Reading Time: 2 minutesBack in December, we challenged you to find out your communication style with our Hollywood-themed quiz. Well, the results are in of the world’s first and only survey of insights professionals about communication. 260 of you completed our quiz and now we are opening the envelope to reveal what we learnt about the insights profession.
First of all, although the quiz was a bit of fun the issue is no joke: 63% of you stated that communicating data and insights is challenging. This challenge carries through in the overall results distribution – fewest were best actor (16%) and the majority were best cinematographer (33.5%), followed by the best director (24%) and best supporting actor (24%).
Overall, this result appears to reinforce the image of insight people as slightly ‘behind the scenes’, technical and low profile when compared to other professions. The best cinematographers make a huge difference to a movie but don’t get the accolades – name one. This is reinforced by the responses to the question about communication style, with most researchers describing themselves as collaborative (37%) or consultative (34%) rather than charismatic (15%) or creative (14%).
The biggest communication challenge which 37% of researchers said they struggle with is always assuming people know what they mean. We’re going to come back to this in a future blog on developing the essential consultancy skills to ensure you and your audience are fully in tune. It’s not just about avoiding jargon and not making assumptions, but about the ‘two ears, one mouth’ approach – realising that communication is a two-way street, with listening more important than speaking.
It’s worth noting that the slightly recessive tendencies that many of you cited, did not follow through to how people described their behaviour in meetings with 40% of you saying you love bringing new ideas to the table and providing creative spark and just 14% preferring to listen than talk. Given that listening skills are crucial to communication, perhaps that balance needs to be redressed. It seems that within a smaller group researchers love to shine and be inspiring.
We’re here to help all researchers make the most of the roles they are playing and achieve an Oscar no matter what the film. Fame is a flavour, and Mustard makes it pop. Want to learn more about your star power potential in communication? Get in touch!