The Best Research Starts with Strong Partnerships

 I had one of my favorite kinds of client meetings the other day.

There was no formal agenda. We had recently wrapped up a project together, so we talked about that and some of the decisions their team was making next. We talked about an upcoming trip she had planned to San Diego with her son. And we caught up on everything else happening in life and in business.

After the call, I found myself reflecting on my partnership with that client and how much relationships like that affect the work we do together.

Great partnerships develop over time. You build trust, you accumulate context, and you get to know each other's businesses in a way that you simply can't when you first start working together.

If I had to distill what I've observed over the years, the clients who get the most value from research tend to do a few things consistently:

• They share the business problem, not just the research question

• They keep us informed about what's happening in their world, even between projects, so we can bring more context to the next engagement

• They're open about what they know, what they don't know, and what they're hoping to get from the work

• They share their real constraints, whether that's budget, timelines, stakeholders, or organizational realities

• They ask us what we think. They invite us to collaborate, push back, and bring our experience to the table

The longer I do this, the more convinced I am that the quality of the partnership shows up in the quality of the research.

I'm curious what others have found. Any tips for getting the most out of your research partnerships?