Our latest Planning Expedition

Our mid 2008 Planning Expedition was held at the Blacket Hotel in the city. Now that our team is a little larger (Kate, Naheen, Christine, Will, Adrian & Rebecca), and board members (Judy) and even ex-employees (Carissa and Steve – TRX members) attended the day, it was time to grow to a larger venue and a lovely high-ceilinged Victorian room within the Blacket.

In the tradition of our Planning Expeditions, the group focused on the year so far in the morning and the future in the afternoon – in the context of an inspiring business book. This time the book was Tribal Leadership (http://www.triballeadership.net/) by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright. In the morning we were also joined by Ken Hudson, creator of The SpeedThinkingZone for our early group sessions (visit www.thespeedthinkingzone.com).

So, in the morning, we reviewed early 2008 and in particular:

• our perceptions of ourself and how to look outside the box (after defining what the box is) so we could think creatively about ways to grow. The session, led by Ken Hudson, was an amazing asset to the day.
• our clients’ feedback on our performance
• a summary of our projects completed
• assessing the achievement of our goals in many areas of the business
• our core values
• our culture and how we can drive change via tribal leadership, the language we use and our definition of what we’re in service of

After lunch at the Blacket restaurant, it was time to plan for the future. We discussed our desired outcomes, our assets, if we have the assets required to achieve our outcomes and the behaviours we are performing and should perform to achieve those outcomes. Finally, each team member was asked to provide an update on their life goals – giving everyone a chance to hear about exactly what motivates and drives our team mates.

Peace offering: published pieces

To compensate for a blog silence in June and early this month, I’d like to make a peace offering – my video appearance on Kochie’s Business Builders and a number of articles I’ve recently published on small business development.

Each piece focuses on a different aspect of developing your small business via your relationships with each of your important tribal groups; suppliers, yourself, mentors, customers and stakeholders. I welcome your comments and feedback and trust they’ll provide you with some useful tips for your organisation. 

• Supplier Relationships: Supporting your brand, Tribe K, (2008) Flying Solo
• Solo business growth strategies, Tribe K, (2008) Flying Solo
• What I have learnt from my mentor, Tribe K, (2008) Flying Solo
• Seeking feedback from stakeholders to remain competitive and grow your business, Tribe K, (2007) Kochie’s Business Builders video:

 

 

Celebrating success

Welcome back to regular blogs from me and welcome to the new financial year.

It has been a crazy and eventful first half to 2008 with a turnover 3 times the same period in 2007, new team roles at Tribe Research and new products being developed and enhanced.

Small business owners often forget to celebrate their successes or say they don’t have time to celebrate. It is a big mistake, as the celebrations can carry you through the lows or hectic times and raises the energy of your team (whether they are staff, family or friends). Plus they are fun!

At Tribe Research we celebrate the end of the year at our annual dinner, every 6 months at our Planning Expeditions, weekly in our Explorer Update and Friday 4pm meeting.

We also send small business owners birthday cards for the birthday of their business and remind them to celebrate.

I have spent the weekend preparing our next Planning Expedition for our team. It will be starting with the following celebratiions:

• We just started our 7th year as an incorporated company
• We will be having our 6th Planning Expedition
• The first half of 2008 had turnover 3 times the same period last year
• The last financial year had turnover 1.6 times the previous financial year
• We introduced having a Mapper to the Tribe Research team
• We started TRX, a club for previous staff
• New products are almost ready to be released

So, share, what are you celebrating?