Modeling A Growth Mindset
So where does one start when it comes to honing insights discipline management? Whether you are the leader of an insights team or serving in a key role within that team, there is certainly a basic foundation when it comes to the training of insights professionals. This includes of course substantial market research skills such as quantitative and qualitative components along with a range of specialties, such as behavioral science.
Group dynamics and the development of the culture of that team can also play a significant role in terms of insights career development. These aspects of leadership, culture and team often overlap of course, and it depends on where you are landing in your own career.
Much like in the innovation space, creating an atmosphere that is open to experimentation, exploration and open dialogue can be important, insights professionals agree.
For Colleen Funkey, who leads Consumer Insights and Strategy at the Estée Lauder Companies in North America, a standard best practice is, “Creating a safe space where team members are not afraid of failure. It’s important for team members to feel comfortable thinking out loud together so they can build on one another’s thinking and use their collective brain power. One way to enable this is to be vulnerable yourself as a leader. To admit mistakes and recognize when suggestions you’ve made may not have been the best ones and learning from them. Modeling a growth mindset will encourage your team to challenge convention and feel comfortable to make mistakes and learn and grow together.”
The Spirit of Continuous Improvement
Others in the insights community also point out the need for safe spaces and constructive feedback within teams and within those dynamics of team meetings, for example, whether that be at the insights level or at the manager level.
“Weekly huddles are a must,” says Kerry Sette, Vice President, Head of Consumer Insights & Research at Voya Financial. “We sometimes huddle twice a week if there’s a lot going on. This way, the entire team is connected to the insights team work—and feels a sense of ‘ownership.’”
Sette also recommends specific sessions that can help support the education, training and progress of insights teams.
“For example, we also employe regular root-cause problem solving sessions as a way to generate new ideas, remove barriers and continuously improve, especially as we work with a number of cross-functional teams,” advises Sette. “Peer mentorships are also recommended in addition to leveraging our employee-led councils. We encourage active participation among our team members. Skip level meetings are a great way to ensure you have the pulse of the entire team and not have any blind spots.”
Sette adds that self-development is a key part of the performance of the team as well as the individual. “Our team also participates in a monthly manager meeting series for self-development, but we always say you are in the driver’s seat of your own development,” says Sette. “Performance feedback is shared weekly/monthly in one on ones and that feedback goes both ways, leveraging behavioral-based feedback, and this is in addition to our regular performance review process. Performance should always be an ongoing conversation versus a once or twice a year event. We also make sure to follow up on action plans related to that performance feedback. Again, all in the spirit of continuous improvement.”
Driving Insights Curiosity and Creativity
We asked insights leaders, just what operational insights advice would you give the entry level or intermediate level market research associate? The answers might surprise you, as being universal to many professions, including the principles of mentorship. Many insights pros look beyond the hard skills to the softer skills of career development. But yet something about the market research professional also calls to the curious and creatively driven mind.
“Be curious, ask questions—there’s no such thing as a stupid question. Seek out diverse mentors, people with different backgrounds and lived experiences, people in different roles and organizations. Look for the unconventional thinkers and observe their behaviors and learn from them. In meetings and forums, listen and pay attention to what’s not being said. Much of the insights we gather from consumers, shoppers and in team dynamics is from observational learning,” points out Funkey.
Asking questions and driving curiosity, it seems, never go out of style when it comes to consumer insights and market research development careers.
“Always be curious,” advises Sette. “Ask lots of questions—especially about roles, delegation, workflow, upskilling, job-family-strategy—and keep your focus on your end customer. If you keep your focus on the end customer, you’ll never go wrong. Be willing to go above and beyond to learn more, even if it requires more work in the day to day.”
Video courtesy of Kellogg Company
