Summary
We empathize and deeply understand our products’ end users, but do we understand our colleagues and stakeholders to the same level, as they are users of our insights? In this session, we’ll discuss how changing our mindset and better understanding our colleagues can unlock a path to research acceleration.
Key Insights
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Findings are surface-level observations, whereas insights reveal deep user motivations and challenge existing beliefs.
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Stakeholders are the true end users of research findings, requiring UX teams to treat them as users with their own needs and biases.
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People react to information that contradicts their core beliefs with the same biological response as physical threats.
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Confirmation and disconfirmation biases cause selective skepticism, making some research outputs challenging to accept.
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Stakeholder mapping at project delivery is as critical as at the start to anticipate reactions and ensure adoption of insights.
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Traditional research reports are often insufficient to build empathy or motivate action within teams.
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Alternative sharing methods like interactive workshops, user videos, and storytelling increase engagement and understanding.
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Storytelling aids retention of research findings by engaging emotions and creating character-driven narratives.
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Sharing insights likely to provoke conflict requires preparing for difficult conversations using frameworks like Crucial Conversations.
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Tailoring communication approaches based on stakeholder familiarity and motivations increases the impact and uptake of research.
Notable Quotes
"Findings are often observations with a short shelf life, while insights get deep into the why and the consequences."
"Our stakeholders and colleagues are users too, and the product we’re sharing is the research and learnings."
"People react to facts challenging their core beliefs the same way the brain responds to physical threats."
"We’re selectively skeptical – skeptical about some things but not others based on what we want to believe."
"When our bathroom scales deliver bad news, we hop on and off again, but we accept good news quickly."
"Reports alone don’t build empathy because you don’t get close to users by reading a report."
"Creating a shared understanding often requires workshops and activities, not just sharing documents."
"Storytelling leads to better understanding and recall of key points at a later date."
"Conflict management is a design skill essential for handling high-stakes conversations triggered by research insights."
"Think critically about what we're sharing, who we're sharing with, and how we share to ensure understanding and action."
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