“The number one data governance & growth newsletter in Australia.”

Making you think a little differently about data governance and growth. 

Here is a question, a growth tidbit and a data governance nugget to get your mental juices flowing . . .

Question

Here are a couple questions for you to reflect on:

“How resilient am I?  How resilient is my organization?  Do I care?”

If you don’t care, then this probably won’t be your favourite newsletter.  The concept of resilience has become very popular in recent years.  The interesting thing about resilience is both the dual definitions that surround it and the fact that it can actually be measured (this point may intrigue some of our data friends). 

Growth Tidbit

There are two distinct definitions for resilience in psychological literature.  The first definition views resilience as an individual trait.  It defines resilience as “the ability to resist being damaged or deformed by traumas or destructive forces.”

The second definition is described as a means of thriving, where resilience means “the ability to ‘bounce back’ or recover from traumatic or destructive forces.”

The first definition provides a view of an almost innate ability to go undamaged by trauma, hence, a nearly biological trait that you have or you don’t.  The second definition doesn’t deny that damage and pain can occur, but highlights our ability to learn to cope with events to actually bounce back stronger than before.  Apparently, broken bones heal back stronger at the point of the break than before – this is the type of resilience the second definition provides. 

Both definitions are valid and apply to different situations. Which definition appeals to you more?

Data Governance Nugget

“Trauma” seems like too strong of a term to use in an organisational setting (unless you have a real jerk for a boss).  However, have you ever been part of a company reorganisation?  The uncertainty that accompanies these types of major changes can feel quite traumatic for the individual.  This is especially important when it comes to data governance.  Given data governance is as strong as the individuals and their connections, which make up a company’s data governance structure, the concept of resilience is very applicable here.  We have found one of the leading causes of weak data governance for companys is when an organisation goes through a reorg – particularly if reorgs are a standard event for the organisation.  There are ways of increasing your company’s data governance resilience, which we will focus on in a future article.   

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