already knows some of the basics, then one of two things will happen:
they will tell you so (verbally or through body language), in which case you can skip ahead in your presentation; or,
they will quietly appreciate the reassurance that you and they are on the same page, and will be more receptive to your messaging.
People hate to be wrong
When we show people data, but offer them no conclusion or recommendation about it, we are implicitly asking them the question, “What do you make of this?”
McCroskey, in asking such an open-ended question of his colleague, made it far too easy for Johnny to misinterpret the request; as a result, the discussion immediately veered far off course. (Airplane!, 1980)
By not providing your own answer to this question, an audience is put in an uncomfortable position. They may start to wonder, “Are we being tested to see if we can figure it out for ourselves?” After all, they have to assume that you’re bringing them this data because you think it’s important; but for some reason, you aren’t telling them why it’s important.
If they aren’t confident that they’ll see exactly what you, the analyst who has looked at this a lot already, has seen in the data, they may worry that they’ll be embarrassed or made to look foolish in front of their colleagues.
As a defense against this, some people will just refuse to offer a position, or deflect you by continually sending you back for more data...as if some undefined amount of “more data” could keep us from ever being wrong.
Giving the audience your opinion as the analyst starts the conversation, and relieves them of the burden of making the first move. It’s easier for them to react to your initial recommendation: they can agree with your assessment, validate it, try to poke holes in it, flat-out disagree with it, or add additional context that you don’t have visibility into.
Whatever happens from that point on, one way or another, is progress...which leads us to our third reason for including a suggested course of action in your communications.
It puts the focus on positive change, rather than just on data
We don’t do analysis just for the sake of doing analysis, and we don’t collect data just because we love data. On all of our projects, in all of our organizations, in the world in which we live, we are all in some way trying to drive positive change. Framing our communications around actions, rather than analyses, keeps us focused on, and talking about, what is important: solving problems and improving people’s lives.
In order to frame the communication this way, we—the analysts—have to be willing to take the first step. We have to be willing to have our recommendations rejected; we have to be willing to be embarrassed if our assessments don’t align with our audiences’.
But that is a positive thing!
How so? Well, we’ve made progress! We’ve had a discussion, we’ve made a decision, we’ve moved forward...and our audience leaves with a positive impression of the interaction! They achieved something and were able to make a smart decision, based on the propositions you presented and their own assessments.
Making progress while keeping your audience happy is a GREAT outcome, even if the progress isn’t always exactly what you had originally recommended.
RECOMMENDATION: Shape your next communication around a suggested course of action!
As mentioned before, it can feel uncomfortable to start offering our own recommendations when we are used to simply presenting data as information. However, the value we provide as analysts isn’t only in knowing how to investigate data, or in knowing how to find and explain trends and outliers. It’s in being able to contribute our unique understanding of the data to people with the power to act on our assessments. In that way, our analyses, and their understanding of the greater context, can combine most effectively to drive positive change.