Devoted to how insight is developed, shared and acted on

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Power to the People

The most important resource of any team is its people. An insight team is only as good as the people within it. But how can you draw the best out of your team? Never underestimate the importance of good people management. A positive, motivated team can achieve much more than one that is poorly managed.
 
Team members will typically respond well to:
 
Strong leadership
Ensure that you always show a positive attitude. Demonstrate your vision of driving insight into the heart of your organisation’s decision making, so that it becomes more customer-focused.
 
Interesting and meaningful work
Fortunately, much of our work tends to be interesting. And, we are all learning new things all of the time. To make a difference (which can be very satisfying), you need to be able to communicate these new findings and ideas with conviction.
 
Flexibility
Are you in danger of leaving your team to do what they are doing – even though they may be stuck in a rut? If they are working with one or two key areas of the business, they are building relationships and expertise there. However, sometimes a change can be helpful – but only if they agree with it, rather than you imposing it. Within a hierarchy, you may not be able to promote someone, but giving them a change or a stretch in a new direction can be both refreshing and a welcome challenge.
 
A sustainable environment with the right people and a succession plan
You may not have control of this on a wider basis, but you can work on developing your own people. Moving them around a bit (as above) can broaden their skills, their experience and their job satisfaction.
 
Personal development programmes
No-one wants to feel as if they are in a rut. Training and development can cover issues such as technical skills in research techniques or analysis. However, there is the whole area of insight management skills – including stakeholder relationships, commercial thinking, assessing the value of work, and communications skills. If you need help in any of these areas, why not enrol on one of our courses?!
 
Clear expectations and performance management
Your appraisal system probably covers expectations and performance management in relation to tasks. Make sure that you also cover agreed ‘ways of working’ so that you get the best out of individual members and the team as a whole. And don’t forget to celebrate your / their successes!
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