There was a time when I struggled with moving my insights forward. I didn't know what to do with them once I presented the report. Sometimes teams took the "easy fixes" or "low-hanging fruit," but other times, the teams didn't act on the more complex insights.

Usually, these more complex insights were the ones we needed to act on and consisted of more profound issues or unmet needs.

However, I was uncertain how to articulate these insights in a way that spurred action. Although I improved how I structured my insights to help stakeholders take action, I quickly realized that this was not enough. There was a piece of the puzzle I was missing.

The importance of activation

Over time, I learned that I ended my process earlier than I should have. My research process consisted of planning, conducting, analyzing, and sharing—and that's where the key was. There was an extra step I didn't include in my research process, the one that would help the team bring my insights into action.

That extra step is something I now call activation.

In the activation phase of the research process, we take the insights and create spaces to brainstorm and ideate on the insights. These spaces are where insights become actionable.

This activation phase can take many forms, such as sitting down with a designer to help sketch ideas, talking with stakeholders about the next steps, facilitating workshops, or using methodologies to include participants in brainstorming.

Regarding the most effective ways to activate insights, my two favorites are ideation and co-creation. Learning to facilitate both scenarios will help you drive impact as a user researcher and enable teams to work on your insights.

Using ideation in your research process

An ideation workshop is a safe space to generate many ideas or concepts on a given topic. In this session, the internal team comes together to dedicate time to creating new ideas based on the research you just completed.

The main goal of an ideation session is to spark innovation and draw out a sense of creativity. You bring a team together to discuss and share ideas without any judgment openly. This setting fosters collaboration, and allows all team members to contribute creatively to idea generation.

Since you come up with so many ideas during ideation, this workshop will bring you one step closer to a viable and user-centric solution. With this in mind, you can choose and prototype the best ideas aligned with the user's needs, goals, and expectations.

My number one piece of advice for ideation sessions is to have a clear outcome for the session.

Nikki Anderson-Stanier
Founder, User Research Academy

Using ideation in your research process

An ideation workshop is a safe space to generate many ideas or concepts on a given topic. In this session, the internal team comes together to dedicate time to creating new ideas based on the research you just completed.

The main goal of an ideation session is to spark innovation and draw out a sense of creativity. You bring a team together to discuss and share ideas without any judgment openly. This setting fosters collaboration, and allows all team members to contribute creatively to idea generation.

Since you come up with so many ideas during ideation, this workshop will bring you one step closer to a viable and user-centric solution. With this in mind, you can choose and prototype the best ideas aligned with the user's needs, goals, and expectations.

✔ When to use ideation

I typically use ideation sessions when my team is feeling:

• Stuck on how to move forward with a particular insight or project
• Demotivated and lacking creativity for solutions that we have research on
• That there are so many solutions, and they aren't sure how to narrow them down
• Like they need direction and help moving forward to the next step
• Unsure of how to generate ideas on their own

I always do research before an ideation session to have a focus for the session. The only exception to this rule is if there is enough previous research that we can tap into.

Over time, ideation sessions have become a staple in my process. Once I analyze the data, I better understand whether we need an ideation session. If the insights are more complex and the team might get stuck on the next steps, I send out an ideation session invitation.

✘ When not to use ideation

While I genuinely believe ideation is vital to any research process, there are times when it isn't as valuable. I've held quite a few ideation workshops that have flopped, and it’s because we didn't need one.

I caution against using ideation when:

• Your insights or findings are incredibly straightforward or descriptive (ex: "People could not use their coupon code because they couldn't find the coupon form—make this more visible")
• There are minimal changes the team needs to make to the experience (ex: button moves, color changes)
• You don't have enough research or information to brainstorm solutions

Running an ideation session when the next step is clear and straightforward can make people feel like it was a waste of time to come together over something so obvious.

Conversely, holding an ideation session when there isn't enough clarity can frustrate participants because the solutions will be challenging to create and unproductive.

My number one piece of advice for ideation sessions is to have a clear outcome for the session. Then, once you know your desired outcome, you can work backward to see if you have enough information to get to that outcome with the team—or if the outcome doesn't warrant an entire session.

How to run an ideation session

Ideation sessions can be fun and bring your team together in a relaxing, creative, and collaborative space.

Here are my basic steps for running an ideation session (and you can check out a more in-depth guide here):

1. Conduct user research and analyze the results
2. Choose a pain point or need from your results to focus on for the session
3. Pick your ideation technique
4. Facilitate the ideation
5. Allow for dot voting to narrow down the generated ideas
6. Follow up with prototyping and testing—whether that be concept testing or usability testing

Ideation workshops are a great way to get creative juices flowing in your team and rally all the brains to create innovative ideas. Not only is this exercise energizing, but it also provides an excellent outcome of concrete ideas that you can test and drive impactful research.

Using co-creation in your research process

Co-creation brings a fun spin to the activation step and is very fun to facilitate. While ideation focuses primarily on your internal team, co-creation brings participants into this process. So instead of brainstorming with your stakeholders, you're brainstorming with participants.

Instead of the participant answering questions or giving feedback and opinions on screens, they do things within your time together. So while interviews can feel relatively passive, participatory design is very active. You engage the participants to help you design the right solutions for them.

✔ When to use co-creation

When I first thought of running a co-creation session, I was nervous. Yes, I had run ideation sessions, but that was with my internal team. I could make mistakes with little repercussions. Co-creation felt like a whole new world.

However, I realized that, sometimes, ideation can only go so far and how beneficial it can be to bring users into this part of the process.

I use co-creation when:

• I need the user's direct perspective on an outcome and can utilize the outcome as stimuli for conversation (ex: journey mapping)
• The topic of conversation is difficult or intense, and using stimuli such as collaging or drawing is more accessible than having a conversation
• We are unable to narrow down a set of ideas and need more perspective from users
• Working on a very high-level concept or idea, and we need more visual information about how users think about that concept

Whenever it comes to including participants in your research process through co-creation, it’s always when you want to use stimuli or get a tangible outcome from the session.

You can also use co-creation techniques with stakeholders outside your "normal" day-to-day or roles you don't often interface with.

✘ When not to use co-creation

Like any other method, there are times when co-creation does not make sense (as fun as it is). I typically shy away from co-creation when:

• We have a well-defined and need feedback about the usability rather than the actual concept or idea
• The team is trying to understand what people "want" versus what their needs or pain points are
• We are trying to force participants to fully design something for us because we don't have enough information
• Teams are looking to understand preferences between different designs (instead, look at concept testing)

Co-creation is an exploratory method that helps you better connect with your users on topics and include their thoughts directly in the process.

How to run a co-creation session

Co-creation can be tricky to run, especially if you are new. Here are the steps I take when running a co-creation session (and you can read more in-depth about this process here!):

1. Brainstorm the session's goals and ensure they align with this approach. Some of my common co-creation goals include:

• Creating maps/journeys of processes, routines, or concepts the user is familiar with
• Understanding emotional responses or connections to specific concepts or ideas
• Exploring initial concepts before creating prototypes

2. Pick a co-creation method (ex: journey mapping, feedback, sketching) based on your goals

3. Recruit participants who can give you the feedback or information you need

4. Facilitate the co-creation session

5. Analyze the results of the session

6. Follow up on the next steps, potentially leading to an ideation session or further testing!

If you’re feeling stuck with your insights or your teams are unsure how to act on your reports, either of these scenarios can be a great next step for you. Just make sure you think through your goals and expected outcomes to ensure these sessions are the right fit for you.

I highly recommend adding these approaches to your research toolkit because they can positively impact research and how it moves forward at an organization!

Interested in other articles like this? Check out...

• Explore how Google's Project Aura approached a large-scale co-creation project with thousands of participants.
• 5 Questions to Supercharge Your Ideation and Co-Creation
• Insights Arts & Crafts: 7 Ways to Co-Create, Ideate, and Engage Your Research Participant
  

Nikki Anderson-Stanier is the founder of User Research Academy and a qualitative researcher with 9 years in the field. She loves solving human problems and petting all the dogs.

To get even more UXR nuggets, check out her user research membership, follow her on LinkedIn, or subscribe to her Substack.