Episodes

It’s the first episode of Season 5, and an introduction to this season’s focus on Insight people.As Insight leaders we all want to develop the most effective Insight function we can, and in the Transforming Insight book, and in the first 4 seasons of our podcast, we’ve already covered lots of ways of doing that. We’ve looked at the purpose of Insight teams, the importance of farming customer knowledge, the requirement to influence decision-makers and communicate our knowledge.But a focus on what our departments do and which processes they follow is no substitute for thinking about our people, their skills, and how we deploy them.

Today I’m going to start with a question – and I’d like you to pause and reflect on it whether you work in a client-side Insight team or an agency, and whether you’re the senior Insight professional in your team or a junior manager, analyst or researcher…What does a client-side Insight leader actually do? Discussions at 20 years of Insight forums suggest that the role of the Insight leader is extremely busy and increasingly varied: there are definitely similarities between leadership roles at different organisations, but also key differences. Some of these differences are based on the organisation we work for, or the sector in which our company operates. Some are driven by the precise nature of our responsibilities – for example if we lead a market research-based Insight team, or primarily a group of analysts.But I think many of the largest differences arise from the choices we make, often subconsciously. And it’s those choices about how Insight leaders define their …

An Insight team can’t be successful if it doesn’t include people with great skills and attributes. If we want to position our teams as departments that identify value and drive change, we need to think beyond traditional research and analysis skills, and employ people with a more diverse set of attributes. The IMA often talks about Insight consultants, Insight farmers, Insight authors, journalists, storytellers and designers. And at our Insight forums in November, we’ll be introducing the role of the Insight influencer.In this week’s podcast, James is joined by Lisa Dutton, herself a legendary Insight influencer and the IMA’s Head of Team Development.

If you work in a corporate Insight role, you might think you know quite a lot about the way the world works. You might be an Insight analyst with long experience looking at patterns in customers’ spending; or maybe you’re a market researcher, considered by your colleagues to be an expert on understanding the drivers of consumer behaviour. But how much do we really know about the world around us? About the core stats relating to human life on earth and the trends and changes seen in recent years? Do we have a fact-based worldview, or a set of assumptions backed up by partial insights and incomplete data?

In the previous two episodes of our podcast we’ve looked at some of the key skills and attributes displayed by successful Insight managers, analysts and researchers, and what I called the Insight perspective - that big picture awareness, focus on fundamental truths and critical assessment of new ideas and arguments always seen in the very best Insight people.But if we want to build a successful Insight team, how do we go about finding, developing and retaining talented people with those characteristics?

Episode 40 of the IMA's Transforming Insight podcast is now available. In this episode, James talks to Hayley Ward about her experience Transforming Insight at Deliveroo.As Hayley approaches her two-year anniversary at Deliveroo, she looks back at what attracted her to join the company and what her initial approach to transforming the Insight culture was. Hayley wanted to bring a more rounded, qualitative understanding of customers and market Insights to the organisation.Hayley discusses how she focused on building her Insight team with the right people to drive change and deliver value. Hayley also touches on the importance on having clear objectives and goals in place.Hayley shares the benefits of using large-scale events designed for primary research, bringing in people from all parts of the company. We also hear about the success of her first “customer lab”.Hayley also explores the opportunities that AI offers Insight teams, from streamlining processes to opening u…

It’s Christmas! And time to look back at the big conversations the IMA has had with senior Insight leaders over the last few weeks.James is joined by Emma Jones, the IMA’s Head of Insight & Content, and Lisa Dutton, Head of Team Development.