How Do We Share Our Successes When Data’s Scant?

Editors take data seriously when you’re a reporter on social or business trends and struggles. (I know because that became my beat as a reporter for global publications for years.) We need data to quantify and qualify that the trend we’re writing on indeed exists. Data also builds authority and trust in us, the reporter writing and telling the story — and the publication publishing our words.

Job seekers and those on the rise within their org need data also. Numbers and trends within those numbers quantify how we excel at our craft and trade, become proof, and help paint a story — a vision — of success we can bring our future employer or team.

But at least 50% of the coachees I coach struggle here because not enough time has passed to show the results, the project or product got torpedoed (typical in big tech firms), or results from our work remain downright ambiguous. That’s what we’re unpacking in this week’s Medium post, which I’ll read for my Sage Sayers podcast: How to quantify trends, patterns, and successes, when no hard data exists. Here come tips and tactics journalists and reporters use, (which I’ve personally used) and which translate beautifully in business. You can listen to this essay via my Sage Sayers podcast on business communications trends and challenges here.

Explain the Absence of Numbers

When data’s patchy but you know the trend or phenomena you report on exists, transparency must prevail. In writing on quirky social trends (which I did thousands of times over for global news audiences) data hardly existed. For instance, when writing on professional men and women buying and souping up golf carts as a hobby, nobody reported data on an obscure, bizarre trend, but one undeniable to me in the Arizona neighborhood where I lived when reporting on this trend for the Economist.

In doing so, you can say:

• While nobody’s tracking the numbers yet, (the trend’s so new). Or…
• Results remain unquantifiable. The project lost funding, like most that year…
• Confidentiality prevents me from sharing numbers; but I can speak to X…

Draw on Anecdotal Evidence

In countering what you don’t know, you can speak with authority on what you do know and can claim as truth.

In the above example, anecdotally, the nation’s major manufacturers of golf carts reported bumper sales of golf carts as did listers of golf cart sales on Craigslist. I spoke to many and watched how listings changed and sold to validate the trend exists. Here are those earlier examples combining the two techniques:

While nobody’s tracking the numbers yet, (the trend’s so new)… …vendors selling those golf carts report at least a 30% uptick on sales from last year; meanwhile, Craigslist sales on these items are through the roof, some selling within an hour.

And…Results remain unquantifiable. The project lost funding, like most that year; but… initial momentum and stakeholder feedback repositioned our team in exciting ways. We doubled our size.

Do Your Own Survey

We can also survey those we interview to bring in our own data. For instance, when reporting on members of the FLDS leaving Warren Jeff’s polygamist sect in Utah, USA, I asked the state investigator what percentage of the sect members had left and together we could do the math.

When reporting on a Catholic priest in Pittsburgh, PA getting excommunicated, I learned, from reaching out to the International Catholic Diocese, this became the 12th formal excommunication case globally — a bigger deal than Pittsburgh’s media had reported. I surveyed by asking the international group how often we’d seen this before. Only then, I knew: This one isolated case had bigger, more epic impact and meaning.

For our work story and personal brand, independent research of data’s an exciting opportunity and way to stand out. One product manager from China I’ve coached re-positioned her brand with a fresh, new, tres chic resume highlighting three powerful data points to tell her story: The tiny number of people in the village where she grew up in rural China, the millions of people in New York City where she moved to, and the billions of profits that have come from the products she’s launched for giant tech companies. Genius! Bravo!

Position Your Work/Findings Within the Industry Data

We can also pull from industry data, stating how our work aligns or does not align with favorable or unfavorable market trends. This step for business communicators can liberate and empower, bringing a whole new meaning and confidence to our work and catapulting our personal brand in positive and exciting ways.

A small but powerful story illustrates. A finance professional I’ve coached sought a new external role. When we discovered through coaching and discovery he sat within the favorable data of project managers by having always worked on projects that finished on time, the results became powerful.

He shared that data in his bio, resume, and in thought leadership pieces from the same reputable industry 2023 report which showed the rarity of projects finishing within budget and on time (around 30%). He stayed careful and non-bragging to avoid claiming that success was his alone. The wording resembled something like: “I’ve had the good fortune and pride of working within excellent teams whose projects have always finished on time.”

Not only did this tactic build his confidence in an otherwise vulnerable, disheartening time, his visibility grew. He shifted from no responses from recruiters and hiring managers to a cluster and is progressing super well with several leads.

Choose Data Strategically. Stay Factual.

To use industry data like this example, follow the cues of reliable, well-trained reporters:

• Find the industry reports from the best, most well-respected think tanks, non-profits, trade organizations and consulting houses, like Gallup, Gartner, and any trade group you and your industry admire. Avoid self-serving or marketing data that serves the researchers vs the community and industry. Look to the sample size for clues. Back out of anything that smacks of obvious bias.
• Think analytically on how this data serves you and your story — but also your industry and future team or employer. Get creative, but not outlandish here. Try not to stretch to avoid diluting your story and credibility.
• Cherry pick data and learn from it. Meaning: Choose 1–3 data points or just settle on one excellent one and let your instincts serve you. In my earlier example, my client felt genuinely startled that only a third of projects end on time. He then felt impressed and proud and could draw lessons from what he and his fellow teammates and managers had done so well.

I love data and felt confident in gaining data from reputable, unbiased sources when I reported and wrote on trends and struggles. And yet I still felt confident sharing my own numbers, provided I’d done the legwork, observed, and spoken to a lot of people. We can do the same in business.

The key becomes knowing the topic well, noticing, and staying transparent to what you do and don’t know. Also, stay confident here. Manage and coach on any fear coming up of over-selling or offending someone. Think of an external audience before an internal one and empower yourself by sticking to the facts, just the facts, which become your safe zone.

Debbi Gardiner McCullough coaches and trains immigrant leaders to become more confident, concise, and mentally fit communicators. From Wisconsin, she owns and runs Hanging Rock Coaching and coaches worldwide with BetterUp.