Collaboration
Rapid Research
This exercise is a great addition to exploratory, discursive, and creative workshops as it provides valuable insights and opinions from external sources. It can be used when brainstorming ideas, developing new products or services, or creating strategies or plans that involve others. The exercise involves participants calling a colleague and asking them relevant questions related to the task at hand. This generates quick and meaningful input from a variety of external perspectives. Participants are often pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to gather this input and how valuable it is to the overall process.
Workshop steps
Inform the group (or teams if they're working on separate projects) that their task is to collect insights from individuals outside the room. These insights will be valuable for the ongoing process. Request each member to consider a friend, colleague, or contact who might be available and open to a conversation shortly.
Select a "central question" to direct the participants during the call. You or the group can decide on this question, which will differ based on the session's objective. Here are some sample questions: For strategy creation: What is the most significant obstacle in our sector currently? For new product/service development: What frustrates you about your daily travel? Which apps do you use every day? For assessing organizational culture: What aspects of our company are not functioning effectively? What is the most enjoyable aspect of working for our company?
Instruct the participants to call their contact and ask the focus question(s) within a 10-minute timeframe. Encourage them to briefly describe the exercise to their contact and take notes during the call. If their contact is unavailable, have them consider calling another person.
Once everyone completes their calls, gather them back into a single group or project teams to discuss their findings. If necessary, record the insights as they are presented.
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