Episode 53 | August 16, 2022
Great research is only half the job: How UX leaders can scale influence and impact
Learn how Monal Chokshi builds impactful UX research teams and drives business influence at Dropbox. Insights on leadership, strategy, and collaboration.
Great research is only half the job: How UX leaders can scale influence and impact
What if your meticulously crafted user research never sees the light of day in decision-making rooms? That disconnect is more common than you think—and it’s exactly what Monal Chokshi, Senior Director and Head of Research & Insights at Dropbox, tackles in this episode of Insights Unlocked.
With more than a decade of experience leading research teams at Lyft, Intuit, and SoundCloud, Monal has seen firsthand that UX research leadership is about more than just generating insights. It's about ensuring those insights influence business decisions across the board.
Building research teams with intention
When Monal joined Lyft, she was tasked with building a research team from scratch. Her playbook? A strategic, staged approach rooted in understanding the company's structure, culture, and expectations around customer insights.
“The five key factors I always assess are: stakeholder expectations, how work gets done, organizational structure, leadership buy-in, and the company’s customer focus,” she explained. “If people already value the user’s perspective, your path to impact is a lot smoother.”
Whether you’re starting fresh or stepping into a more mature team, knowing how to scale research impact is essential.
ON-DEMAND WEBINAR
Building high performance design teams that drive goal conversion rates
Influence is the other half of the job
Monal emphasizes that doing the work isn’t enough—communicating the value of that work is equally important.
“Doing great research is only half the job. The other half is influencing,” she said. “If your insights aren't driving decision making, it's not effective—no matter how great the research is.”
This philosophy has driven how she leads at Dropbox, where she implemented an “insights council”—a cross-functional group that includes data science, customer support, and marketing. The goal? Deliver a single voice of truth.
This initiative:
- Unites scattered teams through shared insights
- Helps avoid conflicting data narratives
- Increases strategic alignment with executive leadership
It’s a model UX and CX leaders can adopt to elevate customer insights beyond silos and into boardroom conversations.
Structuring customer insights for scale
At Dropbox, Monal restructured the team into a hybrid of embedded and centralized models. Two-thirds remain embedded within product teams, while a newly formed central team tackles foundational research—like journey mapping and CSAT programs—that benefit the entire company.
This hybrid approach allows for:
- Deep domain expertise within product areas
- Holistic views on the customer experience
- Strategic alignment across cross-functional teams
It also strengthens research operations, making it easier for anyone in the company to connect with customers through tools and guidance.
Leadership beyond titles
For Monal, leadership in UX goes beyond management. “Anyone can be a leader. It’s about having a perspective, sharing it, and influencing others.”
Her focus on managing across—through alliances like the insights council—and up—by communicating to execs through curated insights—reflects the kind of strategic UX insights that drive meaningful change.
As she put it best, “We’re stronger together... If we can align around a single perspective, we can influence the direction of the business.”
Episode links:
- Democratize and scale UX research: This webinar explores strategies for expanding the reach of UX research within an organization, emphasizing the importance of cross-functional collaboration and aligning research efforts with business objectives.
- The complete guide to user interviews: This comprehensive guide covers best practices for conducting user interviews, a fundamental method in UX research for gathering customer insights and informing product decisions..
- How to get executive buy-in for experience research: In this episode of Insights Unlocked, the discussion centers on securing leadership support for UX research initiatives, highlighting techniques to demonstrate the value of research in strategic decision-making.
- How to conduct user interviews for better UX: This blog post offers practical advice on executing effective user interviews, reinforcing the importance of direct user engagement in enhancing user experience and product development.
