The Best of Communicating with Data: Our Top 5 Recordings & Resources
At the Center for Operational Excellence, we're committed to helping your organizations develop the skills to make data-driven decisions, transform products and processes, and maintain a competitive edge. The ability to effectively analyze, interpret, and present data is an indispensable skill for OpEx leaders and process improvement practitioners.
In today's data-driven landscape, we believe proficiency in communicating with data is key to making informed decisions and driving impactful change. Whether identifying bottlenecks, optimizing workflows, or implementing strategic initiatives, having the skills to clearly communicate analytical insights allows for more precise problem-solving and productive decision-making. Building our data communication skills begins with developing data analysis competencies and practicing effective storytelling strategies.
Below you'll find a curated list of recorded sessions on data analytics and communication from COE's Digital Content Archive. Whether you're just starting out on your analytics journey or looking for a refresher on best communication practices, I hope you'll find these sessions enjoyable and actionable.
All the best,
Kelly Reo, Executive Director of The Ohio State University Center for Operational Excellence
Explore top sessions on communicating with data from COE's Digital Content Archive:
- Communicating with Data: Telling the Story – John Draper
In this highly rated 2023 webinar, Fisher College of Business Assistant Professor John Draper focused on strategies to tell a cohesive story with data without getting lost in the details. This session describes how to create a narrative around your data that brings it to life and answers the question “So what?” Examples of good and better data visualizations are included throughout.
Want to learn more from John Draper? View his breakout session from the COE Summit 2023.
- Storytelling with Data Visualization – Ralph Greco
This breakout session was among the most popular from the recent COE Summit 2024. Ralph Greco, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Nationwide Center for Advanced Customer Insights at the Fisher College of Business, distilled the material of a 14-week course on data visualization into one hour to share best practices for presenting data, simplifying visualizations, and storytelling. This engaging and humorous presentation will help you avoid common pitfalls that keep analytics projects from achieving meaningful activation.
Want to learn more from Ralph Greco? View his 2020 webinar on data visualization in the remote work environment.
- Effectively Communicating Your Work: Verbally, Visually, and in Writing – Nick Woo and Tim Wolf
This breakout session from the COE Summit 2021 is filled with evergreen advice for communicating at work and about your work in ways that are clear and compelling. While this session does not limit its focus to data, it includes a robust discussion of visual storytelling and intuitive presentation design. Associates from COE member company Grange Insurance shared great examples of visual communication within their organization's strategy and continuous improvement work.
- How to Build and Keep Your Team: Understanding HR Analytics – Nick L. Anderson
Nick L. Anderson, an associate on Mercer's Workforce Analytics and Sciences team and an adjunct statistics professor at Columbia University, discussed how to integrate evidence-based decision-making into the management of your organization's human capital assets in this 2023 webinar. This session is a powerful demonstration of how data analytics tools can be used to develop insights that tangibly impact business outcomes. Specifically, this session explored how to use people data like age and organizational tenure to improve performance, turnover rates, and more.
- Leverage the Emotion/Data Balance to Lead Others – Colleen Niese
This leadership-focused webinar examined how to balance the data (what we know) with emotion (how we feel) as the secret strategy to consistently ensuring execution matches expectations. In this 2020 webinar, Colleen Niese drew from the DISC model and 25+ years working with leadership teams to provide insights on how to engage and communicate with members of your organization. This session doesn't tackle data analysis but includes valuable discussion on being honest about what data we need, when to lean on others, and how to see the bigger picture to make more objective decisions.
Get Started on the Members-Only Digital Content Archive
Not a member? Reach out to Annie Platten, COE's Member Relations Manager, at platten.6@osu.edu to learn more about the benefits of COE membership.
