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Soundbite Sid

Welcome to the 13th pen-portrait in our series about different types of internal clients.

The person
Sid is a brand manager, but he’s more interested in the creative side of things than in gaining a detailed understanding of projects. He particularly likes to create a good impression of himself, and wants to be seen as someone who has great ideas. One aspect of this is that he likes quick and easy answers that he can then pass on to others as his own ideas. He’s the sort of person who likes to waltz into the room and ask the team: “I’m going to a meeting with the Director – what new insights have you got?”

The problem
The main issue is that Sid just doesn’t understand what ‘insight’ means. In the example above, he probably won’t give you any idea of what the meeting is all about. His question will be almost impossible to answer unless you know the issues he is trying to address.
 
This leaves you with a seemingly unsolvable dilemma. If you pass on any useful insights to Sid (based on what you already know about his key issues), he’s likely to mis-use them – and he almost certainly won’t give you the credit for anything. Furthermore, your help will only encourage him to carry on asking for more insights. However, if you don’t help him, he’s likely to imply to others that your team is unhelpful. 
 
The solution
You may be thinking that the only solution is to give Sid a brain transplant! But in reality, the key to handling him depends upon the answer to this question – do you think he’ll learn and change his ways if you take the time to educate him?
  • Education, education, education – If you think he is open to learning, you need to give him some help the first time he asks for it, but then make a point of chatting to him as soon as possible afterwards. Explain that there are no such things as ‘instant insights’ – just understanding that is developed in response to specific issues. If he wants you to provide this, he needs to talk to you in advance and explain the issues he is trying to address. 
  • Forewarned and forearmed – If you don’t think he’s likely to listen to rational argument and advice, ensure that you’re always armed with something to give him whenever when he comes in. But make sure that this is something from work that has already been done and circulated. Most importantly, choose something that the Director has received and has been briefed about. 
  • A hard lesson – Sid will soon find out for himself that insight means understanding, so if he is going to introduce something new at a meeting, it must be something that he’s taken the time to consider and understand himself. Hopefully he will only need to be embarrassed once by finding out that others know more than he does. He may then stop asking for instant insights. Perhaps he’ll finally learn that he needs to read and understand what is being produced by the Insight team, and he’ll make sure that he gets properly briefed, well in advance. Perhaps. But there again, there’s always that brain transplant…


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