Consolidation Workshop

1. Purpose

In the consolidation workshop, you bring all the findings together — from interviews, observations, DIY activities, desk research and internal data alike. Like a jigsaw puzzle, you piece the individual parts together until the team sees a clear picture.

When the exploration is broad in scope, the insights from the individual research areas add up to a deep understanding of the playground. How you consolidate them depends on the focus. If that focus was customer research, you develop and describe a target group segmentation in the Target Groups matrix and identify the different needs behind it (see Exploring Customers for more details). For market and competition, go through the articles Exploring Competitors and Exploring Markets to learn more on how to consolidate research findings in that area. For technology, data or partnerships, a short report per research question is usually the right format — with the implications for the business lines spelled out.

Whatever the focus, the Insights Matrix helps you work across the research areas: collect the findings, then pull out the golden nuggets that really matter for the playground.

By the end of the day, the team has a recommendation for the Project Sponsor on what should happen after the exploration.

2. Duration

1 full day, plus preparation and documentation

3. Participants

• Project Team

• Team Manager

• Team Coach

4. Preparation

As a Team Member

This is the day your research has been building towards. Come with everything in a state the others can work with:

As a Team Coach

Before the workshop, get an overview of the insights the team has gathered. Be clear about what the structure of the exploration outcome should look like — the structure, not the content. Based on that structure, prepare the team exercises that will produce it: which boards, templates and working steps the team needs in order to fill it. Ask every Team Member to prepare a (digital) poster / slide / structured documentation of their interviews to present their findings during the workshop. Where the exploration covered several research areas, decide in which order you will work through them, so the day doesn't fall apart into unrelated blocks.

Think through possible next steps after the exploration as well, so that you can discuss them with the team rather than improvise them on the day.

5. Tools & Materials

• 1x "moderation wall" with purpose and agenda

• 1x End-to-End Innovation Process

• 1x (Digital) poster / slide / structured documentation of interviews per Team Member

• 1x Insights Matrix

• If customer research is your focus: 1x Target Groups template — the one you worked with in the Kick-off Workshop and the Review Workshop — plus printed and cut-out pictures of the interviewees, roughly 5 cm in size, and company logos for B2B

• If market and competition are your focus: 1x Competitive Landscape Analysis template, plus printed competitor logos, screenshots or product photos

• 1x "You are now leaving your comfort zone" carpet

• 1x Project Charter "Exploration"

• 2x pin boards and moderation kit

• 1x flip chart with paper

• Common digital workspace, e.g. Miro Templates "Exploration"

• Optional: Business Design Guiding Principles as magnetic shapes or stickers

• Optional: 1x Anti-Bullsh*t Spray

• Optional: customer's glasses

6. Q & A

• What if there are still open tasks? As a coach, address this before the consolidation workshop. Talk to the Team Member in charge about what is getting in their way. If you expect their findings to be crucial for the consolidation and the recommendation, work out a solution — another team member stepping in, for instance.

• What if the research areas produce contradicting results? Don't smooth it over. When customers describe a need that the market data doesn't reflect, or a competitor looks strong on paper and weak in the reviews, that gap is often where the interesting part of the playground sits. Note it as an open question in the recommendation, and say what it would take to settle it.

• What if the team can't agree on a recommendation? Uncover the underlying motives. Is the team uncomfortable with breaking away from established ways of thinking? Are the interests of other departments at stake? Then arrange a meeting with the Project Sponsor as soon as possible.

7. Room & Infrastructure

• 1x empty wall, more than 420 x 200 cm

• 1x empty wall, more than 220 x 90 cm

• Chairs or cube seats

• 1x short-throw projector for the project workspace

• 1x table for catering

• Hot and cold drinks, snacks or finger food

8. Example Agenda

* P = Presentation | D = Discussion | B = Break | T = Teamwork