As the dust from festive feasts, firework displays, and discarded Christmas trees begins to settle, it is the perfect time for thought leadership teams to reflect on how they can set themselves up for success in the year ahead.

Just before we clocked off 2024, we gathered for our final Inside Track webinar of the year where we explored the topic of our latest report. In case you missed it, the report explores the role of operating models—from centralised to decentralised—in driving and maintaining the quality of thought leadership.

We were inspired to investigate this topic after finding that despite our Quality Ratings review of thought leadership seeing its best year yet, the quality of outputs within firms continues to vary greatly. Yet, at a time when buyers are increasingly turning to thought leadership content to keep up with industry developments and decide which firms to engage with, consistency of quality is essential. We see strong ecosystems—different teams involved along the thought leadership process working more collaboratively—as key to enabling this.

We were joined by Francis Hintermann, Global Managing Director at Accenture Research, and Brenna Sniderman, Executive Director at the Deloitte Center for Integrated Research, to discuss their experiences of different models.

These are some of the key takeaways…

1. The model must fit the mould

Whether centralised, hybrid, or decentralised, our report delves into the intricacies of different organisational models. No one model is perfect. Where a centralised model may more easily promote a coherent brand voice, a decentralised model enables teams to create more targeted content at speed.

Our panellists, however, highlighted that the right model will depend on the DNA of the organisation. Accenture, for example, gravitates towards a centralised model because it helps them better align with business priorities, maintain quality with consistency, and empower them to swiftly reinvent their processes.

2. Generative AI (GenAI) is moving from sandbox to scale

It is clear that GenAI is still in the early days of adoption. When we asked our audience about how their use of GenAI has changed in their thought leadership process, most attendees said they were occasional users or in experimental stages. Just under a quarter of respondents said they were using it extensively.

However, from synthesising research data to testing hypotheses with synthetic personas, our panellists highlighted how they are already knee deep in exploring its potential to augment processes across the thought leadership value chain. Meanwhile, lessons have been learned: Brenna, for example, cautions that while they are using AI extensively, it is still vital to keep humans in the loop to maintain the quality of the outputs and keep from being too generic.

As GenAI continues to be embedded into thought leadership teams and research processes, this will shape their talent strategy—bringing data science to the foreground and balancing it with industry expertise.

3. Clarity of responsibility is key

It goes without saying that the best thought leadership reports are born out of a collaborative effort of multiple people—stakeholders and researchers alike. As projects move from ideas to reports, clarity about purpose and process is key.

This means being clear about the “why” of a project and holding it as a north star. Some models lend themselves better to setting this context by aligning projects to key business priorities, but this can be maintained with constant and clear communication throughout the project.

Clarity about roles and responsibilities is essential to guaranteeing the quality of the insights. Whether working in a centralised or decentralised model, being clear about who owns what at each stage of the process will be key to the success of the campaign.

Curious to learn more about the pros and cons of different operating models and how other firms, from Capgemini to IBM, are set up for success? Check out our latest report to decide what model might work best for your organisation.

If you’re a Whitespace subscriber, log in to listen to the webinar recording or read the report. For non-subscribers, click here to read the extract.