Hi, my name’s David Geist, I’m an Adobe analytics champion and Senior Digital Analyst at Truist Bank. Today, I’m going to talk to you about gaining a seat at the table. Gaining a seat at the table means that you’re included in the high level decision making conversations that are happening in your organization. Recognized that your company needs you at the table. You have a valuable perspective that no one else can provide. Having you there will help improve communication and just get everyone’s questions answered quicker. So, how do you get a seat at the table? Here’s a few steps you can follow. First, you need to be invited by someone. Find someone at your organization that you think would make a good partner, who can also bring you along. Next, once you’ve identified this person, you need to be useful to them, put yourself in their shoes and try to solve the problems that they care most about. Finally, and this is easier said than done, but it’s simply just to be excellent. Your work needs to stand out. Getting to this point will likely look different for everyone, but I share a couple of tips in the attached article that might help. So remember, your company needs you at the table just as much as you need to be there. I hope these steps help and you can find more details in the article I wrote on the Adobe Experience League website. Thanks. -
“Gaining a seat at the table.” This popular phrase has been a hot topic in the business world for years now. But what does it mean? Gaining a seat at the table means that you are included in the high-level decision-making conversions. You’re not only invited, but your input is valued and appreciated. I am going to show you how gaining a seat at the table will help your company and your career as an Adobe Analytics power user, whether your official role is that of an admin, a data analyst, or whatever else your business card says.
First, let’s get something out of the way. The role of data professionals has evolved. They can no longer sit behind their computer screens focusing only on eVars, events, and sProps. You, as the admin have the responsibility to make sure your company is making the right data-driven decisions. But to do this, you need to be where those decisions are being made, not crunching numbers at your desk.
Here are three reasons why you need to be there.
Now that you understand why you need to be included, it’s time to start taking steps to get that invite. Here are three things you can start doing today to gain a seat at the table.
Step 1: Find someone already at the table - To get a seat at the table, someone has to invite you. Think about the decision makers at your organization and assess them with the following questions in mind:
The questions above should help narrow the list. By now, you should have one or two people who you can focus on for the next two steps. I’m going to steal the framing of the next two steps from a recent Analytics Power Hour guest - Cassie Kozyrkov. She laid it out so perfectly when she said that you need to “be useful and be excellent.”
Step 2: Be Useful - The next step is to figure out how you can be as useful as possible to the decision-makers you identified in step one. The key here is to put yourself in their shoes. What do they care about? What are they worried about? What unknowns are you able to shine a light on that will help them do their jobs better?
Show this person that you understand what is important to them and that you can help solve their problems.
Step 3: Be Excellent - Now that you’ve identified your target stakeholder(s) and determined how to be useful, you’ve got to follow through with excellent work. Everyone has their own idea of what excellence looks like. It might be quite different for you than for me. The key here is to go above and beyond what you would normally do for any other person or any other request. Here are a couple of tips that have helped me produce excellent work.
I hope this article has helped you realize that you need to be at the table. It’s likely going to take time and focused effort. But if you stick with it and follow the steps above, you’ll find yourself in a position with more autonomy and influence at your organization. That will ultimately lead to more success in your role and a more fulfilling career.