One of the biggest tensions for market researchers is walking the line between data accuracy and risk-taking. Of course, data needs to be accurate to produce accurate insights; however, sticking too closely to 100% certainty can prevent researchers from pursuing hunches or creative ideas that can result in insights that overturn conventional wisdom. Research environments where new ideas are nurtured and encouraged have much higher insight productivity (for more information, please see MREB’s research on Boosting Insight Productivity).

Washington Mutual tackled the challenge of stifled creativity by up-ending traditional, directive manager techniques and instead adopting a Socratic approach to coaching. The famous characteristic of Socrates’ teaching approach, of course, was how he questioned his pupils to lead them to conclusions. For Research managers, using a questioning approach increases the collaborative aspect of management discussions, and gives Researchers the freedom to pursue their own ideas and learn from their experiences, judgment-free.

Managers are used to being decisive in their own work, and it can be difficult to transition away from that decisiveness and towards questioning in their interactions with their direct reports. WaMu helps managers achieve more collaboration by providing simple guidelines for Socratic coaching:

• Stop Asking Leading Questions – Don’t ask questions that start with: “Did you,” “Have you,” “Were there”
• Start Asking Open-Ended Questions – Ask questions that start with: “What,” “When,” “How,” “Why”

• Stop Solving Their Problems – Don’t use language like: “I recommend,” “You should”
• Start Encouraging Self-Assessment – Make it a problem-solving exercise: “How else could,” “What if”

• Stop Focusing on the Individual – Avoid putting yourself on a different side: “The research you did”
• Start Being Inclusive – Signal a joint effort: “What should we do next?” “How can I help?”

A side benefit of this manager-led collaborative environment is that team members also start supporting each other’s ideas in a virtuous cycle. MREB can also help you jump-start or reinforce that team support for creativity and risk-taking.