Transforming Insight Podcast

Join us as we explore the transformative journey of Insight teams striving to elevate their influence within organisations. We are thrilled to be joined by Joanne Pearson from Jaguar Land Rover and Helen Passard from Suntory Beverages Europe as we discuss strategies for enhancing the profile of Insight teams. We unpack the challenges faced by introverted teams and the constraints of hierarchical s...

We're excited to welcome IMA associate Debra Walmsley, and Jana Prahl, Insight leader at Savage X Fenty, who share their experiences and expertise.  We discuss the art of crafting a compelling brand identity for your Insight team. Learn how building a brand board can help articulate your collective vision and establish your team as trusted advisers and innovative thinkers. Discover the power of ma...

Sandra discusses her journey at ASOS, highlighting the importance of establishing a cohesive purpose when integrating diverse analytics and Insight teams.  Amanda (Wig) sheds light on how insight can drive business growth and help achieve revenue targets. We emphasize that without a clear purpose, insight teams risk becoming fragmented and struggling to demonstrate their value, which is crucial fo...

Ultimately what you put in your playbook is for you to decide. But James’s suggestion is that we all use a 9 P framework .  How do we decide which to look at first? The English-born, American author Simon Sinek says we should always start with why . So the 1st P in the Insight leader’s playbook is for Purpose . The way you define why Insight exists in your organisation, and the roles it could play...

A framework that could work very well in combination with the 9 Ps of the Insight leader’s playbook which were described in episode 61, and which will form the spine of the Transforming Insight podcast this year. But also a framework that might help you effect change in other aspects of life as well. Who knows? Ignore it if you don’t like it, feel free to borrow it or adapt it if you do! Please li...

Organisations can only make sustainable, profitable changes if they take better decisions. Not just on occasion, but across the board, when senior managers get together to discuss strategy, new product development, new delivery channels, new service enhancements, pricing, marketing and customer communications. These decisions need to be based on individual insights and on big-picture, joined-up cu...

But by the end of 2020, it was becoming clear that in many organisations, the lockdowns and the disruption they caused to normal living and purchasing behaviour had presented Insight teams with a moment in the spotlight.  For some this was built off the back of having already enjoyed quite a high profile, but for many the uncertainty that senior managers were feeling in 2020 and 2021 elevated the...

In this episode, we discuss the ambitious strategies driving McDonald's UK and Ireland's customer engagement, Fainareti underscores the critical blend of consumer and business insights. Her team’s ability to speak both the language of the consumer and the business is key to breaking down barriers and fostering impactful decision-making. The conversation highlights how McDonald's lean head office s...

If we routinely estimate the size of the prize before we prioritise projects, and then record the value delivered by the business and other departments’ estimate of Insight’s contribution after they’re completed, we can elevate everyone’s appreciation of our work. And that’s invaluable when we want to argue for more resources - or when we need to make the case for keeping those we have. To help ex...

Having explored the importance of building commercial foundations for our work in episode 52 and getting into the habit of estimating the size of the prize, we now need to think about how we can apply our new commercial understanding. I think there are 3 key aspects to this: What we do : use value to prioritise our research and analysis activity How we do it : using a commercial context at each st...

In this episode, we examine the evolution of Google's approach to insights and prioritization, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Laura sheds light on how AI is being integrated into Google's processes, balancing immediate business needs with future requirements. Laura and Roy discuss the iterative process of aligning insights with global and product perspectives, and how AI is scali...

Some years ago I interviewed Sue Whelan Tracey, former commercial director for one of the UK's big four banks, and at that time a director at Moneyfacts, an NHS health trust, and a major diabetes charity. Sue told me how much she tried to champion the use of customer insight in every organisation she worked with, but she thought that we didn't always make it easy for ourselves. Her observation was...

But the topic that’s resonated most for us personally and many of our members has been Insight team wellbeing and the ways we can all identify and help our colleagues to manage stress. Emma’s conversation with new IMA associate Lara Meyer, recorded and shared at the July Insight forums and now available for all members to watch on the IMA website, explored many angles to this, including the critic...

In this episode, we dig into the transformative power of integrating various disciplines within data analytics to answer complex business questions. Drawing from Caroline's experiences at Prudential and Lloyd's, we discuss how combining data analytics, client research, marketing, and competitive intelligence can lead to more comprehensive and impactful insights. Furthermore, Caroline delves into t...

If we want to transform our Insight team’s commercial impact, we need to build a commercial foundation for our work. What does that look like? What are the first steps?  And how can we make it easier for ourselves by helping our colleagues adopt a commercial mindset? Please listen to find out more! Topics Discussed Core stats and a business blueprint (2.05) Overlaying key dynamics and trends (5.30...

Over the last 20 years, there has gradually been more focus on commercial thinking in Insight teams, and some organisations have made notable progress.  But 400 Insight leaders have taken part in the IMA’s capability benchmarking in the last 5 years, and commerciality remains the best practice territory given the lowest scores. In today’s episode I make the case for changing the paradigm through w...

Topics Discussed A look back at Carolina’s past roles (2:30) Seminal moments in Carolina’s Insight career (11:50) Learning from transformations at PepsiCo (14:50) Being a driving force for transformation at Nestle UK (16:07) Building capabilities in the team to be bigger than the sum of the parts (25:37) Developing the plan for a transformation initiative at Nestle UK (26:45) Highlights “It's very...

Today’s episode looks at the fourth pathway, process , and this one is a bit different because it starts not with the Insight team, but with the rest of the organisation. Whether we like it or not, senior decision-makers, like consumers, will have their own ways of making choices. In our companies, that might mean committees that meet each month or only as part of a planning process at certain poi...

In today’s episode, James and Lisa look at the reputation of our Insight teams, and how we need to manage it carefully to enhance our positioning.  It’s a bit like our companies obsessing about customer experience so that individual interactions don’t undermine their corporate brand: we can say what we like about the purpose of our Insight teams, but their positioning will be fatally undermined if...

We also see this as a time of team change, with lots of restructures, some redundancies, and a loss of people with years of experience. In response, the most successful Insight teams have doubled down on commercial thinking and influencing skills. Finally, we look at leaders’ roles in guiding their team members through change. Lisa provides a personal perspective on coaching and explores how Insig...

Topics Discussed Hazel’s journey to becoming Associate Director of Insights at Coca-Cola EP(1:38) Enabling colleagues to self-service their data needs (5:02) Three-pronged approach to drive a more Insight-led business (8:31) Hazel’s approach to team management and Insight leadership (21:06) Collaborating with agency partners for success (25:10) What advice would Hazel like to pass on to Insight le...

There’s no point developing detailed brand concepts if nobody has heard of our companies in the first place. And the same is true for our Insight teams. So in this week’s episode, I’m going to suggest that whilst we should certainly reflect on our Insight team brand, we should also recognise that we often simply need to promote awareness of Insight as a concept and our team as a department.  This...

Topics Discussed Renate's journey to leading the Insight Team at TFL (1:50) Navigating the team through a re-org (4:21) Annual goals, priorities and team collaboration (10:04) What is Renate most proud of her team achieving? (14:15) Maintaining the heightened profile for the Insight team post-pandemic (17:05) Challenges and success of a leadership role (19:58) Highlights “This year, 2023, is the y...

According to the entrepreneur.com website:  ‘Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from that of your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.’  In our world of corporate Insight, we might rephrase that paragraph...

An Insight team looks outwards to an organisation’s customers and markets and shines a light on issues of strategic importance.  In stormy weather, it is there to pinpoint rocks upon which the organisation might founder, and competitor companies with which the company might collide.  Many Insight teams pride themselves on their ability to understand customer behaviour and its drivers. They have de...