What defines success in an insights team? There are many aspects that define success, but one pivotal factor that propels us towards success is the composition of the insights team. When we think about an insights team, we might automatically start considering the types of researchers within the team, and a hierarchical structure of junior/senior insight professionals all working as one, taking on different tasks depending on seniority and experience level.
That’s not wrong, but as another, less literal perspective, the individual insight professionals are only part of what makes a successful insights team. This infographic outlines the anatomy of an insights team, exploring the strategies, individuals, methodologies, and other ways that all work together as one to generate key insights and enhance the reach of data.
What Makes a Successful Insight Team?
Maximising the Reach of Insights
For years now, in the insights industry, we’ve considered the definition of success as stakeholders who use our insights to inform their decisions. These stakeholders have frequently been c-suite level professionals within a business, but is there more we can do? Do the parameters of success need to change so we can maximise the reach of insights and data?
If we did change those parameters, we could reach new levels of engagement within market research, and create new insight-based cultures within organisations; customer-centric cultures that embed the voice of the customer in all decisions at every level of operation.
A carefully-crafted insights team maximises the influence of insights in a number of ways, including:
- Through the high-quality insights produced
- The delegation of tasks to the right skilled individuals
- The alignment of the team on the values of the business (recruitment and re-aligning)
If this anatomy of a successful insight team is implemented, insight professionals can work on maximising their reach and influence within an organisation: with the brain guiding all movements through strategic direction, thus making the possibility of a team’s true alignment more realistic, and cementing the core values all team members should work towards throughout all their daily interactions.
Speed and flexibility are both key factors in building momentum towards success; through a two-speed research strategy, both fast and slow streams of research working in parallel with each other, insight teams gain the all the benefits of long-term insight generation, with the manoeuvrability afforded by the ability to conduct quick, ad-hoc research projects whenever they’re needed.
Communication is also pivotal; whether it’s communicating internally within the team or communicating with stakeholders, the clearer the communication is, the more streamlined all strategies will be. It’s worth investing in and supporting strong communication channels so insight teams can efficiently conduct research projects and better broadcast research results.
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| Each element of an insight team plays a unique part in its success, growing the role of insights and cementing them as a backbone of decision-making within businesses. |
However, this is a lot of work for an insights team. Each member of the team can focus on a unique, dedicated role that contributes positively to the team’s success, based on their own strengths, experiences, and specialisms. Once this configuration is achieved, we can think about delegating tasks within a research team, and then tackle the challenge of outsourcing insight activation duties to insight advocates within external departments, which would work to build up better relationships and stronger communication channels between teams.
Each part of this anatomy works to grow the role of insights within a business, cementing it as the backbone of decision-making, and realising the voice of the customer throughout all operational processes. From the reactive capacity in the face of adversity, to the innovative reporting techniques, there are a myriad of puzzle pieces essential to this new successful insights team that can redefine the parameters of success in market research. When pieced together right, this team has the power to empower insight professionals and external stakeholders, and enhance the influence of insights within organisations.
