The Road to Business Impact: The People Equation

In our recent introductory article to this series, we laid out the four key drivers of insight maturity – structure and diversity, relationships, ability and communicating proof of value. In this article we concentrate on what we call “the people equation” – the role of diversity, the links CI functions build across the organization and the degree to which they master the art of collaboration.

Diversity

The GRBN Insights Maturity study, sponsored by the Insights Association in the U.S. and the U.K.’s Market Research Society, revealed that the percentage of corporate Consumer Insights functions in these countries that could genuinely be counted as “Strategic Partners” to their businesses and stakeholders had increased from 20% in 2015 to 35% today. It should not come as a surprise that one of the strongest drivers of this very significant improvement revolves around the people that make up these functions as well as the relationships they build and foster throughout their businesses. But what might come as a surprise is that these functions are twice as likely to be diverse as those that do not meet the criteria to be considered as strategic partners.

This finding raises a number of important questions. Why, for example, should diversity be important? What exactly does diversity mean in this context? And where do we go from here, given the political backlash against DEI, especially in the United States?

First of all, why is diversity important? Primarily because society in both these countries (but especially in the United States) is rapidly becoming more diverse. Already younger generations in the U.S. are what is called “minority-majority” – that is, there is no longer a white plurality in those populations. By 2030, this will apply to the population as a whole. But this is not just about ethnicity or indeed any other demographic designation, it is also about aspects such as skill sets, educational background, life experience and even personality traits.

For as long as research has been a fundamental part of business, the market research department (as it was until recently) has relied on university-educated, specially trained, middle-class people to investigate and translate people whose lives are often fundamentally different from their own. Today, strategic consumer insights functions have come to realise that this will no longer suffice in the modern world. They deliberately hire to reflect the diversity of society on the grounds that insights are not based solely in data but in empathetic analysis and understanding of people’s lives and motivations.

Similarly, strategic consumer insights functions intentionally build teams with a mix of personalities and working styles, e.g., introvert vs. extrovert, thinker vs. doer, structured vs. flexible, and so on. They may recruit talent from adjacent disciplines, sometimes prioritizing expertise outside traditional research or analytics. The aim is to assemble teams that are not only representative of the populations they serve, but that are also strategically balanced across cognitive styles, interpersonal dynamics and professional capabilities.

These practices are all diversity-enabling, and as such, foster stronger team dynamics, continuous upskilling, greater job satisfaction and enhanced overall effectiveness. Indeed, implementing a multifaceted diversity strategy has proven to be a high-impact business decision that has produced extraordinary results.Not only in the degree to which functions implementing diverse hiring practices have flourished but also the degree to which the industry itself has grown and matured by embracing diversity.

Integration

As we build a more diverse team, we also need to integrate to a far greater degree with other data-oriented functions across the business as well as with suppliers on the outside. As evidenced by the Insights Maturity study,CI functions that operate as strategic partners are much more likely to have sought out integration with other data functions. They may do this either formally as units coming together under a single management structure or informally through close collaboration.

We have witnessed single unit combinations in a series of different industries. These may unite functions as diverse as market research, digital data analytics, forecasting, business development assessment and pricing analytics. Invariably, the ability not only to work together but increasingly to meld their various capabilities and expertise into a singular product yields enormous strategic benefits that garner respect and value from the C-Suite. 

Collaboration

But it doesn’t stop there. Integrated data and insights functions, by virtue of their varied stakeholder populations are likely to have a much wider set of relationships throughout the business – and more involved relationships at that. In the service of these, CI functions learn one of the most valuable skills there is in big business: how to collaborate with one another. The breadth of collaboration can be extensive, taking in functions that we in consumer insights often don’t think about – for example, HR and Finance!

The importance of such collaboration cannot be underestimated, as the most prevalent problem cited by people seeking to create impact in large organisations is the dreaded word “silo”. Modern businesses (or at least the larger variants) are structured into separate functions for a good reason. They are easier to manage if they are distinct from one another and their performance is easier to measure and reward. But they also impede progress in many major companies for the very simple reason that the reward systems we put in place usually do not recognise the value of collaboration – they recognise only the success of the unit in meeting unit-specific goals.

To take down the walls between functions, to foster collaboration and to build an insights ecosystem takes guts. It takes the will to build strong networks, proactively share information, reward collaborative behaviour and trumpet successes across the business. In other words, coined by Brett Townsend, it takes a culture warrior.

However, it also just makes sense, especially today. Businesses are drowning in data, much of which is unstructured. In this early age of Artificial Intelligence, the hoped for Holy Grail is that – finally – we can synthesize these data and derive insights that were previously out of reach. But to do that, we have to break down the walls preventing the sharing of data and allowing synthesis to work its magic. Strategic Insights functions today are doing just that.  And, in doing so, they not only facilitate decision making but have an equal voice at the table, formulating and utilising what today is becoming known as Collective Intelligence.

The role of the supplier

Integration and collaboration in the service of Collective Intelligence is powerful but, in and of itself, does not bring the full power of insight to the table. To do that, we have to bring fresh and challenging thinking based on insightful data into the equation. And this is the final piece of the people equation on the road to business impact.

Strategic CI functions have one more ‘people’ secret up their sleeves. They partner not only with highly specialist market research companies but also with research and strategy consultants that offer services over and beyond classic MR in areas such as behavioural science, design, strategic planning, social listening, market mix modelling and brand building.

In this way, they build external expertise into their strategic thinking and so ensure that their organisation does not fall into the trap of ‘group think’.

We hope that you have enjoyed this journey through the role of people in the makings of the road to business impact. In our next article in the series we will examine how transitioning from being a researcher to taking your place as a consultant enables lasting business impact. We look forward to you joining us then!