18F/18f.gsa.gov

---
title: "Ask 18F — Can you share any tips or suggestions on how to shift the cultural mindset of my organization?"
date: 2018-06-14
authors:
- dahianna
- kara-reinsel
tags:
- ask 18f
- product
excerpt: "Ask 18F is an advice column that answers questions sent in by
federal employees. In this edition, we’ll talk about how to shift the
cultural mindset in an organization from traditional business
intelligence to more predictive solutions."
image:
---

*Ask 18F is an advice column that answers questions sent in by federal
employees. Our technical experts aim to provide you helpful resources
and a good starting point to tackle your problem. Got a question? No
matter how small the task or how big the project, email us at
[18f@gsa.gov](mailto:18f@gsa.gov).*

**Dear 18F: How can I help shift the cultural mindset in my organization from traditional business intelligence to more prescriptive/predictive solutions? Basically, I'm trying to shift the mindset from "gut-based" and old-report-based decisions, to analytical-model-based decisions.**

**Kara Reinsel – Product Manager**

In terms of moving to an analytics-base model, I wouldn’t start there.
That comes further in the process. First you have to get people
comfortable with trusting their users. You have to figure out what users
care about and what makes them tick. Figure out your users’ needs and
wants and start there. Understanding user needs will help you to figure
out which metrics to track and how - if you don’t have alignment between
user needs and measurement, then switching to an analytical model won’t
make a difference.

It’s also important to understand what is the need that you’re trying to
address within your organization. If you’re really trying to change a
mindset, then you have to understand why your organization relies on
making gut-based decisions. You have to understand the reason why
they’re using the current system. What is the need to move towards the
analytics-based model and how do you hope it will change things at your
organization

Also remember that the new model must be embraced by the whole
organization, not just one department or team. To encourage support, you
may want to consider testing out the new analytics-based model first on
a small scale - gather feedback, see what works and doesn’t, test and
iterate. Then you’ll have real world data and feedback to share as you
work to roll out the new approach across the organization. When you
start gathering data don’t forget to also talk to users and listen to
their feedback. Then you can use that data and research to help support
an analytics model change. Invite stakeholders to be part of the
process. Resist the urge to do things behind closed doors, otherwise you
can lose trust and increase skepticism.

[Read more answers from the Ask 18F
column.](https://18f.gsa.gov/tags/ask-18f/)