Bethan Blakeley Columnist Embrace the team sport I data engineer is different from a data scientist. Its why a love team sports. I love watching them (apart from cricket, semiotician is different from a social listening expert. When you because who has time for that?), and I love playing them. look at the world of data and research, it is huge, overwhelming, I love the mentality coming together to achieve and I always find myself getting stuck with the classic problem of something, with each individual playing their own the more I know, the more I know I dont know. important role. Within our industries, in particular, youll also often find the It wasnt until recently, however, that I was introduced to perfectionists, the keen learners, the knowledge-thirsty, the the idea of thinking about your work as a team sport. Im not curious. The people whose job it is to answer questions often talking about the standard drivel of were a team, were a tend to ask the most questions. family, we work together, blah blah blah that all companies Its important to remember, however, that its how these seem to peddle nowadays (well park that rant for another day). roles work together that makes the difference and (the bit Im talking about specialist skills. Expertise. I was having my I struggle with) the acceptance that these different roles exist usual imposter syndrome-fuelled panic of Im not good for a reason. This becomes even more obvious in client-side enough at X, Y, Z; I need more training in A, B, C; Ill never truly data teams. When I was a part of one, there were so many people succeed until I master this, that and the other. And it hit me. who worked tirelessly behind the scenes each of them like What if I didnt need to master all of those things to a perfectly functioning part of a single entity. be successful? The data architects designed the Standing on the hockey pitch, I perfect data warehouses, the data would never expect myself to be goal Perhaps I dont need engineers built those visions. The hanging like a forward, tracking the to understand the intricacies data scientists or analysts were the ball in midfield, defending the 22 and of data governance to know that ones dipping into those databases to padded up in goal as the last line of I understand data run analysis and answer business defence. I never expect myself to be questions. Then youll often have any good at playing all of those certain individuals across the data teams who have a specific positions (anyone who has seen me play in goal can absolutely useful skillset your data visualisation experts, consumer insight vouch for that). The thing is, nobody else would ever expect experts, stakeholder engagement experts, strategic thinking me to play all of those positions either, or to be remotely good experts. You could never expect one person to be an expert in all at them. of these different areas. You dont have to know it all. Its I know they all exist, I know what they do, I know what their normal, and productive, to lean on your other team members, to specific roles are and how they come together to form a team. draw on their strengths as they draw on yours. I know how to play my position even better because of what James Miller, director at Pragma Consulting, put it perfectly in they do, and I know the team objective and how were going to a recent LinkedIn post: As you progress in your career, get there. What if its the same at work? especially into leadership roles, its crucial to remember that its Maybe I dont have to be an expert at qual, quant and OK not to know it all. You have your strengths, and others have advanced analytics. Maybe I dont need specialist experience theirs. The key is to remain open to learning and to recognise across all different sectors. Perhaps I dont need to understand that expertise is a collective effort. the intricacies of data governance, data engineering and data Dont burden yourself with the expectation of perfect modelling to know that I understand data. knowledge. Instead, embrace the power of collaboration. Thats why all of these different roles exist, right? Its why a 37 Impact ISSUE 44 2023_pp36-37 Bethan Blakeley.indd 37 05/12/2023 12:10