Sylver Consulting “the business” has existed at the nexus of Market Research (MR), User Experience (UX) and Strategy (STR) for over ten years. Yet, individual team members do not exist at that convergence. How is this possible?

Brianna Sylver, our founder, has purposefully developed a dynamic team of researchers and designers that exist across MR, UX, STR and other related disciplines. Because most client projects exist at an unfixed and inconsistent point among these disciplines, we are able to leverage the unique combinations of our team and our collective skills to meet our clients’ many needs.

The Sylver Consulting staff is composed of professionals from varied disciplines (i.e., market research, sociology, business, design, UX, innovation, film, theater, political science). These different perspectives offer the opportunity for each of us to grow through daily and project-based interactions with one other. Additionally, our project teams are ever-changing, since every project requires a different collection of skill sets to yield the success outcomes that we desire for that project. This intentional integration of varied disciplines within the staff and across each project team forces each team member to think about a problem from another member’s experience and view, which naturally changes each of us for the better as a result and renders the team more adaptive and flexible over time.

Now, there is often a concern that the constant shake up of project teams might result in some inefficient work practices. This is where the use and development of a share vocabulary comes in. The shared vocabulary used at Sylver enables clear communication across all team members, regardless of discipline. Without it, intent and vision can be confused or lost, leading to friction and reduced productivity.

Bottom line, no matter their skill, individual team members at Sylver are not able to produce the same robust solutions and insights as the collective project team.

Hence, it is Sylver’s goal is to continue to cultivate a team rooted in difference rather than forge a homogeneous “MRUXSTR” staff. An internal shared vocabulary is a key to our success, allowing us to continually integrate, sustain, and leverage diversity amongst our team so that we can ultimately better serve our clients.

At the time of this publication we are closing a large project that was an overwhelming success. Without revealing too much, the end result would not have been achieved if the team were more like Jean, Brianna, Rob, Jeff, Perry, or me. Personally, my view has been broadened thanks to an intense analysis/synthesis session with Jean and Perry—two people with very different experiences and work styles from my own. Likewise, our post-morten project debrief session will be an opportunity for us to grow together as a project team one more time before moving on to the next project and hence project team.

Sylver Consulting has existed and continues to exist at the convergence of MR, UX and STR because our team members do not.

Categories

• Innovation
• Market research
• Quantitative
• Strategy
• Cooperation
• Industry Experience
• Team Dynamics