When I was asked to a preview of Mrs Carey’s Concert and blog about it, I was intrigued about what the movie would be like.

I was surprised at how wonderful a documentary about the MLC concert could be.

As an MLC old girl, I could relate to the student’s side. Mrs Carey started at MLC when I was in Year 10. Her passion about music and how it would change our lives if only we rehearsed for hours and made it our life (regardless of whether we’d elected to do music or not) was overwhelming for a teenager. As one student in the movie says ‘The process is a bit tedious’. Although Mrs Carey does seem to have improved her process in the last 2 decades since I was at MLC, there was still that awareness that it was many hours of rehearsing (as is required for a concert), often with students that weren’t enthusiastic about it.

Now having to encourage a team of my own, I can also relate to the teachers side. That difficulty in communicating: If only you could see how involving yourself in this, you will see the world differently, grow and understand why I’m trying to get you to do this.

What the movie communicates so well is the journey that the staff and students go on to create the concert. You will laugh, feel their pain, and their joy. As the staff try to get the students to understand team values and leadership in the lead up to the concert the students are resistant, but all that really matters is that they get the feeling on the night of the concert.

There are some great aspects about what the teachers were doing that could be implemented in a business situation. Communicating in large groups, small groups, and one on one, are all important. Identifying students with specific talents and fostering that shows their leadership and facilitated the students learning to be leaders themselves. That sometimes you just need to walk away from the difficult students resistant to your various approaches to getting them to understand what they are a part of, so that your energy can be focused in the right places.

I won’t spoil the ending of the movie, but can say that when we did the concert while I was a student, I think most of us did get it on the night – the value and power of the team. I remember not singing at one point, listening to it all and thinking, this does kind of rock what we’re creating. In the movie Mrs Carey says ‘they take it for granted until they get out of here’ and I think there is truth in that. At the time the lasting memory is the tedious nature of the rehearsals, and looking back you remember that quite clearly as well, but you also remember it was a special thing to be a part of. I also clearly remember thinking that I shouldn’t have a career as a singer.

Like many, I spend December thinking about the highs and lows of the year. Then, in early January Tribe Research has its bi-annual planning session to review the previous year and set out the strategy for the year ahead. It is a great way to bring everyone together, energise, share ideas, and cement a plan for the future.

Looking back, a lot happened in 2010, personally and professionally.

• Tribe Research grew fast with a new team. Fast growth tests your business. A new team tests your systems and procedures, especially when they come on board when you’re above target. They need to get up to speed fast. It’s a great team who feel empowered by being given space to explore, uncover and drive change themselves. This is great for your business in the longer term, although at the time it is very hectic.
• I joined the Creation Healthcare team as an Associate Consultant. Sharing ideas with others working in the health sector and working with a global team gave great insights to the research I do, as well as ideas for Tribe Research having a team with a flexible working style (something I’m always striving for).
• I lost my friend, mentor and grandpa. He was an amazing source of inspiration for me. One of my last conversations with grandpa was about Musica Viva’s Young Professionals program. He was their patron, and was excited about the program and me getting involved. It was great to have the opportunity to discuss it with him.
• I had my longest break from Sydney – spending 7 weeks in New York allowed it to start feeling like a second home rather than a holiday. It was great to meet my niece (pictured left). As a friend said, it was a period of the ‘bookends of life’ – while as a family we lost grandpa, we gained a new edition, Marlo. The business grew while I was away, thanks to a great team, which has so many great flow on benefits.
• I was reminded that a good, random, small idea can grow to be something bigger quite easily – one night I thought it would be good to support small businesses at Christmas by buying their products as gifts and then promoting on social media. The response to my Christmas Mission was great and plans are underway to make it bigger and better in 2011.
• I had a strange sense that the symbols and logos that developed with Tribe Research’s growth were coming to their own fruition while in another way I was stepping away from the core of service delivery, giving me freedom to focus on the growth of the business. Sound esoteric?
  • Tribe Research’s logo is 4 puzzle pieces, designed over a decade ago because Tribe Research is about putting together the pieces of your tribe. In 2010, I felt the pieces of the puzzle of what I wanted to do were falling into place.
  • The first sub-brand for Tribe Research, in 2004, was Tribal Voice – the tribe of a business needs to have a voice. It started as our newsletter and now encompasses communicating back.
  • In the same period we developed our running tag – explore, uncover, drive change – because we felt that was what we were about. It has become part of the whole business. Our research assistants are Explorers, our project managers are Discoverers (because you can’t call them Uncoverers) and I’m called the Change Driver. Our planning and training days are called Planning Expeditions and Training Expeditions, and projects are called Expeditions. Team members are encouraged to submit ideas that outline what they have explored and uncovered and their change driving idea. Our website outlines how exploring is asking questions, uncovering is analysing feedback and driving change is implementing ideas.
  • The second sub-brand of Tribe Research was Tribal Know-How – sharing knowledge and planning.  It came about because one of my team in 2005 said I was good at sharing my knowledge and should start workshops. Tribal Know-How has developed to be about planning sessions and the workshops have become part of Tribal Tool-Kit as Masterclasses.
  • The need for businesses to have tools to grow themselves started to form as an idea in 2006 under the brand of Tribal Tool-Kit. It has taken a few turns but is now back on track as being a ‘tool-kit’ for businesses to grow through knowing their tribe.
  • In 2001, we incorporated clear-head to explore, uncover and drive change because to drive change you need to get a clear head after you explore and uncover. Getting a clear head is getting away from the every day to assess and decide what you need to do to then drive change.
  • In 2008 the ‘Know Your Tribe‘ brand was integrated. When we first started it there was little understanding of its meaning, particularly from my family that were still thinking in the literal sense of ‘tribe’ whereas in 2010 I was asked numerous times if I changed my name for the sake of my business.

2011 looks to be just as big and although you can’t plan everything, several great ideas are already starting to come together.

• I’ve been passionate for a while about how tribes need a full feedback cycle and that market research is only a part of this cycle.
  • Tribe Research now has three streams of consulting services:
    • Know Your Tribe – custom market research
    • Tribal Know-How – planning day facilitation
    • Tribal Voice - communicating
  • We also have Tribal Tool-Kit for our products that are part of all stages of the feedback cycle. Currently they are still in two sections, but plans are underway to merge them in 2011:
    • Software – CloudMaker and ActionMap within tribaltoolkit.com.
    • Other products – Survey Design Review; Masterclasses for member organisations and small business; Orientation; Schema; and Clear-headed Room Spray within tribaltoolkit.com.au.
• I’ll be spending more time getting my thoughts into publications so that others can benefit from knowing their tribe.

Photos courtesy of TheGoodTribe – a talented amateur photographer and Director of Finance at 20×200 based in New York (and my brother).

It was a great year for the pieces of the puzzle to come together both for Tribe Research and myself. Here’s to 2011 seeing those pieces cementing together!

How was your 2010 and what are your plans for 2011?

The other day, I tweeted: “Interviewing someone tomorrow. What’s your favourite interview question? Heard some great ones before, but thought I would throw the question out again.”

Twitter is a great resource for questions like this, and fairly quickly I got back several ideas, along with a request to summarise them:

• What is the biggest mistake you have made… and how did you recover / learn from it? Whingeing_Pom
• What are you most passionate about? WorkInColour
• What changes would you introduce in your current position that would make you stay there? dwinter
• Ask them to tell me a story for each core value JHenning
• What are the mistakes you see most people making in this situation etc? KenBurgin
• Reference question: Would you employ this person again? Why/why not?  dwinter

Previously when I have asked this question, I have received:

• At some stage in the interview ask them what they think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Although the person who suggested the question, as well as myself, are big Buffy fans, they said, the answer doesn’t matter, what matters is whether they say what they think regardless of your opinion or try to work out what answer they should be saying. I have never asked this question, mainly because I couldn’t do it with a straight face, but it does raise an interesting point. Interviewees can research your website and you (if they know who the interviewer will be) and work out the answers you want to most questions – is that what you want? If they answer what you want, but it isn’t true for them, then that will come out when they start to work with you, and it will cause problems. Often it will impact the whole team, and you have to adapt the team to their style, educate them and change their cultural approach, or find a replacement.  All of which can cost the business quite a lot.
• Ask them to describe their favourite boss. I have asked this one, and it has been very useful. Once someone said I can’t describe my favourite boss, but I can describe someone I really didn’t like as a boss and why. That worked equally as well. After having a team for several years, with some quite open staff giving feedback on my management style, I am quite aware of what I do well, what I need to improve, and what I naturally do and probably won’t change. If someone describes a workplace that isn’t Tribe Research then they are not going to be happy working for me.

This time, I didn’t ask any of these questions directly, although the conversation did ‘circle around’ some of them. They were a great refresher on thinking about what I wanted on the team and whether the candidate would be that.

I recently read a fascinating article in the February 2008 Edition of the Harvard Business Review (p28). Here is my cliff notes version…

The article explains how the gamer disposition is exactly what you want in your workforce because of 5 attributes that make your employees flexible, resourceful, improvisational, eager for a quest, believers in meritocracy, and foes of bureaucracy. The 5 attributes of a gamer disposition they have identified are:

1. Bottom-line orientated

Their goal is not to be rewarded but to improve. The game worlds have a symmetrical assessment (leaders are assessed as players are) and reviews are only meaningful for enhancing individual and group performance.

2. Understand the power of diversity

Each player is by definition incomplete given that teamwork is the key to achievement and the strongest teams have a diverse mix of talents and abilities. Therefore advancement criteria is “How much have I helped the group?” not “How good am I?”.

3. Thrive on change

Gamers create, thrive on and seek out change rather than simply managing it.

4. See learning as fun

Gaming is assembling and combining tools and resources. Reward is converting new knowledge into action. For gamers current successes are resources for solving future problems.

5. Marinate on the “edge”

Even when common solutions are known, the gamer demands a better more original response to the problem. A desire to seek and explore the edges in order to discover some new insight or useful information deepens one’s understanding of the game.

My thoughts: I was so fascinated by this article because we have been saying that research is a journey (or an expedition) where you “marinate on the ‘edge’” and learning is the objective. I often hear two things when people find out that I have a market research company: 1. Oh, you are one of those boring people. 2. Are you one of those companies that ring at 7pm asking me about my favourite brand of chips or pasta.

My answer to both is no. I would like to think that myself and the research we do isn’t boring as we select clients that have oganisations that are for the benefit of society, taking a gaming approach to each. I know this is a subjective definition, but it is a good starting point that I would like to think I hold to. Also, we do research on our tribes. Therefore we only contact you for research if our clients have your contact details or you can opt in to do the research rather than be intruded on to ask to participate on a product that you may or may not know about.

Can you recognise any potential benefits from taking a gaming approach within your organisation?

In January this year, I invited 3 business owners I knew, but didn’t know each other, with non-competing businesses, and different skills, to be part of a mastermind group – we now call it Great Minds Group (which is much easier for email communication because you can abbreviate to GMG!).

I thought I would share the process with you for a few reasons:

1. It has been immensely beneficial for Tribe Research
2. Lots of people have personally asked me about it
3. There have been LinkedIn questions about Mastermind groups, indicating their appeal and curiosity about them.
4. We are presenting a day at Small Business Month indicating the success of our group.

At the first meeting everyone gave an overview of their business and how they came to starting it. I researched Mastermind groups on the internet and provided a summary.

The group then decided:

• Meet monthly for 2 hours in the city
• Each meeting would focus on 2 businesses (an hour for each)
• The issue to be dealt with at the meeting to be emailed the week prior to the meeting so it can be considered
• To operate with an understanding of confidentiality, not a signed agreement
• Any member can be asked to leave if there is a conflict and people are free to leave themselves (neither has happened yet)

Our first meeting wasn’t awkward, everyone was excited by the opportunity and accepted the consensus of the majority. Another business owner has been invited and they were happy with the decisions already made.

For me, our Great Minds Group is useful for getting other business owners views and ideas. It is a support crew that I regularly catch up with, share success with, and don’t feel the same isolation that you can feel when it isn’t all going according to plan.

My Advisory Board that meets every 6 weeks, and has been for just over a year, can then be used for strategic and financial issues – where the ideas from the Great Minds Group are discussed and strategic direction is developed.

I would love to hear your views about mastermind groups…

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?

In a previous post I mentioned a departing staff member recently suggested we started a group for previous staff who haven’t been fired and don’t work for competitors, to stay in touch.

Her reasoning was that because I involve staff in the business development of Tribe Research and they love working for the company, they weren’t leaving because they didn’t like it, they just wanted different experiences. Therefore they’re likely to be interested in staying in touch and making small contributions to the business where possible. Also, they’re in a great position to provide independent and informed feedback on the business. When it comes to new products, previous staff may even become raving fans if they are kept up to date on what is going on and have the opportunity to stay in touch with each other.

This is how TRX was born. A group of previous employees who keep in touch through a newsletter and social events. So far we’ve sent an email newsletter to all previous and current staff who qualify to be a TRX member and we’ve received positive feedback from the members – they seem particularly grateful for the opportunity to stay in touch with each other. We’re also planning our inaugural annual event for TRX members to be held later in the year.

I will let you know about the progress of TRX in case you’re interested in establishing your own club for previous staff.