Through SIVO's "Modern Ways of Working" Mini Chat series, we spoke with innovative consumer insights leader, Jackie Waller, Senior Director of Enterprise Research at The Standard about how to meet the needs of the business while also managing the workload of her Insights team.
One of SIVO's leaders, Brent Budke, connected with Jackie to have a "Mini Chat" about the different strategies she employs, including the SIVO, Inc. On Demand Talent fractional staffing solution, to manage workload surges while leading the market research needs of her growing company.
Check out the entire interview here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz792S-dLW0
Many thanks to Jackie for generously sharing her experience and knowledge with our peers across the Insights industry!
By Natasha Weith
"The great end of knowledge is not knowledge, but action."
- Thomas Henry Huxley
This sentiment resonates deeply in the market research world, where the true value of consumer insights is not in their discovery but in putting them into practice. In fact, one of the defining characteristics of a consumer insight is that it “can be applied to the business in a way that drives growth.”
Too often, valuable market research findings remain confined to lengthy, boring research reports that end up sitting in a file cabinet, collecting dust, and failing to inspire meaningful business actions. At SIVO, we have been thinking a lot about how we and our client teams can make insights land in organizations, inspiring stakeholders to engage in our market research findings and seize the opportunities that we have uncovered. We came up with five strategies to do this.
Here’s how to get insights to land in your organization:
Involving key stakeholders throughout the research journey fosters a sense of ownership and ensures that the insights resonate with colleagues who will act on the insights. Conducting insights activation workshops allows teams to interactively explore findings, brainstorm applications and prioritize the action steps. We also believe “persona immersion sessions” help clients experience the perspectives of their consumers, building empathy and deepening their understanding and commitment to business actions that will serve their consumers.
In addition to engaging the team, securing support from leadership and identifying internal advocates is a great way to influence business outcomes with insights. Sometimes teams employ the “meeting before the meeting” with key leaders to create space for them to think through the implications and ensure linkage between the research findings and organizational priorities. With leadership already on board, the cross-functional teams can feel empowered to act on the findings.
Of course, transforming data into compelling narratives makes insights more relatable and memorable. Employing storytelling frameworks, such as the hero’s journey, can illustrate the consumer's struggle, highlight opportunities, and propose solutions. Utilizing metaphors, analogies, or visual aids like infographics, consumer video reels and photos, further enhances the stickiness of the research findings, ensuring they resonate with audiences. Modifying the report for different audiences can also help, for example, R&D may want a “data-heavy” version while the leadership team will likely want a 3 to 5 slide summary.
To constantly remind teams that their primary role is to serve the consumer and make informed decisions on their behalf, CI teams can proactively “surround” teams with insights. For instance, you can develop and distribute "insight of the week" micro-learning moments through platforms like Slack or MS Teams, to keep teams regularly informed. Additionally, developing consumer reality-check posters for both physical and virtual office spaces can serve as constant visual reminders of the consumer's perspective. Incorporating gamification elements, such as quizzes and contests into standing meetings can further reinforce learning by engaging teams in a dynamic and interactive manner.
These days, CI teams can leverage AI to help with stakeholder engagement in research data and findings. For example, AI-powered dashboards are increasingly available for real-time tracking and scenario planning. Additionally, giving stakeholders access to AI chat tools that query both proprietary research data and public data sources help deliver answers to in-the-moment consumer questions and can increase engagement.
By implementing these five strategies, Insights professionals can bridge the gap between just delivering data and driving organizational change, ensuring that the insights we identify serve as a catalyst for informed decision-making and business growth.
Let’s keep pushing to effectively impact your business together!
SIVO, Inc. is a market research and strategy firm specializing in helping businesses understand people. We partner with world-class brands to answer key questions and identify opportunities that unlock business growth. Our team of insights market research professionals are masters at designing custom research plans, executing with excellence, identifying strategic insights and then helping client teams translate those insights into action. Our On Demand Talent solution places fractional insights experts into client companies to temporarily fill open roles, complete projects or expand team capabilities.
Contact us at Contact@SIVOInsights.com or visit SIVOInsights.com to schedule a Research or On Demand Talent discovery call so we can help you make an impact!
by Kerry Juhl and Julie Rose
SIVO’s Organizational Intelligence (OI) solution offers leader development and coaching to our clients. Our OI team has many years of experience with one-on-one coaching engagements and group development sessions. We are also skilled at identifying employee insights, both through quantitative engagement surveys and in-depth employee discussions. As we have looked at leadership from both perspectives, we see 5 leadership traits that employees are looking for.
The Authentic Communicator
This trait is displayed in a leader who communicates well in one-on-one situations because they:
• Listen to understand - communication is a two-way dialogue
• Are empathetic - can put themselves in their employees’ shoes
• Share truth responsibly – even hard truths are delivered in a courageous and respectful way
• Are direct – messages are clear and concise to maximize understanding
This is also true for group communication because the communication is transparent, honest, and the leader can read the audience. Authentic communication can be delivered in multiple ways – written, verbal, in video, newsletters, etc.
The Learner Mindset
Everyone will make a mistake or fall short of a goal and when a leader reframes to a learner mindset from a failure mindset, employees gain confidence to take some risks, learn and grow. A leader with this trait might also choose to share a personal experience of failure and how there is growth from making mistakes. Through this humble approach, the leader is helping the team develop grit – that combination of taking measured risks, perseverance and resilience.
The Big Picture Thinker
Leaders who keep a greater purpose in mind, for themselves as well as for the company, and cultivate a sense of purpose on their team tend to have a more positive culture and better results. Employees need to understand how their work fits into the “bigger picture” so that all are making decisions with the same end goals in mind. Vision and purpose also give employees a sense that the work they do matters and that is critical in cultivating their engagement and enthusiasm.
The Reflector
Some of us have worked for a manager that is scattered and acts like everything is a fire drill. It’s exhausting! However, leaders that take even a quick pause to reflect on a project, on a day, or even a fiscal quarter are better equipped to provide thoughtful feedback and then tackle the next challenge. Gathering the necessary data, consulting with key stakeholders and team members before rushing off to the next thing can demonstrate a willingness to grow and learn from the past. It can also instill confidence in the team, knowing that all angles have been considered before taking the next step. Leading a team through an exercise of assessing what went well and what did not go well, and considering the potential for future obstacles can also be a particularly effective way to advance the team forward.
The Goal Setter
Leaders who continually set short-term and mid-term goals toward achieving the longer vision are much more effective leaders. Employees are seeking clear direction from their leader and while having a long-term vision is inspiring, without short-term goals, teams often find themselves churning with indecision, not knowing what their immediate next step should be. A great leadership tool is the SMART goal setting framework. Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time-oriented. Having SMART goals also makes it possible to pause and celebrate when the team achieves the goals as it happens!
Do you possess these 5 traits? As it turns out, all leaders are working to achieve excellence in leadership and in business impact. Shoring up your skills and taking action to develop these 5 traits will make you a more effective leader on both fronts.
To talk more about leadership development, leader coaching engagements, or employee insights, please contact the SIVO Organizational Intelligence team at LeaderInsights@SIVOInsights.com
by Brent Budke
In today’s economy and remote working environment, there is much discussion about the need for a fractional workforce. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce notes that fractional hiring began in the academic world but then expanded to small start-up businesses that were looking to fill skill gaps. Now it has become just as important in larger companies that can’t afford the loss in business momentum that often coincides with open positions.
What is a fractional employee?
Fractional employees (or what we refer to as SIVO On Demand Talent) are typically Professionals or Specialists with unique or advanced skillsets, that only work for a set number of hours per week and/or for a finite timeframe. This can be beneficial for the employer as the company only pays an hourly rate for the agreed-upon time per week that the Professional works. Engagements can be 10 to 40 hours per week for a specific timeframe, such as, 2 months, 6 months, or a year.
This type of engagement can also benefit the fractional professionals who prefer to only commit to working shorter time frames or prefer to divide their time across multiple employers. For instance, a fractional employee might work 2 days a week at one company and 2 days a week at another non-competing company to enjoy a 4-day workweek. Having specialized skills or valuable work experience tends to make fractional professionals attractive to employers who might not need or can’t afford a full time, permanent employee.
Today’s work environment makes this scenario even more attractive as companies have learned to function with employees working remotely, which gives them a broader pool of fractional professionals to choose from.
THREE KEY BENEFITS OF FRACTIONAL EMPLOYEES:
1. Maintain momentum without burning out current employees
We’ve all experienced the pain of doing your own job and covering for another team member who is taking a needed leave-of-absence or has left the company. It often creates a surge in workload for supervisors or for teammates when the business cannot afford to slow down or pause critical business initiatives. Open roles can cause remaining team members to be overworked or overwhelmed, leading to mistakes and eventual burn-out. Fractional or temporary employees can be a great solution to keep the business running, to cover temporary openings and to allow the normal hiring process to play out.
SIVO Note: Hiring fractional insights professionals is even easier if SIVO is already on your company’s “approved vendor” list. Our first step would be to meet with you to understand your business, key needs, and focus areas. From there, the SIVO On Demand Talent team will create a personalized approach to match the optimal talent to the business needs to ensure success.
2. Gain immediate expertise - No training necessary
It can take months to find, hire and train the talent you need to fill open roles. Hiring fractional employees can help you move forward quickly and right-size your talent, getting a person in place within a week or two vs the months needed for a typical hiring process. Additionally, the beauty of fractional on demand talent is that they have already been vetted and assessed for certain skill sets and expertise, so no training is needed. Lastly, experienced fractional professionals can bring a fresh perspective and new approaches to your team and projects.
SIVO Note: SIVO On Demand Talent team leverages our extensive pool of fractional insights professionals with years of experience and expertise across an array of industries such as, CPG, Healthcare, Financial, Technology, Apparel, and Retail. Whether you need an Insights Associate to execute research projects or an Insights Director to help teams develop strategy and design learning plans, we can match the right talent to your unique needs.
3. Save the company money by focusing on specific business needs
Because fractional employees are typically classified as contractors for the purposes of payroll and taxes, employers don’t have to deal with costs associated with the hiring process nor the costs of typical benefits, such as health insurance or 401k contributions. That saves the company time and money while still staffing teams with highly qualified professionals. Below is a high-level comparison for fractional Insights Talent vs Full-time Insights employees:
SIVO Note: The advantage of working with SIVO for fractional insights professionals is that our team has access to a full-service consumer insights agency for ad-hoc resources, tools, and consultation.
We’d love to talk to you about your needs and how we can match the right talent to quickly make an impact in your business. Please contact us at OnDemandTalent@SIVOInsights.com or visit our website at SIVOInsights.com.
By Julie Rose
As your fiscal year is coming to a close, new questions and challenges can arise as you finalize spending on this year’s budget:
SIVO Insights On Demand Talent™ Can Help
SIVO’s On Demand Talent is a great solution for Insights Professionals and Teams facing the year-end crunch – with more initiatives than bandwidth to get it all done. We leverage our extensive pool of fractional Insights Talent, with years of experience and expertise, to help you achieve your business objectives.
We recommend three key steps for evaluating and making the case internally for hiring contract Insights talent.
As workforce talent continues to evolve, there is no shortage of options, including interns, short or long-term contractors, contract-to-hire, or direct hire. Below, we highlight the advantages of On Demand Contract Talent vs. a Full-Time Hire:
Prove the Need for Incremental Resources
Some of our clients have struggled to make the case to their leaders for permanent incremental headcount. Instead, they started with SIVO’s On Demand Talent to show value to the business. This step helped them demonstrate the benefit of having additional resources. Let SIVO help you get the additional headcount you need in 2024.
Get Expert Consumer Insights with SIVO
We have started ODT engagements in as fast as one week. To discuss your needs and how we can match the talent with the best expertise for quick solutions in your organization, visit SIVO On Demand Talent or email Contact@SIVOInsights.com.
SIVO Insights brings together research, talent, and intelligent technology to help organizations navigate complexity with confidence. Have a business challenge? Let's talk!
We bring together research, talent, and intelligent technology to help organizations navigate complexity with confidence
