Episode 15: Driving change through influence
In this episode James talks about the way that successful Insight teams influence decision-makers.
In our podcast so far, we’ve explored the twin requirements for corporate Insight teams to generate new insights and to develop accumulated knowledge - knowledge about their customers, their markets and their own business model.
I’ve suggested that if we want to transform our Insight teams, then not only do we have to change our mindset about research and analysis projects, but we have to re-balance our focus from Insight generation to Insight farming.
But there’s no point in either generating new insights nor farming customer knowledge if our organisations continue to behave in the same way as they would have done without us doing all that work.
An Insight team needs to solve problems and identify value opportunities for its company, but then it also needs to drive the corporate changes necessary to profit from those opportunities.
So how do the most successful corporate Insight teams influence decision-makers? Please listen to our podcast if you have the ambition to transform your Insight team!
Topics Discussed
- Sharing knowledge is as important as generating it (1.41)
- Pareto’s law applies to corporate decision-making (3.10)
- Seek first to understand (5.16)
- The benchmarking data on influence (8.27)
- The challenges of influencing remotely (9.31)
Highlights
- “In a big organisation, a great insight, poorly communicated will sink without trace, whilst a reasonable insight, shared brilliantly, that can spread like wildfire.”
- “Market researchers and customer analysts tend to be recruited, developed and promoted for their research and analysis skills, and too little focus has historically been placed on our colleagues’ ability to drive change.”
- “We need to recognise that Pareto’s law applies to corporate decision-making, just like it applies to many aspects of business life. 80% of big decisions will be taken by the top 20% of senior executives, or maybe just the top 10%, or even 5%! so we all need to give a disproportionate amount of our attention to influencing that senior group of managers.”
- “On balance, whilst I recognise that remote working has undoubtedly added to the size of the problem for some teams, I think that the fact that there is now clearly no alternative but to have an explicit plan in place for how we are going to influence, can only be a good thing.”
This is episode 15 of the Transforming Insight podcast.
If you have the ambition to transform your Insight team and the role it plays in your organisation, please tune in to future episodes. Not only will we explore the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams as outlined in the Transforming Insight book, we will also talk to senior corporate Insight leaders, delve into books that have inspired us, and discuss new best practice research carried out with the IMA’s corporate members.
You won’t want to miss this! So please hit subscribe - and thank you for listening.
About James Wycherley, the author of Transforming Insight
James Wycherley was Director of Customer Insight and Analytics at Barclays from 2005 to 2015 when he became Chief Executive of the Insight Management Academy (IMA). A popular keynote speaker and acknowledged expert on Insight leadership, strategy, and communication, he is the author of the book Transforming Insight: the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams, and over 35 IMA publications. He has provided thought leadership in the UK, Western Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, India, and the Middle East, and regularly hosts the IMA’s Insight forums - London, Manchester, UK Online and US Online.
The Insight Management Academy is the world’s leading authority on transforming Insight teams.
Resources:
If you would like more information on any of the ideas discussed in this episode of the Transforming Insight podcast, please visit www.insight-management.org
Copies of James Wycherley’s book Transforming Insight: the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams can be purchased direct from www.transforming-insight.com
Disclaimer
The Transforming Insight podcast is published by the Insight Management Academy and produced by Zorbiant.
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