Workshop: Action Research with Columinity

Columinity isn’t a tool to only scan your team. Columinity is a robust, systematic approach to analyzing your organization, identifying improvements together, and creating enduring change based on scientific knowledge. This is Action Research. We are happy to see more organizations recognizing this, and taking the leap with their teams.

In this blog post, we introduce the concept and outline our new 1-day workshop, Action Research with Columinity. Ideally, everyone with a stake in solving a problem or improving a process is involved. For Columinity, this includes team members, stakeholders (such as users and customers), and the people surrounding teams—leaders, managers, and coaches.

This workshop works best for organizations that have already been using Columinity for a while—we’ll dive into real data to uncover patterns and opportunities for improvement. Just getting started? Our Discovery Workshop or Kickoff Workshop is a better fit.

Sounds interesting? We offer facilitated Action Research workshops to help teams and organizations diagnose results, identify actionable improvements, and evaluate progress. Contact us (info@columinity.com) to explore the possibilities.

Part 1 - Action Research explained

Timeslot: 9:00 - 10:00

After encouraging participants to make their first connections, we run a couple of exercises to explore and explain Action Research. In short, Action Research is a collaborative, data-informed process for identifying challenges, taking action, and reflecting on results to spark continuous improvement and learning. It isn’t a framework or methodology—it’s a way of approaching systemic change.

It starts with a problem or process the participants want to improve. Together, they diagnose the situation by collecting and interpreting data, identifying patterns that point to deeper causes. Based on these insights, they formulate hypotheses and define potential actions they believe could make a meaningful difference. They also plan how to evaluate whether those actions work—what to measure, how to measure it, and what might influence the results.

These steps form a continuous, non-linear cycle. Our workshop guides teams through this cycle, enabling them to move forward with confidence. To dive deeper into Action Research, check out this article by Christiaan Verwijs.

While Action Research can be applied to individual teams, that often comes with a risk of sub-optimization. Many of today’s team challenges extend beyond a single team and relate to leadership, strategy, culture, or inter-team dependencies. That’s why Action Research is most powerful when practiced at a broader scale.

Part 2 - Diagnose

Timeslot: 10:00 - 12:00

We collect and interpret data, combining perspectives to create a fuller picture of our team’s current state. We explore what stands out—any surprising results, strong signals, or gaps that catch our attention. Together, we ask how these observations are connected and what stories the data might tell. As themes emerge, we identify clear patterns that suggest underlying causes or potential areas for improvement. This shared exploration helps us shift the focus from isolated symptoms to more systemic insights.

What stands out from the results?

• "Management support decreased with 24 points compared to the previous period."
• "Psychological safety has been marked as an impediment."
• "Most teams haven't invited any stakeholders to take the questionnaire."

How are these observations connected? What are clear patterns?

• "Something is preventing the teams from inviting their stakeholders."
• "Lack of management support and psychological safety might be connected."
• "Teams scoring low on shared goals also struggle with team morale."

Part 3 - Act

Timeslot: 13:00 - 14:30

Next, we formulate hypotheses about what might be driving our uncovered patterns. We reflect on possible underlying causes and discuss which ones seem most plausible given our context. With those insights, we brainstorm improvement actions that could lead to meaningful change. The focus is on practicality and impact—what small or strategic shifts might offer the highest return on effort? This step turns insight into intention, bridging reflection and action.

What underlying causes best explain the patterns we observe?

• "We hypothesize that teams fear criticism or exposure, and involving stakeholders feels risky or uncomfortable."
• "We hypothesize that inconsistent or absent management support signals to teams that speaking up is risky, reducing psychological safety."
• "We hypothesize that unclear or misaligned goals lead to confusion and frustration, which lowers team morale."

Which improvement actions have the highest likely ROI?

• "Ask your most important stakeholders what they think the goal of your next iteration should be. If it's too broad, reduce it."
• "Share data showing the link between management support and improved team and organizational effectiveness."
• "In the next iteration, your team will politely decline any non-critical request that doesn't fit the shared goal."

Part 4 - Evaluate

Timeslot: 14:30 - 15:30

We then define how we’ll evaluate whether our improvements make a difference. We discuss what data or signals we need to observe to verify (or falsify) our hypotheses. Potential pitfalls—such as biased input, changing team dynamics, or external factors—are considered to avoid drawing false conclusions. We also agree on when to review progress and whether it's time to start a new Action Research cycle. Finally, we identify who else might need to be involved—whether for data collection, perspective, or support—to ensure the learning continues.

What do we need to observe to know we are improving?

• "Stakeholders are being invited more regularly."
• "Team members can clearly state the team’s current goal—without hesitation or mismatch."
• "Teams proactively raise issues or concerns during meetings."

When do we start a new Action Research cycle?

"To keep learning and improving, it’s essential to regularly revisit our data and reflect on what’s changing. That’s why we’ve decided to start our next Action Research cycle in six months. In the meantime, we’ll continue our rhythm: completing the full questionnaire quarterly and measuring a subset of factors every two weeks. This helps us stay tuned in without overwhelming the teams."

Who do we need to involve?

"For this cycle, we’re involving Manager X, Stakeholder Y, and Coach Z from the start. We’ve also invited teams ABC and DEF to participate in the questionnaire—they’ve been doing interesting work lately, and we believe their insights could enrich the picture."

Part 5 - Moving forward

Timeslot: 15:30 - 16:30

To wrap up the workshop, we take time to reflect. Everyone can ask questions, share thoughts, or raise anything unclear. Depending on the energy and needs of the group, we might use something like Troika Consulting, User Experience Fishbowl, or Celebrity Interview. We end with a quick check-out—something simple to close the day with intention, excitement, and enthusiasm!

Action Research with Columinity

Curious to try this yourself? Columinity makes it easy to get started with Action Research. It’s free for individual teams, and our paid plans unlock deeper insights at the organizational level.

One creative option is to include Columinity in a workshop package. For example: a one-day workshop, including a one-month Columinity license for many or all teams in your organization. You’ll receive aggregated insights to support data-informed decisions and identify areas for systemic improvement. Even if you don’t continue with Columinity, it’s still a valuable investment.

In highly interactive sessions, we invite participants to:

• Recognize the use and value of Action Research to bring robust, systemic change based on data, scientific insights and collective intelligence.
• Practice Action Research on real data from Columinity.
• Translate insights from real data into meaningful interventions.
• Create the foundation for repeating this cycle frequently.

Sounds interesting? We offer facilitated Action Research workshops to help teams and organizations diagnose results, identify actionable improvements, and evaluate progress. Contact us (info@columinity.com) to explore the possibilities.