The “Aha” Moment
I’m addicted to the “aha” moment. It’s that beautiful moment when people have a sudden realization, new understanding or inspiration. You can almost see it on their face. Like connecting the final piece of a puzzle together that had been worked on for weeks, months or even years. There’s a rush of excitement, then gratitude, and new energy emerges.
When people and data come together to solve a problem, it can be magic. Some of you may have had many of these “aha” moments in your life, others maybe not as much. As insights leaders, its our job to create more of these moments. So how can you have more “aha” moments in 2022?
Step 1 – Defining the Chaos.
We have all been in those meetings. People speaking over each other, no clear direction, ideas abound, etc. The key to the first step is the what we call the “brain dump”, where everything on a certain topic is shared with the team. Institutional knowledge is key to defining a problem and outlining what is left to uncover.
Step 2 – Clarity through conversation.
After all information has been shared, then we start by asking great questions to get at what truly matters. Take for example the topic of planning with your teams for 2022. Here are some simple questions to start the conversation on such a broad topic:
What problem(s) are you facing today?
Why is this so important right now?
Who needs to know?
Step 3 - Research and human storytelling.
Once your priorities are known, it’s important to work with a trusted marketing research firm to conduct a study with your target market. A multi-phased approach is recommended, which can include informational interviews, focus groups, concept testing, surveys, etc.
Step 4 – Insights to action.
Once research results come in, the work has just begun. As teams review conclusions, and hopefully have some “aha” moments, possible solutions can be prioritized to determine next steps for putting insights into action. Creating energy and excitement throughout this phase is critical to a successful end to your project.
From chaos to insights, and all those moments in between, this is what we at Conversate Labs love the most. Let’s create more “aha” moments together in 2022.
