Are you finding data daunting? Are you in a job where there are heaps of numbers coming in, but you don't know what to do with them, let alone make them mean something? If so, it's time to make your data talk! Each week Data Storyteller Dr Selena Fisk will help you turn your spreadsheets into stories, as she teaches you important data ideas and skills which help you bring your data to life. Each episode is packed with real examples and insights from Selena's experience helping people like you - to build your confidence, to make data more accessible to you, and to do so in a way that is practical and more interesting than your year 9 maths textbook! Make data talk is your weekly dose of data literacy, data viz, and data storytelling ideas that help make data doable.
#56 Operationalising strategy: Connecting plans, people and progress
In this episode, Dr Selena Fisk explores why strategic plans, annual improvement plans, team improvement plans, and individual professional learning goals need to be clearly aligned if organisations want to make meaningful progress.
Using the metaphor of ants scattering after a nest is kicked, Selena unpacks how organisations can become very busy without necessarily moving together. She discusses the importance of connecting strategy to daily practice, aligning improvement work across teams and divisions, and using data to track progress in a coherent and meaningful way.
This episode is for leaders, and organisations who want to operationalise strategy, improve data-informed decision-making, and ensure their improvement planning creates real momentum rather than disconnected activity.
8 Jul 2026
#55 How curious leaders build a better data culture
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What role does curiosity play in building a truly data-informed culture?
In this episode of Make Data Talk, Dr Selena Fisk explores why curiosity is one of the most important—and most overlooked—leadership behaviours in data-informed organisations. While many leaders invest in dashboards, reports and data strategies, sustainable improvement depends on creating a culture where people feel safe to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and explore what the data is really telling them.
Selena discusses how leaders model curiosity through the questions they ask, why psychological safety is essential for meaningful data conversations, and how curiosity helps teams move beyond reporting numbers to making better decisions.
Whether you're a business leader, manager or anyone responsible for using data to inform improvement, this episode will help you create stronger data conversations and build a culture where evidence leads to better decisions.
In this episode you'll learn:
Why curiosity is essential for effective data-informed leadership
How leaders influence an organisation's data culture
Why better questions lead to better decisions
If you're interested in data literacy, data storytelling, leadership, evidence-informed decision-making, organisational culture, continuous improvement, or using data more effectively, this episode is for you.
26 May 2026
#54 Being a learning organisation means more than good intentions
In this episode, Dr. Selena Fisk explores what it really means to be a learning organisation and challenges whether most teams are actually learning or simply saying the right things. Drawing on Harvard Business Review's work on learning organisations, she unpacks the role of both pre-decision and post-decision data, and why the real test of organisational learning comes when evidence challenges the plan, the decision, or the leader.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Spotify
4.7 / 5
15 ratings
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