Your data culture isn't a technology problem.

Your data culture requires more than a license agreement and a Slack channel.

Most analytics leaders know that. They've lived the rollout that looked good on paper and stalled six months later. The licences got purchased and the dashboards got built. And then, after the initial excitement, people stopped using them.

Tableau is a powerful tool but that alone doesn't build a culture. You need people to really show up for that - analysts, engineers as well as their stakeholders.

I saw what a genuine Analyst Culture looks like in my time building the Tableau practice at Facebook. Using data wasn't a department initiative. It was what people did every day. They brought data and dashboards to meetings because it was the best way to share their findings, discuss ideas and figure out the next steps. They shared what they knew. They built on each other's work. They pushed each other to go further. It was one of the most energizing environments I've ever been part of, and it shaped how I think about what analytics teams are actually capable of.

What I've learned since - working with enterprise teams at companies of every size - is that this kind of culture doesn't happen by accident. It gets built deliberately and the key factors that need to be present are these:

Depth of skill. When analysts truly know their tools, they stop fighting them and start thinking with them. The questions they ask and subsequently tackle get better. The dashboards they build get used and improved continuously through stakeholder engagement and feedback. The conversations they have with leadership become more confident. Skill depth is what turns a capable analyst into someone their organization relies on.

A culture of sharing. The best analytics teams treat knowledge as something to circulate, not hoard. People share shortcuts, flag problems, review each other's work, and celebrate what's been built. Whenever possible, they get on stage to show their capabilities and the kind of work they get to do in their organization. That generosity compounds over time to create a strong internal culture and a very appealing employer brand for future team members. It raises the bar for everyone.

Recognition and expectation. Data culture becomes real when it's built into how people are measured and rewarded. Not just "did you complete the training?" but "did you teach someone else what you learned?" Analysts who are given space to contribute and recognized for it stay longer, grow faster, and pull others up with them.

When all three are present, you’ll notice that something changes. Candidates start mentioning your data culture in interviews because they've heard about it. Industry peers want to understand what you're doing because they’ve seen your people present at conferences. The ROI question stops being abstract because you can point to decisions that were made faster, budgets that were monitored more clearly, products that were built better because your analysts had the skills and the culture behind them to do their best work.

That is what Eva Murray and I are building toward with NLT for Teams.

Eva's background is different from mine, and that difference is the point. Where I focus on Tableau mastery and technical depth, Eva brings expertise in data visualization communication, presentation and storytelling skills for data professionals, and the organizational side of building analytics communities. She literally wrote the book on how to build data communities and has spent years coaching analysts on the soft skills that determine whether technically excellent work actually lands with the people it's made for. Together, we cover the full picture: the technical and the human, the individual skill and the team culture.

NLT for Teams is built on that foundation. It's a structured, ongoing development program for analytics teams of 15 to 10,000. Skill progression visible within 90 days. Over 120 hours of new content every year. Structured learning pathways, courses, bespoke technical workshops and 1,000+ templates and resources. Plus the kind of support that means your team actually uses what they're given. Clients like pharmaceutical companies, government departments and teams inside Fortune 500 companies renew at over 75% because they can see it working.

If you're an analytics leader who wants to move beyond tool adoption and build something that actually sticks, I'd love to talk.

Find out more and book a call at nextleveltableau.com/teams