How to Use Self-Directed Learning to Ensure Your Research Insights are Heard and Acted Upon
Summary
In our remote world, we as researchers need new ways to help our stakeholders cut through the noise to engage and digest our insights more meaningfully through thoughtful and intentional self-directed learning techniques. In this short session, we will discuss 4 key self-directed learning techniques to help you increase engagement around your insights during our debriefing sessions with your stakeholders.
Key Insights
-
•
Self-directed learning can empower stakeholders to engage with research insights on their own terms, increasing uptake and action.
-
•
Designing the context of insight sharing intentionally—considering group size, goals, and stakeholder needs—improves clarity and impact.
-
•
Emotional literacy, or checking in on participants’ feelings before sharing insights, helps prime stakeholders for better receptiveness.
-
•
Asynchronous collaboration within live sessions encourages quieter voices to be heard and builds rich discussions around insights.
-
•
Using digital tools that allow commenting directly on research reports democratizes feedback and documents conversations in real time.
-
•
Early engagement of stakeholders in framing research questions fosters buy-in and makes the research more relevant to their concerns.
-
•
Not everyone needs to read or engage with all research content; focusing on the most influential stakeholders optimizes effort and impact.
-
•
Combining synchronous and asynchronous modes in insight sharing sessions can manage Zoom fatigue and diversify participation.
-
•
Explicitly naming stakeholders' questions in research reports increases their sense of being seen and encourages participation.
-
•
Insight sharing should shift from just delivering information to designing a learning experience tailored to stakeholders’ strengths and interests.
Notable Quotes
"Change is the only constant, so designing insight sharing with self-directed learning is critical."
"Caring for people emotionally during insight sessions directly impacts their productivity and willingness to engage."
"Sometimes the loudest voices dominate, but asynchronous collaboration helps give quieter voices a chance to speak."
"I literally ask, how are you feeling right now? It’s about connecting on a human level before diving into data."
"Before sharing insights, I try to prime the room by acknowledging feelings and starting fresh."
"Sharing insights is like creating a learning space where stakeholders can use the information in their own way."
"Sending reports early and inviting comments turns the insight session into more of a discussion than a presentation."
"Everyone wants to see themselves reflected in the research questions and findings."
"Focus your research report on the three most influential stakeholders, not everyone."
"Combining synchronous and asynchronous communication within one session gets us from awareness to action."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Sometimes, right, you feel like you’re about to be run over by the delivery train, and that pressure shapes how research is received."
Rebecca BuckMission: Keep Talent in Research Roles!
March 10, 2021
"Our intercept survey is more reliable than NPS and works well even for illiterate drivers because it uses emojis as response options."
George Zhang Molly StevensUX Research Excellence Framework
March 11, 2021
"Living personas are online, constantly refreshed market segment profiles that everyone in an organization can consult."
Nathan ShedroffDouble Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically
March 31, 2020
"Artificial intelligence promises new independence for people with disabilities but raises questions of bias and privacy."
Sam ProulxTo Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility
September 9, 2022
"You have to build all the puzzle pieces with clear summaries before the patterns come together in mental models."
Indi YoungPaying Better Attention to the Problem with Indi Young
December 12, 2019
"Transparency will protect you in your community-centered design work when nothing else can."
Ashley Cortez Devika Menon Nidhi Singh Rathore Danita J. Reese Mari NakanoShifting Toward Community-Led Innovation in Local Government
December 8, 2021
"We set expectations for who is owner and who is contributor in asynchronous work so decisions can move forward."
Kim LenoxLeading Distributed Global Teams
May 20, 2019
"Insights are networked; they don’t exist independently beyond how they’re absorbed and acted on by others."
Jemma Ahmed Subhasree Chatterjee Robert Fabricant Alexandra Jayeun Lee Ben RobinsCollaboration: learning from other fields beyond our own [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
August 7, 2024
"Service design’s role isn’t to humanize AI, it’s to humanize the organization around it."
Bethany BrownRewiring operations with service design and AI
November 20, 2025
