How Insight Is Created: Asking, Listening, Observing and Joining the Dots
Insight doesn’t arrive fully formed. It’s built - from the conversations you have, the data you collect, and the observations you start to connect.
The focus is on creating the right conditions for insight to emerge - developing capability, using the right tools, and capturing meaningful information about the people and landscape that matter to your organisation.
So… Where Does Insight Come From?
There’s no single method. In most organisations, insight is generated from a mix of sources - some formal, some informal, some already happening.
Here are the most common types:
Primary research
This is information you collect yourself, often through:
Customer surveys
Staff feedback tools
Interviews or focus groups
Mystery shopping or usability testing
These methods help you get direct insight from the people you want to understand - in their words, about their experiences.
Secondary research
This is about reviewing existing sources to inform your thinking, such as:
Sector trend reports
Public data sets
Academic or industry papers
Social media listening or reviews
It’s particularly useful for competitor and market insight, or when internal data is limited.
Operational data and signals
You’re already collecting data that holds potential insight - if it’s used intentionally. This includes:
Sales figures or churn data
Web analytics
Customer service queries
Exit interviews
These sources are often underused because they sit in separate systems or aren’t regularly reviewed through an insight lens.
Observation and informal feedback
Not everything is captured through forms. Sometimes it’s a comment in a meeting. A customer question repeated by different people. A story shared by a team lead.
Creating a culture where this informal input is noticed, logged, and valued is key to building an insight habit.
It’s Not Just About Having Data - It’s What You Do With It
Raw data is just the start. Insight is created when you:
Bring together different types of input
Look for patterns, causes, gaps
Ask: What is this telling us?
Make decisions or improvements based on that understanding
That’s why building insight capability is about more than choosing a method - it’s about having the skills, structure and confidence to use what you learn.
Getting Started with Creating Insight
You don’t need everything at once. You might start with:
One customer survey to fill a gap in understanding
A simple log for competitor observations
A short staff poll about communication or morale
A review of feedback you already have, but haven’t fully explored
What matters is not just collecting information, but creating a rhythm where data becomes insight - and insight becomes action.
Final Thought
Insight is built in layers.
Not from one perfect report - but from many small moments of noticing, questioning, and learning.
The more intentional you are about capturing what matters, the more confident your organisation becomes in using what it knows.
