Editor's note: Scott Aaron is a principal at Insights for Innovation, a Cincinnati research company. He can be reached at scott.aaron@gmail.com. This article appeared in the January 15, 2013, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.

During my time as a client-side leader of a consumer research team at Luxottica Retail in Cincinnati, there was one challenge that would be presented periodically. It was usually framed as, "We all are going to have as an objective this year to do at least one project that is innovative in each functional area." This kind of challenge usually came from the general manager or vice president of marketing level and applied to all groups or teams on the business.

Now, as researchers, we can meet this challenge a few different ways. We can respond with a disguised eye-roll/facepalm combo ("Yes, you're right, we have been stealthily avoiding doing anything new and different; thanks for calling that out") and dutifully slog our way through our "innovative" project. Or we can treat it as the golden opportunity that it truly is. Here are some of the things I learned about productively meeting this challenge.

 

Stretch the definition

One thing you can do is stretch the definition of innovation. The most obvious way to innovate in the consumer research space is in the areas of new methods, suppliers or approaches. But innovation in the workplace can be defined in many ways. Before even starting to develop a project or work stream, first create and gain buy-in to a definition of innovation for the work that helps you move your agenda or objectives forward. This project could be a stepping stone in helping you achieve your goals longer-term.

 

With that in mind, there are internal and external places to look for opportunities to innovate.

 

Internal options

In every insight leader's mind, there is a (hopefully not long) list of what's not working perfectly with current methods, suppliers or approaches. This can be your opportunity to innovate to a better relationship, work stream or output of a key, ongoing piece of research. Approaching the challenge of improving in an innovative way can certainly yield new and different results.

 

Somewhere there is a team in your organization with whom your team doesn't currently work but with whom you can forge a new partnership. Maybe they are doing their own innovative things you think your team could benefit from exposure to or maybe they are a team where you know you could add a lot of value and you just don't work with them. In my old role, we used this approach a few times, working a project with the Web or database team. We combined forces on an aspect of the business we thought we could improve by working together and looking at the issues differently.

 

The innovative project or work stream can be an excellent leadership opportunity for someone on the research team. The project can be given to someone who you want to showcase or grow in some way. Often there is desire from the team to try different things so tapping into that desire can be a real win for the organization and the individuals on your team.

 

Think about the challenges facing some of your strongest supporters in terms of your internal clients. You may want to have some senior-level support outside of your function for the project. You may need a test team or initiative to work on or with. This is important because new tools or techniques can yield findings that may be different from previous work or need to be processed a little differently by the organization.

 

External options

The innovative project imperative is a great reason to establish relationships with new suppliers. Comb through those conference notes you took. What suppliers looked interesting? What methods were new that seemed to apply to your business or category? What made you say wow? Time to connect with those people. Work a lot with big research companies? Could be time to connect with a boutique that specializes in something new.

 

Look at methods and approaches you aren't using. Social media mining, neuroscience measurement, collecting data via mobile - these are a few of the new frontiers in our world. If you aren't using these tools or dabbling in these areas, the call for innovation could be your reason to kick-start your efforts. Listen to your instincts and try something that just seems like it would yield actionable insights.

 

Use your network and use your innovative project as an excuse to build your network. Always wanted to contact a guru? Always wanted to go to a conference you haven't gotten to? Now you have a mandate to spur you onward. Think of the fun you could have by calling five people in your network and asking, "If someone told you that you need to deliver an innovative new project this year, what would you do?"

 

Between searching internally and externally, you'll find many opportunities.

 

Before you forge ahead 

However, there are a few things to think about regarding this adventure before you forge ahead. First, consider how the innovative project fits into the existing suite of tools. The core issue here is, are you going to use an augment-what-we're-doing strategy or a replace-something-we're-doing strategy? Augmenting is lower-risk but sometimes the imperative is to replace and the innovation imperative opens the door for you. It is well worth thinking through the potential impact on the broader insight work, prior to trying something new.

 

Also, think about how you will judge success or failure. Doing things that are new and different is by definition more work for you and your clients than doing what has always been done. It makes sense to try to document the success criteria prior to starting. What is a "good enough" outcome that would convince you to use a new tool or supplier from now on? If the project doesn't go well, what is the plan for capturing what you've learned through the work? The innovative project might not work or might not work exactly how you thought it would. A new approach or method's results could conflict with other results you've seen. People who understand innovation well will tell you part of life in this space is failure, as well as unexpected outcomes.  

 

I personally believe more learning occurs when things don't go according to plan. It may seem backward of me to wish we would have failed more often but I think we would have been adding value if we could have found a smart and graceful way to fail a bit more.

 

With our innate curiosity driving us, the challenge to innovate is one researchers should be quickest to embrace.