We cover topics like – what is happening in the world and what this might mean for us at work or in the rest of our lives.
It is always good to engage people in ideas or solutions- it is amazing the breathe of ideas you get from the different functions within the business.
We often use question cards in small group discussions to explore what people know and think.
It is always useful to be reminded that we are going through one of the biggest socio/eco/techo changes ever. To keep up, requires an open, curious and adaptable learning mind.
At our latest meeting we discussed the ideas put forward by Gerry McGovern in The Strangers Long Neck and the implications this had for our website . . .
What do we really offer- solutions/gifts/designer branded items, curiosity? It is essential we understand the shift in the buying needs of our customers- not only what but how.
Do we really understand:
* the factors that influence people to buy C&B on-line
* what they really want to know
* why have they come to us
* what they have to do to get what they want
* what tasks they have to perform on our site
We thought we did but what people want and what is possible, changes all the time.
We always share the state of sales, profitability, and customer engagement.
We ask for input into a range of strategies: marketing, sales, communication and delivery systems especially if it means our behaviour needs to adapt to accommodate change.
I consider these meetings absolutely essential to ensure we all talk and act with the same voice, spread our values, gather ideas and acknowledge achievements since the last meeting. Learning and change happens much faster than we think so to note this as we go is very important.
Someone usually makes something homemade for morning tea. All of this happens around our large red table (in a former life it was used as a cutting table for frocks!).
