Volunteering Experience - at one of the few Elephant sanctuary's in Thailand

I am just back from holiday where the kids and I went to Northern Thailand to volunteer at an elephant conservation camp. This is one of the few places in Thailand where elephants are safe and able to live an elephant’s life.

Clearly we are a family of ‘experiences’ and I wanted us to experience the challenges and joys of participating in a volunteering program as well as getting an understanding of how an individual can make a difference to a community.

In the process I learned a lot about volunteering, cruelty, passion and culture; and making a difference in a community – much of which is relevant far beyond the elephant park. Back to my elephant story.

When people travel to Thailand – most delight when they see a real life elephant. However, what most tourists don’t know is the brutality that all off these ‘tamed’ animals have experienced in their lives.

Most ‘Western’ travelers would be aghast at the pain inflicted on these animals… and if they knew they would simply not go on the trek or watch the elephants ‘perform’ in a show. Asking an elephant to paint –is not a natural thing…it is only achieved after years of brutality.

In less than 100 years the Asian elephants numbers have been reduced by as much as 100,000. When the Thai government banned logging of the rain forests the mid 80s – many of the working elephants lost their jobs – if elephants are not earning an income their owners cannot keep them.

It is reported that there may be as few as 3500 elephants left in Thailand – and most of these are in captivity – if they were to be returned to the wild there is simply not enough forest to support this population (Each elephant eats more than 100kg of food each day. Many elephants are completely malnourished because they are not fed properly in captivity.)

So many of the elephants are forced to perform for tourists to earn their keep…. unbeknownst to the traveler each of these elephants (during their juvenile lives) have had to endure days in a ‘crush’ – being tormented and mutilated by hooks until they are ‘broken’.

The videos we saw of elephants being ‘tamed’ where horrific – but there is no easy answer as Lek the founder of Elephant Nature Park has found. Whilst she provides refuge for 36 abused elephants and runs a successful volunteering program. (The kids and I delighted in feeding, washing and hanging out with these massive beasts)…. her program is a drop in the ocean. And to save an elephant is a very expensive exercise. Yet many Thai’s do not believe in the work Lek is doing…. with positive training and returning elephants to a herd. Elephants represent a livelihood for many Thai families – yet the daily cruelty is gut wrenching.

I wondered out loud “How can they allow this cruelty happen to the elephant which is considered a Thai national symbol?”My son responded “but look at what we do to the kangaroo Mum how is that different?”. Good point.

So I asked Lek – “what can we do?” – She said “to ban elephant ownership is not the answer. What we need are people to contact the travel writers, publishers and bloggers to let them know that the monkey, tiger, or elephant shows and activities in most countries are all facilitated through abuse toward animals… Urge them to give people the information so they can choose if they want to be a part of that.

She continued – “Lobby government, write letters, and agitate to change the law around animal cruelty. Elephants can still work and lead fulfilling lives, and they can be trained using positive reinforcement rather than cruelty. We have proven that over and over here. We can work (and play) side by side with an elephant without using force. It just takes longer, and costs a little more.”

This is a complex issue in a far away land. And I only had a small insight in the few days that I was there. But there is cruelty everyday here in Australia too and that is something we can do something about. (I guess that is why I am passionate about the role I play at Voiceless – even in a small capacity).

Activism alone will not change the world – it takes agitation, vision, leadership and passion. And laws do need to change, and society to see a different way forward.

And one person at a time we can make a difference – and make a fellow creature’s life a little more bearable. None of these issues are simple… but just because it has always been like that (I heard that elephants were being ‘broken’ more than 6500 years ago) does not mean that it is right – or that we can’t make a difference.

We can.

How are you going to make the world a better place this year? To provide support in your community – where your energy can make a difference. Let me know.

Instead of writing a blog – requesting that you complete the 2011 Dream Employer Survey (please do though as it will take only 3 minutes); I am reflecting on the past week of fabulous experiences. To take a moment to breath and relive the extraordinary experiences we have available to us in this great country.

I have wanted to swim with Whale Sharks for more than a decade… and finally I got to tick that one off the list. The experience was everything that I imagined it might be. It was truly sublime to be drifting next to the largest fish on earth.  It puts life into perspective as you float in the warm current next to a seven-meter creature. Little is known about where they come from or migrate to. It is a moment to feel how small we really are – and that we are part of a massive eco system that is all inter reliant.

The sun has shone for the whole week – and the wind has blown. But with the wind behind us the three day – 30km kayak / camping trip along the Ningaloo reef was majestic.

All types of marine life came to greet us – turtles, manta-rays, sting rays, sharks, scores of fish, birds and dolphins. The reef was a seething mass of life – literally the ocean would be boiling with fish – the food chain in all its reality.

Camping on the beach, cooking what we caught, sleeping as soon as the sun went down. No contact with the world – I was amazed how quickly the days passed, how calm I felt, how I loved the silence of the bush and ocean (which are actually very noisy). How peaceful it was.

What wonderful RedBalloon experience partners we have.. and great to meet them in person.

I’m truly rested, grateful for being able to go on such a break, and will spend the next few days feeling appreciative of the beauty of an untouched piece of the planet.

Dexter was in his element when we had Channel 7s Today Tonight come and film with us on Friday – he of course was the star of the show.

I’m sitting looking at this weeks calendar and sort of wondering if I can get it all achieved (with elegance and grace.)

This week:

Monday: Speaking at the Mt Eliza Business School on Employee Engagement
Tuesday: Speaking at the Geelong Business Group, Speaking for Court Financial in Sydney, then attending the judging of EYs Entrepreneur of the Year
Wednesday: Participating in a BRW business round table
Thursday: Participating in a PwC business education event
Friday: RedBalloon experience familiarization with the team (on the harbor)

Reading: What makes us Tick – Hugh MacKay

I have been in three situations recently that have given me an insight I had been oblivious too. When we happily operate in our own world we are often blind to other peoples view of the world.

I thought people knew how important it is to be grateful for another person’s generosity and that to authentically thank them was the gift they give in return.

1. I was chatting to a business associate who, when I asked him how he recognizes his small team, answered ‘I don’t like to thank them more than once a month – otherwise it just won’t seem sincere, you can over do it if you say thank you to often – they will take it for granted.’
2. I was in a committee room where it was being discussed what to give the speaker to say thanks for their generosity of presenting to our group – and one of the men in the room said ‘they don’t do it for the gift – they do it because they want to help others.’
3. I was asked at an event on the weekend how RedBalloon went during the GFC – given that gifting is not an essential purchase.

My response to each:

1. It is not the quantity but the quality of the acknowledgement that makes the difference. “Good manners cannot be worn out.” You could make someone’s day, every day as long as the acknowledgement is truly personal, timely and relevant. Generic words that are not specific do little to make you or the other person feel great. Be specific.
2. People don’t donate their time to speak for the ‘thank you’ gift – but as a speaker I know how much I give of myself every time I step before an audience. What the speaker really wants is to know that they made a difference to another person’s life. Letting the speaker know the contribution they made will be the thanks they yearn for. Also to give them a thoughtful gift – that has perhaps been researched about what is relevant to them – shows them that you cared about the preparation the speaker made – because you to cared enough to go to a similar effort.
3. Gifting is a central to our well being. It is essential to our humanness. They way we thank some one, or acknowledgement them is what makes people feel connected to another. The work done by the New Economic Foundation points to the well being effect of gifting on not only the recipient but also the giver. Giving a great gift is a source of happiness – and is fundamental and essential to our well being.

Last night I got inspired to write this after watching an episode of Madmen – where Don the main character has a fundamental issue with acknowledging those around him. Set in 1965 I understand that may be how people operated last century. But we have moved on.

EXCERPT: The tension rises with Peggy’s frustration at being kept in the office after hours. Add her simmering resentment of her unsung contribution to the Glo Coat commercial and she reaches boiling point. She lashes out at Don for taking credit for her work and he retorts with “It’s your job. I give you money, you give me ideas.”

“And you never say thank you!”

“That’s what the money’s for!” he yells. “You’re young, you will get your recognition. And honestly, it is absolutely ridiculous for you to be two years into your career and already counting your ideas. And you should be thanking me when you wake up, along with Jesus, for giving you another day.”

Please leave a comment about a time you thanked someone authentically and how it made you feel. I am looking to add stories to the book I am currently researching… thank you

‘Sharing’

People often ask me ‘what is the next big thing?’ Occasionally one get’s an insight into what the world ‘might be like’.

Here are some things we know:

1. There is an anti ‘stuff’ movement – not only can we not store everything we own (we live in smaller spaces in cities – and self storage is one of the fastest growing industries) but we are increasingly concerned about the cost to the planet of manufacturing, transporting, storing, then disposing of all this stuff.
2. That social networks are revolutionizing media…
3. That smart phones are outselling PC/Laptops
4. That people like a deal
5. That people want to trust and believe in brands
6. There is an increasing desire to do contribute to community and for people to feel connected to those people around them. (an increase in farmers markets for instance.)

Put these six things together and there is a perfect business revolution taking place.

Rachel Bolsman in her book ‘What’s mine is yours’  calls the phenomena ‘Collaborative Consumption’ – or the ‘Sharing Revolution’

There have been four phases distinct phases as business models evolve to get us to this collaborative consumption era:

• We connected to share information (open source)
• We connected to people we know (social networks)
• We shared our thoughts and published them (blogs/twitter)
• We connected to share and access to assets.

Apparently in the average life on a power drill it is only used for 13 minutes. Does every man need to have one in his tool shed (or does he just need a hole drilled)… Matt my colleague said that I was missing the point about men and power tools when I mentioned this to him.

So how can we share assets – or utilize what we already have to increase it’s return. The internet has created a true enabler – that is efficient, and that provides the scale needed to make such collaborative consumption work.

There is a shift where access trumps ownership.

There are four interesting business models.

1. Collaborative Lifestyles: Social networking becomes service networking – have a look at AirBnB.com
2. Micropreneurs: EBay is the ‘Big Daddy’ of this but also think Freelancer.com
3. I need – You have: Is about redistribution (back to the idea of swapping, bartering, trading, gifting) think 99dresses
4. Products become services: If BMW were to offer mobility solutions rather than sell more cars –It is worth looking at what DriveMyCarRentals.com.au is doing

Interesting it might take a radical shift of thought to move to these collaborative business models especially for existing businesses – such as manufacturers turning themselves into services.

Business is fascinating – Thanks Rachel for ‘Sharing’ your insights.

It seems like yesterday that I launched RedBalloon (during the dot com crash, no-one can accuse me of not having an optimistic outlook) and waited (and waited) for two months and four days to sell our first experience.

Thank you to our first customer, Damian Chown, who says he chose to purchase from RedBalloon because it was the only gift giving company of its kind that was established online. “Traditional gifting businesses at the time only gave you brochures and pamphlets to flick through. I liked the variety of RedBalloon’s offering and how easy it was to make a decision,” he said.

And our millionth customer is Lisa Harris who bought an engagement gift for her friends – a Chocolate Fondue and Martini for Two

It is amazing to see the dream becoming reality – especially creating such a vast and diverse community of suppliers, many of which are small businesses themselves who have achieved fabulous growth too.

Thank you to the RedBalloon team members, who excel looking after our customers and suppliers. Thank you to our customers, who trust us to deliver on amazing, memory-creating experiences.

I look forward to the journey forward, to the next million experiences.

Barry O'Farrell arrives with the Medai

The NSW Opposition Leader – Barry O’Farrell visited RedBalloon this morning to make an announcement on his ‘Economic Growth Plan’. They were very deliberate in chosing a fast growth business with a strong employee engagement record as a venue for the announcement.

It was an interesting experience having eight or so party people and three politicians visit, however it was the 20 media people with all their equipment which took over RedBalloon.

Barry chatted with the team, I got to have a word in his ear about the challenges businesses

Employee engagement and productivity a focus for Barry O'Farrell

face with compliance and the disincentive payroll tax represents to employment. But also I showed him some of the fabulous work we have been doing in Australian businesses regarding employee engagement. He was particularly interested in the simplicity of our RED (recognition every day) Toolkit and how we are rolling this out to employers across the country.

Some journalists were interest to know my reaction to the announcement ie of ‘reducing payroll tax burden,’ and reducing red tape by 20%’. These things all sound fabulous to me as a business owner. It is not the idea that counts (as in business) it is all about the execution. I look forward to experiencing the results of these policies.

This is what I officially said:

“Small Businesses in NSW have long asked for greater simplicity in reporting and the removal of red tape,” said Simson, whose small business grew from one employee ten years ago to over forty employees today.

“Service industries are fundamental to Australia’s business success. But today’s taxation reporting is stifling for small business. It is the cost of collection as well as the financial burden that puts pressure on us. No wonder so many small businesses term it a disincentive to grow.”

With RedBalloon making the BRW Fast Lists six times, the red tape has not necessarily slowed down this NSW small business, but Simson wonders how much bigger, and faster, the business growth could have been.

“Here we have an opportunity to emphasise and illustrate the potential and value to both the economy and government revenues of dramatically simplified business reporting and taxation systems,” she said.

Is exemplary customer service about having ‘Happy Customers’ at all cost? Does a business need to do everything it possibly can to keep customers ‘happy’ – or is it a case of ‘you cannot please all the people all the time’?

I’m tremendously proud of RedBalloon’s growth, and the sheer quantity of customers we now are privileged to serve. Plus I am very aware that RedBalloon has been built by many people: customers, suppliers and employees.

I have really focused on creating the right team at RedBalloon and part of that included choosing a fabulous leadership team. I have never been a CEO before, so from the start I read as much as I could – still do – and continually learn from others.

In the very early days I read the organisations that continue to grow and thrive are those built on values with a shared sense of purpose. Plus a successful business cannot be dependent on any individual… and the leader cannot be a bottleneck.

I very much see myself as a mentor, and coach to those around me… but importantly I constantly use RedBalloon’s values to guide me through decisions.

My title CEO stands for Chief Experience Officer, which means I’m accountable for how people experience the business.

So back to my three curly questions:

The consumer has spent much time and energy phoning and emailing our customer experience team about her issue. Our team consistently and professionally acknowledged her concerns, and referred to our terms and conditions and fulfilled on them. The consumer has since written to me as CEO, asking me to ‘break’ the terms and conditions.

I suspect she will not be happy with my response:

“RedBalloon prides itself as being a values driven organisation. Our first value is simply ‘to do what we say we will do.’ As such we consistently execute our terms and conditions. This is often difficult when we also pride ourselves on our customer reputation. However, in the long run our customers and suppliers know that they can always count on us.

As the leader of the organisation it would be a bad example that I set if I were inconsistent in any aspect of our terms and conditions. It is simply not the leader I am. So whilst I know that I have an upset customer, I also know that on a personal level I have fulfilled on my promise. No matter how difficult that is.”

Would you have answered differently?

Now to the corporate customer – who also wishes RedBalloon to ‘bend the rules’ for his circumstances. He argues he has great influence and implies he will tell the ‘powers that be’ that he is not happy with us. Do our rules (and values) change because the potential audience, or fall out, is potentially much larger than the consumer issue? RedBalloon’s head of corporate drafted a response, and I quote in part:

“Considering the circumstances issue that you outline to us, it would place this particular voucher in a preferred position to others. The inconsistent application of our terms and conditions creates adverse consumer sentiment. We treat all of our customers as equals and are proud of our ongoing partnership with your organisation.”

Should a larger customer be given preferential treatment over other, smaller customers? Would you change the rules for one because they were ‘worth’ more financially?

Finally, the supplier. Without our amazing experience suppliers we would not have anything on the shelf to deliver to customers. So we have always considered our suppliers as customers.

One supplier is not happy with an aspect of how we are growing the business. His RedBalloon account manager has kept him informed the whole way, and – as all our team members do – is executing our growth strategy based on our values.

Yet the supplier has requested a meeting with me. Should an important supplier determine the execution of our strategy? What message would it send to the RedBalloon team if I ignored our values and chose not to support this account manager?

I’m curious to hear your opinion on keeping customers happy – and at what lengths you would go to. From this experience today, I ask you if the customer experience is one based on mutual respect? Or one based on doing anything, anytime for everyone? If I say the source of Happy Customers is having a Happy Team – then how would the team be happy if I overturned every decision they made, when they made those decisions based on our values?

Business is not easy. Choosing our RedBalloon values and living a business based on these values has been both tough and easy. Easy because our values have been like ‘guiding stars’ helping us make decisions and recruit people to build the amazing workplace I’m incredibly proud of. Tough when they are the final touchstone between you, the rock and a hard place and by living them you know you won’t please everyone all of the time.

I look forward to your insights.

We learned that lesson the hard way – years ago when RedBalloon used to put the persons first name in the header of our email campaigns. That was too intimate – because we might write ‘Jane, what are you giving your mother for Christmas.’ Only to get a very terse response – ‘if you knew me well enough you would know that my mother passed away last Christmas.’

This lesson has progressed with us at RedBalloon into social media – though of course we have not got it perfect – who does. Social media is definitely not about perfection – it is about being real.

We covered five main ideas that we covered:

1. The emotional power of response: Social media isn’t about just having a presence, it’s about using the platform to talk to actively engage and talk to consumers. Don’t underestimate the power of a personal response!

RedBalloon found that whilst it is a marketing tool – it is not a ‘push device’ like other media – for the first time in history we have a chance to really listen – in real time, to pose a thought or idea and demonstrate the we are just a bunch of people that have all come together with a collective idea of ‘changing gifting in Australia forever’.  A conversation is born.  We also get RedBallooners speaking as individuals to interact as much as possible, and when they comment it helps create a REALLY personal response.

2. It hurts, but prioritise engagement over reach: ‘When it comes to social media communities, size isn’t everything – I’d rather have 100 highly engaged fans on a Facebook page who actually share and discuss content than 1,000,000 fans who aren’t active at all.’ According to Graeme Boyd  Consultant Community Manager / XBOX EMEA

There was some debate about this – I was quite envious of the shear quantity of fans that Hamish and Andy have – but the reason it works is still the same for us – they are doing the work and really responding to their ‘fans’ – The business we are in lends itself to sharing experiences online – it is our job to facilitate it.

3. Start with an insight, not a media plan: DON’T adhere to the ‘Dude we should do philosophy’ – i.e. ‘Dude we should do Facebook, dude we should do Twitter etc’. Identify the key insight first, considering who it’s relevant for and where they spend their time doing what, before deciding on platform/media.

In the early days of RedBalloon social media we ran a poll on our home page asking which platforms our customers used the most. We also paid close attention to the level of engagement we got on different platforms and focused our efforts accordingly. There’s no point blasting away on a platform when no one who cares is going to hear or interact with you.

4. Be prolific rather than precious: Success in social media is about relinquishing control – letting people dictate the ebb and flow of a given initiative. Things happen fast on these platforms and you have to be ready and willing to get stuck in and talk to consumers – not waste time agonizing over every last irrelevant detail.

Real world communities are not predictable, they are not formulaic, so your approach to social media cannot be either. So for us it’s more about being dynamically engaging – become relevant by giving the community what they want and remain relevant by being flexible enough to realize when the way they want to interact with you has evolved. We are always testing and posting different conversation starters or announcements, but not at such a prolific level that we are bombarding feeds like the annoying person who continues to talk over the top of you while you’re trying to have a conversation with your mate. It’s a delicate balance. And sometimes our content doesn’t always hit the mark. Over time on facebook for example, we’ve gauged engagement via likes and comments on our various topics. Sometimes it’s the least likely topics that get the most interaction… topics that may never have been tried had we been too precious about before posting.

5. Look at what it does and ONLY then use it: Social media is only tricky if you try to retro-fit or shoehorn existing campaigns/strategies. It can be a simple as working out what people use a given platform for and building a campaign around THAT. It’s why previous example of Best Buy’s Twelpforce works so well.

We started off with a social media strategy, outlining different approaches for each platform. However once we embarked on the journey we found that the social spaces took on a life of their own. The direction changed a little, and this was all dictated by the user. People behave differently on Twitter than on Facebook, so you need to tailor your approach to fit in with this.

Since our earliest days, word of mouth worked best. The impact of RedBalloon experiences is often such that they not only make a lasting impression on the individual, but they also often evoke rich stories that we share with our family and friends. Social media has always been about conversation and inter-personal connection. So the fit for us was natural. Our social media strategy became merely a platform, a facilitator, of the stories that we already knew were being shared both outside and inside this space.

So at the start our approach was simply to get to know our community, share funny posts and communicate as RedBallooners with names – building a connection. Since then, we’ve built a community where members actively share their stories (good and bad), whether it be on facebook or twitter. Having said this, we’ve learned that our approach must be tailored slightly to the specific channel. We learned early on that behavior was slightly different on twitter than facebook. On twitter the format is much more instantaneous and often one-to-one, whereas facebook is much more conducive to a longer chain of interactions across many more individuals.

I enjoyed being on the panel with Andy Ridley – Earth Hour, Simon T Small on Jetstar, Emily Rayner Austereo – and our chair person Gual Barwell from Contagious Magazine

I had three speaking engagements last week – which meant lots of travel, from the Yarra Valley to Lorne in Victoria. (Lorne was looking spectacular – I have not been there for years).

Ended the week by meeting Dream Employer Salamat – and then hosting a fabulous RedBalloon Lunch & Learn with the Airport Economist himself – Tim Harcourt (chief economist at Austrade).

Tim Harcourt and Me

Coming Up This Week

Monday: One on One day with leaders – and visiting another Dream Employer – Getaway.

Tuesday: Filming of Kochie’s Business Builders at RedBalloon

Wednesday: Presentation at iStrategy event and RedBalloon for Corporate Sailing evening

Thursday: Hear CBA’s boss Ralph Noris speak at a breakfast, a Lunch & Learn at RedBalloon with Kristina Karlsson – from Kikki–K

Friday: RedBalloon grow learning event, volunteering at the Best Buddies day at Centennial Park, and the RedBalloon team Christmas event in the evening.

Currently Reading: The Breakthrough Company – Keith McFarland