How was the weekend? – Winter 2010

Towards the end of last year, via our ActionMap tool, we asked ‘how was your weekend?’ and then posted the results. We wondered last time around what the ActionMap would look like in six months. So we asked again, at the beginning of last week, to see if things had changed.

This Tribal Tool-Kit ActionMap survey “How was the weekend?” asked:

1.    On Friday, we look towards the next two days with certain expectations. How important were these aspects for you on Friday?
2.    Now the weekend is over, how satisfied are you with the level of achievement with these aspects?

Below are the aspects and the numbers for the ActionMap key:

1.    Socialising
2.    Exercise
3.    Catch up on home to-do list
4.    EOFY (End of Financial Year) preparation (Dec 2009 – Christmas preparations)
5.    Catch up on work to-do list
6.    Relaxing

Here is what our ActionMap was able to deduce:

This shows us that both ’socialising’ and ‘relaxing’ were pretty important for most people and that most people were pretty satisfied with each of them by the end of the weekend.

It also shows us that anything to do with work and the end of the financial year weren’t really given too much importance for the weekend and delivered very little satisfaction.

When it comes to ‘exercise’, it seems that this was of moderate importance yet delivered  low on satisfaction. Given that it was perceived as being important though, it could do with some attention (for those who participated in the survey at least). Catching up on work at home was also considered of moderate to high importance but also delivered little in terms of satisfaction. Again, it seems that those who completed the survey might want to give a little more focus to this aspect of their weekend.

So how does this compare to our December ActionMap?

What we did in December was almost identical except, where we asked this year about the End of Financial Year preparations, we asked about Christmas preparations.  Below are the results from December 2010:

The first thing of note is that the ’spectrum’ of importance this time around is greater than last time. In summer, it seemed that everything had a reasonable to high level of importance (ranging from a mean score of 3.3 to 5). This time around importance scores range from 1.6 through to 6.0. Satisfaction scores are almost identical to December 2009, ranging from both 3.4 and 3.5 to 5.6.

It seems that ‘work’ and ‘obligatory’ activities (such as preparing for the end of financial year or Christmas) continue to be low priorities. This time around, exercise has become more important but maintains a similar level of satisfaction.  This may suggest that most (if not all respondents) came from somewhere in wintery Australia and are less active as a result of the weather – but wish they weren’t.

Work around the house is slightly less important but still derives the same amount of satisfaction as December 2009.

Again ‘relaxing’ and ’socialising’ derive the most satisfaction for our participants. However, it seems that our current respondents were somehow privy to the December results.  Improvements have been made to the level of satisfaction gained from ‘relaxation’ and the benefits of ’socialising’ appear to have been imparted – bravo new participants!

Though this ActionMap is just a bit of fun, it does demonstrate how a short, simple survey administered amongst your tribe can help you get some answers about your brand’s successes. A short, smart survey can also give you some indications as to where you should focus your attention to help bring your brand into line with where you would like it to be.  If you would like to know more about how the ActionMap or any other part of Tribal Tool-Kit can help you and/or your business, please feel free to contact Tribe Research via email (ask@triberesearch.com.au) or by phone (+61 2 8096 2546).

…And with a new week freshly upon us and another weekend fast approaching, perhaps insights we have gained here will help to guide you towards a weekend where you get as much satisfaction as you can from doing all the important stuff (i.e. socialising and relaxing!)

Until next time…

Happy Exploring!

Four ways to grow your tribe

Four essential ways for growing your tribe:

1. Research is an ongoing expedition, not a static project. It’s the best way you can drive change in your organisation. Read more about the feedback cycle in action.
2. You need to involve everyone in your  organisation when you want to get feedback. They all have a perspective they’re sharing inside and outside of the organisation and shaping other people’s views.
3. You need to find out the words that people use to describe your organisation so you can see if they are the same words you use. If they aren’t the same, then people are getting mixed messages. You can do this easily with a CloudMaker mini survey and then make a word cloud.
4. Find people who can give you a different perspectives and challenge your views.

Kate Tribe had a conversation with Hugh Liney for the Telstra Enterprise Podcast Series that covered these points. You can listen to the Podcast on their website.

The feedback cycle in action

Anyone who has heard me rant before, knows a theme is: you need to explore the views of your tribe; uncover the strengths and areas to improve; then drive change by putting the strengths into your marketing and focus business planning with their ideas.

I recently attended the Huntington Estate Music Festival in Mudgee with the music organised by Musica Viva Australia. It was the 3rd time I’ve been and now see myself as part of their tribe.

Last year they had a paper based feedback survey that festival goers were asked to complete before leaving. I was happy! I naturally looked at ways the survey could be improved, but was happy the initiative was taken.

What really made me excited was that at the start of the festival, Tim Stevens (Huntington Estate owner & winemaker) said in the introduction, how they’d listened and changed as a result of the feedback.

They completed the research cycle and I wanted to describe what I saw of the process and how the crowd talked about it.

Firstly, they listened. They asked for feedback. At events there are two times to do this: at the end of the event and after they have gone home.

1. At the event: has higher response as participants are there and engaged. They are giving feedback on a recent experience, still in their memory. The down side is that it doesn’t give a considered response. In the case of training, this is an important consideration. At an event like Huntington this is a great time.
2. After the event: generally gets lower response rates as participants have returned to their normal lives. If you want to know their considered response, such as in training, then it can be better to gain feedback at this time even with lower response rates.

Secondly, they looked at the feedback. They considered ways to improve from the ideas they were given and had information for marketing.

Thirdly, they changed. A range of initiatives to make the festival even better were implemented. I hear from buyers of research or people who do research in-house, that it isn’t value for money. My response is: what did you do when you got the results? And often hear: we didn’t have time or resources to act on them. Of course, you then didn’t find it value for money!

Fourthly, they communicated the changes as a result of the feedback. They kept communicating how they were seeing ways to improve. This is a great event already, with growing audiences. They have raving fans, who talked about being heard.

They said it was great they improved X, now it would be great if they improved it this way. That would make it even better.

They commented that they saw feedback forms for 2009 and would complete them so the organisers would know their views again. This is an important distinction because declining response rates is a problem. The fact they knew they were listened to, encouraged them to participate again.

The full cycle benefits in building the tribe. That makes the event greater. That makes their business greater.

Do you complete the cycle or just ask for the feedback?

Launching CloudMaker: the 1st Tribal Tool-Kit tool

After years of development we’re very excited about sharing our software with you.

Tribal Tool-Kit is being filled with tools to help you get to know your tribe. The first tool is CloudMaker.

Visualise the language your tribe uses. Easily.

Uncover language for your marketing and develop business planning priorities.

Idea 1: Words your tribe uses to describe you.

Send an email, or ask in a survey, When you think of us, what are the first 3 words that come to mind?

Tribe Research did this recently. We put the words together and imported them into CloudMaker and developed our cloud.

Idea 2: Words your tribe uses to describe an aspect to your business.

Recently we asked on various social media: When you think of the skills needed in business, what first 3 words come to mind?

We put the words together and imported them into CloudMaker and developed our cloud.

Idea 3: Use existing data about your tribe.

Understand the spatial distribution of your tribe by exporting your contacts and importing into CloudMaker. You might have a hidden group that could use your services that CloudMaker would highlight for you.

CloudMaker allows you to edit your data once you have imported it, allowing you to easily: merge, delete, and edit words. You can export your revised dataset. Your cloud can be saved as an image to be placed in your documents, or HTML code so you can put the cloud on your website. The website option allows you to link the words to relevant pages on your website.

Now you can do the same. Tribal Tool-Kit is at: https://www.tribaltoolkit.com/

To have an account of your own, complete our enquiry form and we will set one up for you. The first 50 accounts we set up will be given 25 CloudMaker credits, valued at almost $100.

Happy exploring!

Visualising the skills needed in business

When you think of the skills needed in business, what are the first 3 words come to mind?

I posted this question to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Ecademy.

Then I collated the words and uploaded them to our new software. The results are on our Flickr site – have a look for an insight on the skills that came to business owners minds: Cloud of results.

Do you have any to add? Comment below and I will update the cloud soon.

Training Expedition

In 2008 we started Training Expeditions. They are 2 days in the year (in Apr/May and in Oct/Nov) when I try to create an interactive and fun way for the team to experience research and learn new skills. In November we had our second Training Expedition.

The planning started in September when I decided a good base theme would be: a treasure hunt. The treasure would be the new research skills or insights…

• They would have to explore and uncover (key aspects to our mission)
• They would be going on a range of expeditions
• The stages required them to be observant, resourceful, and problem solving
• Some elements required team work, some individual work
• Timeliness as well as thoroughness is important

Next, I developed a list of things I noticed they needed to improve. Then put them together so it was a treasure hunt.

My followers on Twitter gave me the venue for the lunch session.

On the day, I reported the progress of the team on Twitter:

Tweet 1: is having our Training Expedition, a treasure hunt in Sydney, starting in 6 hours. Looking forward to see what the team uncovers!
Tweet 2: the team are off and running at a Speed Thinking Course run by Ken Hudson (They loved the introduction to Speed Thinking Course)
Tweet 3: Thinking that I made the Training Expedition too difficult. Team not started Stage 3 & so now they’re running an hour late. Doh! (Apparently they were busy networking with people they met at the course! Excellent for branding, not so good for being time efficient)
Tweet 4: Wooo hooo, someone just logged on for Stage 3. Hopefully my laptop battery will last until they get here for Stage 4 & 5. (They went to the Apple store and logged onto their webmail, as the information said the next clue would be emailed to them. They thought if it required them to know something from the walk to the office, which it did, they wouldn’t have to double back – impressive)
Tweet 5: 1 of 3 have finished Stage 3… but will they find me for Stage 4?
Tweet 6: I counted the banks on their Expedition wrong. Me=11. Team=14. The number was in a formula to get to me. Had to text the them the address.
Tweet 7: Stage 5: Wagamama lunch & feedback form review. 3 in Sydney CBD. Went to location they knew, not closest. Google could have saved 3/4hr! (They didn’t go to the wrong location, actually they texted a friend to find out the closest Wagamama, which was resourceful. They then spent 2 hours at lunch which we discussed at the de-brief)
Tweet 8: Team have recovered well and are now on their final stage. Sure to have interesting discussion at Sanctuary Hotel from 4pm.

At our team de-brief, I was interested to hear, not only the first statement, when I walked in ‘that is the best day we have ever had, I can’t believe we got paid for that‘. Throughout the day they worked as a team which was interesting as the incentives were individual based.

The team provided two testimonials for the day (they are not edited!):

“The training expedition at Tribe Research was definitely a unique way to get to know the rest of the team better. It was hands on training with a scavenger hunt using all the skills we put into action at work every day, thinking outside the box, understanding different people’s strengths and weaknesses in a team and effective planning. The great thing about the day was it was fun and different and engaged us instead of a dull lecture, and we found at the end of the day that all the skills we used that day translates to the work we do as well. I’ve found now that I can better appreciate the different dynamics of the team and see that problem solving can be done more than one way.”

“The activities organised for our Training Day were really different and exciting! We were on our ‘toes’ the entire day and still pumped come reviewing time at 4pm. It gave us the chance to really bond as a team and address issues within the organisation in a fun, creative manner. More organisations should try and make their Training Days as creative and as exciting as ours – the outcomes will speak for themselves. It was the best Training Day we have ever had!”

My thoughts after the day, and we have just had our Planning Expedition which discussed the Training Expedition further…

1. I really enjoy organising them
2. The team bonded
3. The team have greater job satisfaction
4. I learnt how the team thinks and works together
5. The team learnt research approaches

At a time when staff retention is really important: it costs more than their annual income to replace; it is important that quality staff grow and stay with you. Developing your team, so they want to stay with you, and when they leave want to maintain a relationship with you, is even more important.

What are you doing to keep your tribe of staff with your business?

The 3+ / 3- guide

I guide my life by what I call the “three plus three minus” rule or test.

Recently, I have explained the guide to quite a few people saying they are frustrated by aspects of their life, so I thought I would share it here.

It is really simple:

1. What 3 things are frustrating you the most?
2. What 3 things do you most enjoy?
3. What actions can you take to minimise or remove the 3 in (1)?
4. What actions can you take to increase the 3 in (2)?

Your answers to (3) and (4) is what your goals are for the next year.

I don’t only do this activity at the end of the year for the next year, I also do it when I am frustrated. It helps me get focused and back on track again. It is also a great activity to do each night. What was great today, what would I prefer to not be spending my time doing, or what did I find frustrating. Doing that as you go to sleep allows your mind to work it over and you wake up with solutions that you can focus on for the next day.

I am currently formulating my 3+ / 3- so that I can work out my priorities for 2009. What are yours?

Are you a ‘Whinger’ or ‘Resilient Do-er’?

I was recently interviewed by Julianne Dowling for an article she was writing. She wanted to know how I was being innovative as a market research business owner in the present economic situation and planning for the future.

The focus of the article was the Adversity Quotient developed by Dr Paul Stolz.

Australians scored just one point above the global average on the overall ratings (ie: not as good) and ‘we’ let negative work issues affect other aspects of our lives. On the upside Julianne reports that the research showed: “we also have an innate ability to knuckle down and solve our problems in times of adversity”.

Read the full article

Which tribe do you want to be a part of? The tribe of “world class whingers” or the “resilient do-ers”. I find whinging, exhausting; but doing is energising.

The research also found that training can help you be more positive, resilient and innovative in all aspects of your life.

Running your own business isn’t ‘a walk in the park’ but that is what makes it so rewarding.  Now is a great time to reflect on the year, thinking about where you were in December 2007 and where you want to be in December 2009. Celebrate the highs. Think about what you can do differently for the things that didn’t work out the way you planned.

I have several specific actions that help me be resilient:

1. Support networks: Advisory Board, Great Minds Group, friends, family
2. A 3+ / 3- rule: Think about 3 things I enjoy doing and how I can structure my life & business so they feature more; think about 3 things that I don’t enjoy and how I can structure my life & business so they go away or don’t feature as much
3. Activities to mentally escape: classical music, crime novels, sewing, dinner parties, cricket, cricket, and oh, cricket.

What do you do to maintain your membership to the resilient do-er tribe?

Small Business in Australia

Sometimes as a small business owner, you can feel a little alone. Which is why I have an Advisory Board, Mastermind Group, Previous staff club, and other networks.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports that, for Australia, in June 2006 there were 1,646,344 small business operators. In June 2007 there were 2,011,770 actively trading businesses.

Proof enough that you aren’t alone. Of the business owners:

• 68% were male and 32% were female
• 58% were aged between 30 and 50 inclusive; 33% were >50; and 9% < 30
• 67% worked full-time hours (ie: 35+ hours/week) and 33% worked part-time hours (ie: < 35 hours/week)
• 71% were born in Australia
• 92% conducted one business; 6% two businesses; 2% three or more businesses

In 2003-04, 325,935 new businesses started. In June 2007, 49% of these were still operating. In the short to medium term, business survival is related to the age of a business, so the longer a business survives, the greater its chances of continuing survival.

Non-employing businesses, have significantly lower survival rates than employing businesses, so while 49% of all entries in 2003-04 were still operating in June 2007, 71% of new employing businesses were still operating compared to 40% of new non-employers.

So, next time you are feeling staff angst, maybe they are helping your survival.

Battling Balance! Do you have the same problem?

I went to a great talk this morning on Battling Balance and I wanted to share some key points with you.

Jenny Campbell, is a Lawyer with a large Sydney based firm. As she called it, “back in the dark days”, she was 216 kg and worked 24/7.  She was part of the tribe who called people who talked about balance and a desire for it ‘wimps’. She came to understand that stress is real and it has a bad effect on your body, and so set out to loose the weight. She started to do this in the same obsessive way she had worked, and is now at the stage of finding a balance between work, fitness and a social life.

However, as was discussed this morning: To achieve something big you have to be out of balance. Are you going to tell me that Olympians have a balanced life? But, at what point does imbalance become unhealthy.

Key lessons from this morning:

• People only build 1 facet of their life at a time and this causes other facets to fall down which in turn pulls down the one thing you were spending all your energy building.
• Esteem comes from how close our view of ’self’ is to our perception of ‘ideal’, but we have a tendency to question self, rather than ideal. Why do we believe the ideal?
• Being out of balance can de-motivate as well as motivate. If you are given an ideal that is too far from where you are at, you might not bother trying to get to the ideal.
• They identified a simple formula to ignite change:
  Dissatisfaction + Vision + First Steps to take > Resistence that I am feeling

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