Can you guess all 5 key capabilities of a world-class insight team?

Only two out of the five capabilities of a modern insight team are what you might traditionally expect, according to Nick Rich. With 25 years’ experience managing global insights and analytics teams–including at Carlsberg and InterContinental Hotels Group–Nick reveals the talent traits every team leader should be hunting for today. 

Is it exciting that new skills are needed in insights teams? 

I love this industry exactly because it changes so much, and because it’s full of really talented people who keep pushing it forward. What excites me is what we can do to bring in the next generation of talent. There was a period when research, data, analytics and storytelling knowledge were the key fundamental competencies you needed to succeed but, for client side insights professionals at least, there are other skills of equal importance that you need to have maximum impact. So, for insights leaders, we have to ask ourselves how can we build a learning and development culture for great people with diverse backgrounds, interests and experiences? 

I certainly think we need to be more confident in sharing the brilliant work we do: so it’s great to see more of an insights focus in places like the Cannes Lions event. We’ve been pretty damn good at research and analytics but not always the greatest at communicating. I want to start to see insights more heavily represented and celebrated for the stories we tell, the changes we drive and the positive impact we have on our organisations and consumers. 

What are the skills that the industry needs to attract? 

I co-presented a paper with Claire Rainey, Head of Insights at VirginMedia/02 at Quirks this Spring about the Capability and Competency Framework that ourselves and colleagues on the Market Research Society’s (MRS) Senior Client Council have developed. The idea is to help client-side leaders build the right skills mix to stay impactful and relevant. In brief, they are:

• Market research skills Having the key ‘classic’ quantitative and qualitative skills to gain understanding of your market and consumers.
• Data analytical skills Re-harnessing your ownership of data and analytics methods and outcomes.
• Business acumen Understanding the business landscape and how data and insight-driven decisions can drive growth.
• Effective relationships Developing effective communication and collaboration skills within and outside the organisation.
• Activation and impact Because research is a means to an end – and the end is business change or improvement.

I was only really taught the first two of those way-back-when I was a grad at the British Market Research Bureau. Of course, we need market research and data analytics expertise: they are invaluable and vital. But it’s deeply understanding our business and our consumers’ needs and behaviours that ensures we use those skills effectively. 

I have always impressed on my teams the need to have a very clear understanding of the organisation’s financial fundamentals. And especially, where growth today and tomorrow is likely to be realised. In theory, there are only three distinct ways to grow by the modern definition–gaining a bigger piece (share) of a bigger pie (penetration), with bigger profitability (pricing and margin). If you don’t understand how your business makes money, how can you understand what kind of growth is possible, or indeed impossible, much less design a solution that delivers that growth? 

So, I always look for our people and talent to have strong business acumen, which means being financially and growth-minded but also being aware of the business models we’re working within and what change management capabilities we need to help the business move forward: ultimately, that’s what we’re all trying to do.

As market researchers or insights professionals, we can sometimes lean into meeting business problems with market research solutions. We do need to be mindful that research results are a means to an ends. And that ‘ends’ is invariably business action or change. Samples sizes and questionnaire methodology design is unlikely to be the best starting point in solving any business problem. We can move away from that by injecting in solid business acumen and commercial expertise. Empathy and understanding of how a stakeholder will actually work and deploy new knowledge and insightful intelligence can really help guide what research solution is genuinely appropriate.

How do you find those skills when you’re building a team?

I’ve worked client side for most of my career, so I know you can unconsciously gain some experience in all of those skills by day-to-day working. But not everybody has to be brilliant at everything. As a leader, you need to understand people’s strengths, who can develop in what areas and therefore align your talent profile for recruitment to fill any gaps you may uncover. Every business and team is different so you may need to upweight or downweight focus on some skills, depending on current business priorities. Either way, a great team acts like a squad, with complimentary skills and expertise combining to make the whole much stronger than its individual parts.

What skills might we need in an AI-impacted environment? 

Historically, technological revolution has not killed all jobs. It’s either forced adaptation to existing ways of working or created new roles. Indicators are that this AI-led revolution may result in something similar, though, I cannot say for definite. Who can? Great people are working on great AI solutions and the best will be highly impactful, I am sure. 

So, what will those new roles and skills be in insights if AI really takes hold? The current direction of travel suggests that optimisation of existing processes is a rich territory, likewise using AI for problem solving will also come to the fore. 

Enhanced creativity-supporting outcomes could be key too. AI opens up strong opportunities for us up-front in product and service ideation, concepting and enhanced testing of those ideas. We have always wished for more time, resources and investment in early stage idea generation, development and testing. AI solutions may now enable this without demanding too much in extra resources required. Perhaps, in future, we can more often entertain and test the crazy and the radical without too much risk. 

There’s also lots that can be done with knowledge retrieval. Insights teams should take ownership of their organisations knowledge and collective memory. Knowledge management is the skill required and being able to synthesise and summarise vast swathes of retained knowledge into hugely powerful new ideas is an obvious and valuable objective. Most powerful for me is the idea that knowledge gains tangible value, to be a reused and reworked asset, thus delivering even greater ROI of insights and research.

One thing is for sure, we need to embrace change and not be fearful of it if we want our teams to be seen as valued business partners spearheading change. The key impact of AI on skills and capability development for our teams is recognising AI as an additional resource within in our professional toolkit. I have great confidence that the next generation of insights leaders will intuitively know how to use all the available tools and competencies at their disposal to continue to have the greatest positive impact on their organisations.

A framework white paper is available from Nick and through the MRS Members’ website from late-September 2024.