Transforming Insight Podcast

Episode 46: Transforming Insight at Coca Cola Europacific Partners

Episode Summary

Episode 46 of the IMA's Transforming Insight podcast is now available. In this extended episode, James talks to Hazel Nicolson, Associate Director of Insights at Coca-Cola EP. Hazel brings us back to her decision to take up her role at Coca Cola EP and why she wanted a “pure Insight role”, rather than to continue working on the application of Insights. Reflecting on the challenges facing the Insight team when she first joined, Hazel reveals how the team was liberated to perform more in-depth analysis tasks, by empowering colleagues in other areas of the business with the tools to self-service their data needs. Hazel shares the Insight team’s three-pronged approach to driving a more Insight-led business, and the challenges and successes she has encountered. Describing her split approach to management and leadership, Hazel highlights the importance of workload management and clear priority setting. Hazel also shares her advice for others in Insight leadership roles.

Episode Notes

Topics Discussed

Hazel’s journey to becoming Associate Director of Insights at Coca-Cola EP(1:38)
Enabling colleagues to self-service their data needs (5:02)
Three-pronged approach to drive a more Insight-led business (8:31)
Hazel’s approach to team management and Insight leadership (21:06)
Collaborating with agency partners for success (25:10)
What advice would Hazel like to pass on to Insight leaders? (29:46)

Highlights

“I enjoyed working with customers, however challenging that sometimes is. But felt like there was a real opportunity to kind of use my skill set to see how I could apply that internally to influence business strategy and business planning and be able to see some of that Insight impact within my own business, rather than be reliant on the customers as to whether they would kind of take that Insight on board.” (2:57)
“For me, that was about how do we enable the business to be able to access that data and be able to service their questions themselves, in order to free up time in my team to do more of the deeper analysis.” (5:10)
“It was a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, in that we were trying to inspire them with their vision of what an Insight-led organisation looks like, but then also talk to them about these new tools that we've got that could help them be more self-sufficient in answering their own questions.” (14:00)
“My time is kind of split, probably in two ways. One is kind of leading the team. So making sure that we've got the team set up in the right way to deliver what the business needs. Whether that be about kind of helping prioritizes we've just discussed that the key projects coming in, making sure that we've got the right people assigned to the right pieces of work. That's more about the management. And then the second part is then more about the leadership. So I think that is where I will be looking at, the things that we've got in the pipeline from a transformation perspective.”
“That's, in reflection, I think, of the value that we've added to the business, and they've been able to recognize that bringing more head count in will deliver better business results.” (24:02)
“It's almost being brave to take that leap of faith and trust yourself to be able to make some of those changes.” (30:32)

This is episode 46 of the Transforming Insight podcast.

If you have the ambition to transform your Insight team and the role it plays in your organisation, please tune in to future episodes. Not only will we explore the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams as outlined in the Transforming Insight book, we will also talk to senior corporate Insight leaders, delve into books that have inspired us, and discuss new best practice research carried out with the IMA’s corporate members.

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About James Wycherley, the author of Transforming Insight

James Wycherley was Director of Customer Insight and Analytics at Barclays from 2005 to 2015 when he became Chief Executive of the Insight Management Academy (IMA). A popular keynote speaker and acknowledged expert on Insight leadership, strategy, and communication, he is the author of the book Transforming Insight: the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams, and over 35 IMA publications. He has provided thought leadership in the UK, Western Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, India, and the Middle East, and regularly hosts the IMA’s Insight forums - London, Manchester, UK Online and US Online.

The Insight Management Academy is the world’s leading authority on transforming Insight teams.

Resources:

If you would like more information on any of the ideas discussed in this episode of the Transforming Insight podcast, please visit www.insight-management.org

Copies of James Wycherley’s book Transforming Insight: the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams can be purchased direct from www.transforming-insight.com

Disclaimer

The Transforming Insight podcast is published by the Insight Management Academy and produced by Zorbiant.