From insights to action, your personalised roadmap to research maturity starts here.
You’ve got a clear view of where your research practice stands today and the steps to take it further. Whether you're aiming for small wins or big leaps, this roadmap will help you embed research deeper into your business and drive real impact.
Reactive
Emergent
Operational
Strategic
Leading
Strategic influence
Demand
Methodologies
Insights
Tech and platforms
Processes
Resources and capacity
Governance
Culture
Focus areas
Focus areas
Current state: Research exists, but its impact is minimal or limited to delivery teams. Decisions are made first, and research is commissioned to validate them.
Future state: Level up from
1
Reactive
->
2
Emergent
Set up a central channel—Slack, Teams, doesn’t matter—for teams to log their research needs. Keep it simple: one place to capture requests, sort priorities, and respond quickly. It shows you’re serious about listening and delivering.
Find one moment where research turned into a decision. Share it widely—email, team meetings, anywhere people will hear. This is about showing proof, not potential. When people see research working, they’ll start believing in it. Small wins can light big fires.
Sit down with a delivery team, share insights that solve real problems, and show them how research makes their job easier. It’s not about the deck—it’s about the impact. When research answers their needs, they’ll want more.
Current state: Impact is sporadic, not systemic. Insights occasionally sway decisions, but only when a passionate advocate steps in.
Future state: Level up from
2
Emergent
->
3
Operational
Write up quick examples of how research has shaped decisions, and spread them far and wide—newsletters, all-hands meetings, even Slack updates. This isn’t about fluff—it’s about connecting the dots between insights and outcomes.
Host casual sessions with leaders to show how research tackles real problems. Use relatable examples and clear wins—skip the jargon. When leaders see research solving headaches, they’ll start seeing it as a tool, not a luxury.
Get research into a big, visible initiative. Be there from kick-off to delivery, showing how insights steer decisions and avoid missteps. It’s a risk, but when research proves its worth on the big stage, there’s no going back.
Current state: Teams start asking for research before decisions are made, and its value is recognised across departments. Appetite for exploratory research increases.
Future state: Level up from
3
Operational
->
4
Strategic
Build a shared spreadsheet or use simple project management software to log research projects, insights, and outcomes. This isn’t just admin— it’s about showing everyone where research fits and how it drives decisions. When teams see the map, they’ll want to be on the journey.
Twice a year, bring together teams—product, design, and marketing—to talk through what research has uncovered and where it’s going. These aren’t status meetings. They’re alignment sessions demonstrating your value-add.
Campaign to make research a mandatory step in major projects like product launches. This isn’t about checking a box—it’s about embedding insights where they can shift the needle. When big wins follow, research will become non-negotiable.
Current state: Insights are treated like a compass, guiding major strategic decisions. Teams rely on research to discover, validate, and innovate.
Future state: Level up from
4
Strategic
->
5
Leading
Develop a one-page visual summary of key customer insights tied directly to business goals. Make it visually engaging and easy to digest—perfect for quick reads by busy executives. This keeps research top-of-mind without overwhelming stakeholders, reinforcing its role as a driver of strategy.
Bring the voice of the customer to the forefront by weaving short, impactful user videos into all-hands meetings, town halls, and team celebrations. Let customers’ stories and feedback highlight the real-world impact of your work and offer a powerful reminder of who you’re building for.
Build research into the company’s annual planning process. Make insights the foundation for setting objectives, identifying risks, and spotting opportunities.
Current state: Insights are your North Star—woven into every process, ensuring the business moves either ahead of, or in sync with, customer needs.
Future state: Level up from
5
Leading
Give teams and leaders a living, breathing dashboard of key insights and trends. Keep it clean, focused, and always up to date. Giving people the ability to find answers on demand drives interest and engagement.
Work with leadership to draft a three-to-five-year roadmap strengthening the connection of research to business goals and their development. Anchor the roadmap in clear milestones, tying research directly to outcomes like market expansion, customer satisfaction, or product innovation.
Create a digital or physical hub for insight thought leadership, sharing best practices, tools, and breakthroughs internally and externally. Make it the heartbeat of innovation, where insights spark ideas that change the game.
Current state: You hear “we should probably do some research” when a project feels shaky. No one’s clamouring for insights.
Future state: Level up from
1
Reactive
->
2
Emergent
Host “What research can do” micro-sessions during team stand-ups or meetings, sharing a real example of how research solved a problem. It’s quick, relatable, and plants the seed of curiosity.
Deliver a short survey asking teams what problems they’re facing that research could help solve. Use their input to demonstrate relevance and spark engagement.
Put your detective hats on and set up a temporary team to identify and tackle a pressing business challenge. Deliver results fast and publicise the impact widely, proving the value of embedding research.
Current state: Curious teams push for primary insights, but research is still seen as a nice-to-have rather than a must-have.
Future state: Level up from
2
Emergent
->
3
Operational
Set up weekly office hours where teams can bring questions or problems to your team for discussion or resolution. Keep it informal and accessible. This builds relationships and shows how research can help in ways people perhaps hadn’t considered.
Visit teams across the business to explain how research can reduce risks and improve outcomes. Use examples from their work to make it relatable. This makes research feel practical, not theoretical.
Go public with your work—share your team’s achievements, challenges, and growth story on LinkedIn. Busy leaders might be more likely to see your message there than buried in an overflowing inbox.
Current state: Research becomes the go-to move for reducing risk and sharpening outcomes—it’s not an afterthought anymore.
Future state: Level up from
3
Operational
->
4
Strategic
Build a simple tool to log and visualise ongoing research requests. Share it regularly with delivery teams to highlight the breadth and value of research activities. This transparency sparks more interest.
Identify enthusiastic team members in delivery teams and train them to spot opportunities where research can add value. Empower them to advocate for research in their teams.
Create a strategic alliance with a key team to embed research resources in their business-as-usual and project squads. Before long, research will become indispensable.
Current state: Stakeholders actively budget for research. They understand its ROI and want it embedded early in every project.
Future state: Level up from
4
Strategic
->
5
Leading
Regularly share short, compelling updates showing how research has driven measurable business outcomes. These aren’t just reports—they’re proof of value.
Engage leaders across the business in co-designing a shared research strategy. When stakeholders feel ownership, demand naturally increases.
Create a shared budget for exploratory research that teams can pitch for, or allocate a percentage of your budget for this purpose. This encourages innovation and cross-team collaboration.
Current state: Demand for insights is so high that you have a backlog. Research programs are in constant motion, adapting to strategic needs.
Future state: Level up from
5
Leading
Create a research wishlist. Regularly collect ideas from across the business on what they’d love to learn through research. Share the best problems to solve formally and informally to spark curiosity and innovation.
Advocate for a seat at the table in leadership off-sites and strategy planning workshops to ensure that big decisions are anchored in real, solvable problems and opportunities.
Create a cross-industry forum where leaders and external experts share cutting-edge research trends and innovations. This positions your business as a global leader in research and ensures a constant inflow of fresh ideas.
Current state: A basic survey or two, maybe a focus group if budget allows. You’re scratching the surface.
Future state: Level up from
1
Reactive
->
2
Emergent
Run a single-question survey with teams to gather feedback on a specific issue. It’s simple, fast, and introduces teams to the value of data-driven decisions.
Try combining a quick usability test with a follow-up survey. This small experiment shows the power of mixed methods and builds confidence in expanding your approach.
Use one completed project to create a mini case study showcasing how a research method solved a key problem. Share it widely to inspire curiosity about different research methodologies.
Current state: Teams experiment with qualitative and quantitative methods, but it’s inconsistent and dependent on individual champions.
Future state: Level up from
2
Emergent
->
3
Operational
Run a short “research matchmaking” workshop explaining when to use different research methods. Use real examples to make it practical. This helps teams choose the right approach for their goals.
Dedicate a monthly “usability testing play day” for anyone to run usability tests with support from researchers. It normalises testing and gets non-researchers involved.
Choose an underused method, like exploratory diary studies or ethnography, and run a pilot project. Use the results to showcase how innovative approaches add new layers of insight to decision-making.
Current state: There’s a solid mix of methodologies in play, and teams begin to adapt methods to fit their specific goals.
Future state: Level up from
3
Operational
->
4
Strategic
Develop a simple guide (a flow chart or interactive tool) to help teams decide which research methods fit their project needs. Make it accessible and practical.
Pilot multi-method templates. Design reusable templates and resources combining qualitative and quantitative methods to streamline hybrid research projects and demonstrate value.
Host quarterly “Lunch and learn” sessions where internal or external experts dive deep into advanced techniques like conjoint analysis or journey mapping. These sessions build expertise and expand your capability toolkit.
Current state: You’re fluent in a diverse range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, matched to the needs of each project.
Future state: Level up from
4
Strategic
->
5
Leading
Publish a brief update on emerging industry methodologies and explain how they relate to your business. This keeps your team motivated and future-focused.
Form a cross-functional working group to experiment with integrating new methodologies into projects. This collaborative approach builds buy-in and innovation.
Build a digital library of proven methods, tools, and templates, complete with case studies and best practices. This becomes the go-to resource for all research needs. Leverage the experience of your research partners to understand the platforms, tools, and results delivered by new methodologies.
Current state: Methodologies are cutting-edge, blending traditional research with innovative AI-driven tools that allow for constant iteration and rapid delivery.
Future state: Level up from
5
Leading
Recognise teams or individuals who push the boundaries with new or creative uses of research methods. Celebrate their achievements to inspire others through a Method Innovation Award.
Partner with external businesses and associations to regularly share insights on cutting-edge methodologies. This keeps your teams at the forefront of innovation.
Build a dedicated squad to explore AI-enhanced methods like sentiment analysis, predictive modeling, and real-time testing. This cements your business as a leader in research innovation.
Current state: Insights live in dusty decks, forgotten folders, or in the hearts of a handful of champions. The connection to decisions made? Loose at best.
Future state: Level up from
1
Reactive
->
2
Emergent
Design a simple, standardised template to summarise key insights from research projects. Make it visual and easy to digest. This ensures insights are shared in a format that teams can quickly understand and act on.
Send a monthly email showcasing the top three insights from recent research projects. Use plain language and visuals to make it accessible and engaging.
Establish a quarterly meeting where teams share how they’ve used insights in their work. This encourages accountability and starts embedding insights into decisions.
Current state: Teams occasionally act on insights, but it’s still achieved through a “push” from you rather than a natural flow into their work.
Future state: Level up from
2
Emergent
->
3
Operational
Create an insight repository—a shared folder or database where teams can easily find past research summaries. Tag insights by topic or project for easy navigation.
After delivering research, run a workshop with key stakeholders to map insights to concrete and prioritised actions. This turns findings into immediate, action-oriented steps.
Develop a dynamic, business-wide insights map that visualises key findings by customer segment, product, or journey. This fosters a shared understanding of customer needs and where your insight gaps are.
Current state: Insights are digestible and shared widely. Teams start to proactively pull insights into their decision-making.
Future state: Level up from
3
Operational
->
4
Strategic
Design role-specific insights summaries. Tailor insights presentations for different audiences (e.g. product, marketing) to highlight what’s most relevant to them when you communicate findings.
Create detailed playbooks showing how to use different types of insights to solve specific business challenges. This makes applying insights straightforward for non-researchers.
Embed insights dashboards in team workflows. Build real-time dashboards that integrate insights directly into tools like Jira or Slack, ensuring they’re always at teams’ fingertips.
Current state: Insights are actionable and reach the right people at the right time. Your insights feel like interactive and engaging tools, not reports.
Future state: Level up from
4
Strategic
->
5
Leading
Host monthly cross-functional insight lab sessions where teams from across the business collaborate to interpret and act on major findings. This builds ownership and demonstrates problem-solving capability.
Connect insights to KPIs. Work with leadership to align research insights with company KPIs, showing how they drive measurable outcomes. This secures long-term buy-in. Host quarterly sessions linking research findings to strategic priorities.
Assemble a team to monitor how insights are shared and applied across the business. Use this to track impact and refine delivery methods.
Current state: Your insights don’t just guide decisions—they spark innovation. Delivered in real-time, they’re intuitive and seamlessly integrated into workflows.
Future state: Level up from
5
Leading
Develop an insights spotlight series. Publish a bi-weekly internal blog post highlighting how a single insight drove a significant business decision. Keep it concise and celebratory. Consider sharing this externally if your policies support it.
Organise an annual internal conference where teams from across the business present case studies on how they’ve applied research insights to achieve results. Include external speakers to share cutting-edge practices, fostering inspiration and positioning your business as a leader in insights-driven innovation.
Launch a predictive insights program. Use advanced analytics, exploratory research, and AI to generate predictive insights, helping teams anticipate trends and stay ahead of customer needs. This solidifies research as a critical strategic function.
Current state: You’re mostly using sticky notes, spreadsheets, and prayers. You get the job done, but it’s clunky.
Future state: Level up from
1
Reactive
->
2
Emergent
Introduce simple, free research tools like Google Forms for surveys or Miro for collaborative brainstorming. This removes friction and builds confidence in digital tools.
Set up a shared folder for your research data. Use a tool like SharePoint or Google Drive to centralise all research files and adopt a universal folder structure. This makes accessing insights easier and fosters collaboration.
Pilot an end-to-end research platform (like Askable!) for a pilot study to demonstrate efficiency gains by outsourcing time-intensive delivery to trusted partners.
Current state: Some off-the-shelf delivery and collaboration tools are in play, but they’re not optimised or widely adopted yet.
Future state: Level up from
2
Emergent
->
3
Operational
Host a short session to teach teams how to use your existing research tech and tool stack more effectively. Highlight time-saving features to improve adoption rates.
Audit your existing research tools and tech. Assess the research tools in use to identify gaps, redundancies, or underutilised features. This builds a clear path for optimising your toolkit.
Extend your use of research platforms across a range of studies and methodologies, to streamline and standardise research delivery.
Current state: You’ve invested in robust research platforms, making insight-gathering and communication smoother and more scalable.
Future state: Level up from
3
Operational
->
4
Strategic
Set up collaborative digital workspaces. Use tools like Notion or Confluence to create a central hub for research workflows and knowledge sharing.
Identify and automate low value or repetitive tasks like recruitment, participant reminders, survey distribution, and incentive payments, either via a research platform or using automation tools.
Integrate research tools across teams. Ensure research tools are integrated with other platforms like Slack, Jira, or Trello for seamless collaboration and visibility.
Current state: You embrace platforms and tools that streamline workflows and empower teams to self-serve based on their research needs.
Future state: Level up from
4
Strategic
->
5
Leading
Introduce data visualisation tools. Use platforms like Tableau, Power BI, or a research platform that allows you to share video reels and highlights to present insights in a visually engaging, accessible format.
Invest in cross-functional tool kits. Build a tech stack and tool kit that supports not just researchers but also design, marketing, and product teams, ensuring everyone has the right tools to extract insights.
Enable self-service research tools. Deploy advanced self-service research platforms, empowering teams to run their own research within set guidelines. Offer your support as expert advisers.
Current state: Bespoke tech solutions and AI-enhanced platforms are powering your programs. Research feels frictionless, adaptive, and seamless.
Future state: Level up from
5
Leading
Launch a tool usage heatmap. Create a simple visualisation showing how frequently different teams are using research tools. This highlights adoption gaps and inspires competition or curiosity to increase tool usage across departments.
Expand to AI-driven platforms and methodologies. Introduce AI-powered tools for automated analysis or tools with natural language processing to accelerate insights. This may include AI-moderated interviews or synthetic audiences.
Establish a research tech accelerator. Create a dedicated fund or program to trial emerging research technologies, from immersive VR testing environments to blockchain-powered data security. This keeps your business ahead of the curve and fosters a culture of innovation.
Current state: Processes? Don’t make me laugh. More like winging it. Each project starts from scratch.
Future state: Level up from
1
Reactive
->
2
Emergent
Develop a simple checklist for planning and executing research projects. Focus on key steps like defining goals, selecting methods, and sharing findings. This helps bring consistency to ad hoc processes.
Pilot a standardised project template. Introduce a basic research project template and test it with a small team. This lays the foundation for more structured workflows.
Conduct a research process mapping workshop. Bring teams together to map how research is currently initiated, planned, and executed. Identify gaps and create a shared understanding of where improvements are needed.
Current state: There’s a loose template floating around, but it’s not consistently applied.
Future state: Level up from
2
Emergent
->
3
Operational
Run a post-project debrief. After each research project, hold a quick session to review what worked, what didn’t, and what could improve. Document lessons learned to refine processes.
Develop a shared research calendar. Create a centralised calendar that tracks all research projects and timelines. This improves visibility, reduces overlap, and helps teams align their efforts.
Develop and implement research playbooks. Build detailed playbooks outlining step-by-step processes for common research activities. Include best practices and examples to guide teams. Modular guides can adapt to the scope of various projects, supporting scalability.
Current state: Standardised processes are taking shape, making projects faster and more reliable.
Future state: Level up from
3
Operational
->
4
Strategic
Assign process owners. Designate a point person for each stage of the research process to ensure accountability and consistency. This creates clarity without overhauling workflows.
Launch process training programs. Offer training sessions focused on improving efficiency and consistency in research workflows. Tailor sessions for specific teams or methods to maximise relevance.
Implement process optimisation tools. Use project management or end-to-end research platforms to streamline your workflows, track deliverables, and ensure transparency across all stages of research.
Current state: Well-oiled processes enable research to flow efficiently, ensuring every project is on-point and actionable.
Future state: Level up from
4
Strategic
->
5
Leading
Embed milestone reviews into your ways of working. Require milestone check-ins with leaders during major research projects to ensure alignment with goals and timelines. Use these to course-correct as needed.
Introduce process audits. Regularly review and assess the effectiveness of research workflows, identifying inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement. Share results to drive continuous optimisation.
Create one or more research operations roles to focus on optimising workflows, managing tools, and ensuring seamless project execution. These roles act as the backbone of the research function—driving efficiency, improving consistency, and enabling researchers to focus on delivering high-impact insights.
Current state: Processes are flexible but robust, with frameworks that scale and evolve as the business grows.
Future state: Level up from
5
Leading
Set up a process feedback loop. Establish a recurring feedback system where teams share ideas for improving workflows to help drive continuous improvement. Act on suggestions quickly to demonstrate value.
Build a global process repository. Develop a digital repository of optimised processes, customisable templates, and workflows accessible across the business. Update it regularly with innovations.
Create or implement an off-the shelf adaptive process framework or platform. A framework that dynamically adjusts workflows based on project size, complexity, and goals helps to right-size your resourcing. Consider integrating AI to recommend process adjustments in real-time.
Current state: One person is juggling everything with a shoestring budget. Burn out is imminent.
Future state: Level up from
1
Reactive
->
2
Emergent
Map out the current research skills and expertise within your team (and business!) to identify gaps and strengths. This helps allocate existing resources effectively and builds a case for additional support.
Create a research wishlist. Work with teams to list the tools, roles, and resources they need most. Use this to prioritise requests and build a case for additional investment.
Identify team members in your business who are interested in research and create a volunteer network to support small, low-cost projects. This builds capacity and creates internal research advocates.
Current state: Some additional budget and staff are available for ad-hoc outsourcing, but resources are stretched thin (and often dry up mysteriously).
Future state: Level up from
2
Emergent
->
3
Operational
Go after ad hoc funding. Secure a small, one-time budget to test a new tool or run a single research project. Use the results to demonstrate ROI and advocate for ongoing support.
Partner with external agencies or freelancers for high-impact or niche research needs. This approach expands capacity without requiring full-time hires, and levels up your insight game.
Create a structured professional development program for research staff, offering workshops, certifications, and exposure to world-class research practices. Include sessions on advanced methodologies, emerging tools, and industry trends. This ensures your team stays sharp, inspired, and equipped to deliver cutting-edge insights that drive business success.
Current state: Dedicated roles and realistic budgets are allocated to research, making your research program more effective and consistent.
Future state: Level up from
3
Operational
->
4
Strategic
Set regular time blocks for key team members to focus solely on research activities. This helps maintain consistent progress, even when competing priorities arise, especially if your business doesn’t yet have dedicated research roles.
Deepen collaboration with your trusted research providers to access greater delivery. Formalise the relationship through regular planning sessions, co-developed workflows, and forecasting. This ensures consistent quality, faster turnarounds, and the ability to handle larger or more complex research demands without overburdening internal teams.
Design and run a yearly program where staff in non-research roles learn basic research delivery skills, such as conducting interviews or usability testing. This builds empathy for customers, scales research capacity, and embeds a research-first mindset across the business.
Current state: Research gets the investment it deserves. Specialists, preferred partners, research ops, tools, and training are all part of the mix.
Future state: Level up from
4
Strategic
->
5
Leading
Create a tiered model to offer different levels of delivery support to teams within your business, from lightweight consultation to fully outsourced research delivery projects. This maximises resource allocation.
Host strategic planning sessions with leaders to understand their project pipelines and identify where research is critical for driving success. Use these insights to proactively allocate budget, people, and resources, ensuring research efforts are aligned with business priorities and ready to meet upcoming demands.
Build a multi-year roadmap to scale research capacity, identifying critical hires, tools, and infrastructure. Align this plan with business growth goals to secure leadership buy-in. Use AI and predictive modelling to anticipate research capacity needs based on predicted business growth and demand.
Current state: Research resources are abundant and adaptive. Teams feel empowered, not constrained, to deliver top-tier research.
Future state: Level up from
5
Leading
Regularly evaluate how people, tools, and budgets are used to ensure resources are deployed effectively and high-impact projects are prioritised.
Partner with universities and industry to identify and nurture future research talent, ensuring a steady stream of skilled candidates. Consider partnering with universities and think-tanks to co-design research programs.
Establish a decentralised network of research teams across regions, equipped with shared resources and localised expertise. This ensures scalability while maintaining agility.
Current state: Research governance is an afterthought, if it is thought of at all. Ethical risks often fly under the radar.
Future state: Level up from
1
Reactive
->
2
Emergent
Create a simple checklist of ethical considerations for research projects (e.g., informed consent, data privacy). Share it with teams to ensure a baseline level of compliance and awareness.
Collaborate with your team and leaders to create a “Research First Aid Kit”—a clear set of escalation and safety procedures for researcher and participant well-being. Include guidelines for handling distressing situations, data breaches, or unexpected incidents during research. This builds confidence and ensures a safer research environment for all.
Introduce a lightweight process where all research projects are reviewed for ethical compliance before they begin. This formalises governance without overburdening stretched resources.
Current state: You’ve started to recognise the need for research guardrails and standards, but aren’t sure how to implement them consistently.
Future state: Level up from
2
Emergent
->
3
Operational
Create and share a clear code of conduct for all research activities, including how to engage respectfully with participants. Make it a shared resource for every team.
Establish a small, cross-functional team to advise on ethical concerns and provide support for complex projects. Your research partners should be able to support you with this too. This fosters accountability and shared responsibility.
Deploy a simple tool to standardise how participant consent is recorded and stored. Research platforms like Askable capture this automatically. This ensures consistency and reduces risks of non-compliance.
Current state: Basic governance frameworks are in place, keeping research ethical and compliant.
Future state: Level up from
3
Operational
->
4
Strategic
Review completed research projects to identify potential gaps in governance and use findings to refine processes moving forward.
Implement consistent policies for how research data is collected, stored, and accessed. Ensure these policies are documented and widely understood.
Create a centralised toolkit that includes templates for consent forms, risk assessments, and compliance checklists. Ensure it’s accessible and easy to use for all teams.
Current state: Governance is robust and proactive, ensuring research integrity and stakeholder confidence.
Future state: Level up from
4
Strategic
->
5
Leading
Embed governance milestones into your ways of working. Require teams to check off key governance milestones (e.g., ethical approvals, risk reviews) during project execution.
Offer training for senior stakeholders to help them understand their role in supporting ethical, well-managed research and ensuring your practice is trauma-informed.
Align governance frameworks with broader business priorities, ensuring they are seen as enablers of business success, not just compliance measures.
Current state: Governance is ingrained in your ways of working. Ethical considerations are part of the DNA of every project, not just a checkbox.
Future state: Level up from
5
Leading
Schedule quarterly reviews of research governance practices to identify improvement areas and celebrate successes.
Develop an online hub with resources, case studies, and tutorials on research ethics and governance to keep the business at the cutting edge.
Create a robust, scalable framework that applies consistently across regions and teams, ensuring the business leads the industry in ethical research practices.
Current state: Leaders barely mention research, and most staff don’t see the point of it. It’s something done occasionally, often as a box-ticking exercise.
Future state: Level up from
1
Reactive
->
2
Emergent
Look for leaders or team members who already see the value of research and empower them to advocate for it. Encourage these champions to share success stories where research improved outcomes, sparking interest across the business.
Host short workshops or lunch-and-learns to explain how research helps solve business problems. Use relatable examples to show how insights can save time, reduce risks, or drive better decisions, even on a small scale.
Embed small-scale research activities into current projects or decision-making processes (e.g., marketing planning or product development kickoffs). Highlight how incremental insights directly improve outcomes, showing the practical benefits without requiring a massive shift in resources or processes.
Current state: A few leaders get it—they see the value of research and try to champion it. But most staff are still in the dark about why it matters.
Future state: Level up from
2
Emergent
->
3
Operational
Create a research playbook with simple documentation of tools and methods to standardise practices. Keep it practical and concise—no fluff, just what teams need to hit the ground running.
Run collaborative kickoff sessions for research projects to align teams and build advocacy for insights. Aim to start every project with a meeting of key players—product, design, marketing—to align on goals and roles.
Establish a formal research resource kit with templates for interviews, surveys, and usability testing. Include examples and best practices to ensure consistency and quality.
Current state: Leaders actively talk about research and its role in decisions. Staff are starting to connect the dots and see how insights can improve their work.
Future state: Level up from
3
Operational
->
4
Strategic
Create a simple, shared tracker to log ongoing projects, outcomes, and next steps. This keeps everyone in the loop, prevents duplication, and ensures insights don’t get lost in the shuffle.
Hold mini-workshops to educate teams on interpreting and using insights for user-centered decisions. Keep these short, sharp, engaging, and focused on turning insights into action.
Form cross-functional delivery squads embedding researchers with product, design, and marketing teams on a project basis to anchor your decisions in data and user outcomes.
Current state: Leaders are all in—they rely on research to guide strategy and openly advocate for it. Most staff understand its value and use insights regularly.
Future state: Level up from
4
Strategic
->
5
Leading
Develop a quarterly report for senior leaders, summarising key insights and trends. Keep it sharp, actionable, and tied to business outcomes. This builds visibility for research and positions it as essential for guiding strategy.
Scale stakeholder involvement by inviting leaders to user testing sessions. Watching real users in action strengthens their connection to insights and fosters greater advocacy for user-centered decisions.
Build a multi-year insights strategy aligned with business goals, showcasing the strategic value of research. Highlight how insights drive customer satisfaction, innovation, and market leadership.
Current state: Leaders and staff live and breathe research. Insights drive almost every decision, and everyone knows their work benefits from an outcomes-based mindset.
Future state: Level up from
5
Leading
After major projects, host cross-functional retrospectives to evaluate how research influenced outcomes and identify areas for refinement. Use this touchpoint to celebrate wins, pinpoint challenges, and refine your processes.
Create a mentorship program where senior researchers coach other teams on embedding insights into their work. Pair senior researchers with other teams to build relationships and share expertise.
Build a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for research, developing thought leadership internally and externally by sharing insights, best practices, and innovation globally. This elevates your brand’s reputation and cements research as a key strategic pillar.
Next steps
Additional resources
This tool isn’t just about identifying gaps—it’s about giving you the confidence and clarity to close them. If you’re looking to build stronger research capabilities or take your existing processes to the next level, we hope you find this framework useful for unlocking deeper insights and scaling your research effectively.
