We went to a German market last night. The Gluhwein was good, the sausage was perfect. I ended up spending a small fortune on salami by a girl who can only be classed as a sausage pusher.
Yes we’re starting to feel all Christmassy now.
I got in the spirit trying on some novelty winter hats. What fun.
When we left this we were about to embark on group dynamics.
First, a word on numbers. The optimum number of respondents is 6 to 8. Anything more and it’s a bunfight, anything less and it’s just narrow opinion. If you have eight you’ll get much more talking, it will be livelier, but you have to accept there won’t be equal participation. 6 allows you to coax everyone to speak, probe a little deeper. But you have to work harder to get discussion going. The choice is yours.
Now, like most things, a good group comes down to preparation. You need that since things rarely go how you expect ……… which is a good thing if you manage it right.
That means working really hard on the discussion guide. This guide works in two ways. Firstly, it’s an agreement between researcher, agency and client on what will be covered and how this will be approached. It is NOT a list of specific questions. It should be an agenda of the subjects you will cover and the things you will do to stimulate the discussion.
It’s about getting people to talk as naturally as possible. The more artificial and stilted it is, the less useful your findings will be.
Secondly, it’s your rock. During the course of the session, not everything will go to plan. You will forget stuff and get carried away with the conversation. The guide reminds you what you’re supposed to do and, if well planned gives you enough space to allow for specific agenda points and that all important area you want to leave in the hope of being surprised. Work hard on planning what you will do.
That means allowing for two ‘hats’ in a session. There will be a time when you are looking for specific answers. This can form a traditional ‘question and answer session’. This is fine up to a point, but if this is all you’re going to do you may as well do quant.
I think the real skill is the second role. A moderator should be a bit like the perfect waiter – you don’t really notice them. If you can, get them talking to each other and just steer and join in when you need to. This is when you’re going to get the best chance of real insight. Not only will they be less self-conscious, the more they talk about what they want, the more you’re likely to find out new stuff and be surprised. And that’s what you want isn’t it?
It’s important to warm them up first though. Explain who you are, what you’re doing and what will happen. Then stimulate their curiosity as early as possible. Get them talking about something that will interest them as soon as you can, so they start to gel and relax.
Give them a minute think about telling you something about themselves (including their name!). Like if you’re researching fairy, ask them who does the housework in their home, and who tends to do the washing up.
And maybe consider pre-group tasks. It gives them something to talk about, and it can produce a useful springboard for creative stimulus. Like asking people to do a quick picture of the view from their favorite seat in the house if you’re researching sofas, or maybe a collage of what they remember from childhood if you’re talking to potential parents. I got people in the market for a house to bring in their idea of a perfect home. without exception they brought in newbuild brochures – it showed us they were VERY open to be told what to like, as opposed to having a firm opinion.
Anyway after the warm up, where they begin to form a group mentality, try to follow a process that roughly follows this model:
Storm – throwing out all the things they want to get off their chest, lots of internal difference and maybe disagreement
Norm – begin to move towards common ground. Things they can agree on.
Perform – get them thinking for you, throwing out ideas and doing tasks. Tasks are brilliant. They stop people being bored, draws out the quieter ones and can bring you closer to the truth. Like the famous Porsche example where Porsche drivers all had to draw them in the car. They all did a view from the windscreen, allowing the agency to understand that Porsche drivers are driving enthusiasts rather than image driven wankers.
Mourn – gradually bring them down and let them disengage.
Pace and tempo are really important. Boredom is your enemy. The more you vary the pace, stimulate, intrigue and use humour to defuse any tensions, the better. For them, which means for you. You’ll get better results.
The last post on this will cover difficult groups, for now, here’s a final thought.
I know it’s a Monday, you’re in a bad mood and want to be left alone. But if you can, spare a minute and send happy thoughts to the gang at Cynic. You won’t find a kinder, more generous bunch anywhere, but they’re all a bit low at the moment.
The North wishes them well.
This week I did my last two significant creative briefings. One was especially fun, since the biggest chunk of stimulus was the funniest interview I’ve ever seen. I’m sort of pleased with both, it seems like there’s lots of potential and they’ll totally lock out the rest of the market. Probably wind them up too.
But in both cases there was no blinding flash of insight. It all sort of came together in a fuzzy mess that got less, err, messy. And what I find a bit bonkers is that I had both puzzles solved over a month ago, I just didn’t know it. All that time talking, thinking, gathering stimulus and doing funny mind maps didn’t get answers, they just sort of helped them to be articulated properly. Does that make any sense?
Psychologists have shown that when human reflexes make them move, your body has sort of decided to do it before you have. You’ve made the choice, now you have to explain to yourself why. I think lots of strategy is like that. Somewhere in the gut you already have a pretty good idea of what to do, you just don’t quite know it yet.
I’m afraid it still requires lots of work for it bubble up to the surface. And I guess it’s why some planners never entirely switch off. They’re having this odd internal conversation with themselves. They’re taking in new information all the time and connecting it to what they know without realising they’re doing it.
That’s why I really annoy people sometimes. They’ll be happily telling me something and I’ll be listening with genuine interest – but then they’ll see the eyes go all glassy and they’ll know I’m somewhere else again. Drives them (and me) mad.
Of course the catch is that when you try to do it consciously you can’t. If you play sport you’ll know what I mean. I used to know some swimmers who swam beautifully in the heats, but then choked in the finals. When the pressure was on, they began thinking about what they were doing, and found they couldn’t swim as fluidly as before. It happens it tennis when a low ranked player falters in the home straight against one of the stars. They realise what they’re doing. They choke.
We won’t cover the pros and cons of groups, but you’ll come across them at some point, like it or not. It may be useful to know what to expect.
We won’t cover the skills you’ll need to uncover true insight rather than mere information. That’s covered elsewhere, and there’s no better place to look than Truth Lies and Advertising by John Steel.
We’ll look at the art of how to manage the group itself. It’s a lost planning skill which is a shame. I think that every now and again, you should do your own. It saves a fortune if you’re pitching and there’s nothing like meeting real people face to face.
In any case, if you have a better idea of how groups work, you’ll be much better placed to work with your researcher.
But it is terrifying if you haven’t done it before. So do as many internally as you can. Bribe people in the office with sandwiches, do whatever it takes. It costs a lot to get 8 people in a room, you don’t want to waste that money. So get half good.
Two things are likely to go wrong:
So we’ll cover the key skills of moderating, interviewing skills and group dynamics. Then it need never happen.
Basic interviewing techniques
If you ask a simple question, you’ll get a simple answer. Qual is about depth, digging underneath what people say and do to understand why. Simple direct questioning never gets under the skin of the issue. And people rarely say what they mean. They overclaim, and the real attitudes are usually unconscious and difficult to put into words.
So good interviewing is about ACTIVE LISTENING. Constantly thinking about why people are saying what they are, looking for contradictions, reading body language. It involves constant probing. Here’s some rules of thumb:
Group Moderating
To me it’s a mix of two roles. One one hand you’re a detached neutral observer collecting data, but on the the other, you’re a dynamic problem solver wanting their help. It’s a neat trick to be detached AND sponge like, but no one said this was easy. Much of it comes down to group dynamics.
And those will be in tomorrow’s post.
If your struggling to find Christmas presents, you could do a lot worse than look here at Re. Lots of unique textiles and nick knacks. These mats are quite fetching.
Scott showed me the way. If you’re after something unique, there should be something here that suits.
When I move I’m going to be very busy trying not to fail – plus it will be Christmas and stuff. So I’m going to try to finish that to-do list of planning things before then. I could put it off, but let’s take the path of most resistance shall we?
That means covering:
Other qual like depths, friendship groups and accompanied tasks
I’ve got until Friday December 14th. It’s a lot to do. I’ll divide my time. But just in case it goes swimmingly, is there anything I’ve missed that you really want to see covered?
If there is a national meal in the UK these days, it’s a good curry. And believe me, no one likes it more than I, indeed when we go out with friends for an Indian, I’ll make sure I’m sat next to the person that eats like a bird so I can pinch some of theirs.
But I’ve always wondered why someone doesn’t make more of the true culture around food from the subcontinent, as opposed to the British, and largely unauthentic way it’s made, served and portayed here.
You can’t blame those first restaurant owners back in the 1970’s if course. They couldn’t get the right ingredients then, and they had to find something to accomodate the virgin British palate. And foodie culture didn’t really exist. It’s a bit different now.
These days you can’t move for chefs’ cookbooks. More and more people cook with chilli and every other spice you can think of. Not to mention the sheer complication of it all – be healthy, be natural, be organic, be ethical. And authenticity really matters. Some people I know would die of shame if they were found to have balsamic vinegar that wasn’t from Modena (dear oh dear). And somehow you have to fit all this into your ever busy life.
And actually, proper Indian cooking fits, since there’s no such thing. It’s too rich for that.
There is no such thing as real Indian cooking, it’s too complex, too geographical. What you eat depends on caste and region. And it’s steeped in a rich history. It was mostly vegetarian before invasions from Persia, The Mughul Empire and others introduced meat. And the recipes have constantly evolved.
Some things that have remained constant are the way food has always been integral with the culture. Apart from the festivals, the family meal is usually a three course affair, attended by all. Recipes are handed down the generations, learned by osmosis. They are rarely written down. One the main ingredients of a samosa is laughter. You can taste the love and joy in every single bite of the proper stuff.
And it’s light and healthy too. The restaurants have to use lots of oil to keep the vats of sauce relatively fresh over a long night. When it’s done properly, it’s light on the stomach, the spices are subtly put ‘under’ the taste, as opposed to throwing them in at the last minute. And traditions matter, you don’t mess with the old ways. And in the end, it’s always been about quality ingredients first and foremost. And Mum knows best.
Even ready meals are nothing new. Back in Bombay, the Tiffin Wallahs do an early morning round and pick up the food the women have been lovingly preparing. They put them in ‘Tiffin boxes’ and bike them all over the city so the men have proper food for lunch. And for every six million that get collected, only one meal fails to get delivered.
I’m going on, but it’s just that all these threads ad up to something that should fit very well with a food culture that’s increasingly looking for authenticity, health and aching to tap into rich, authentic traditions. Food with a proper story.
And it tastes amazing too. I don’t know where to go this, just thinking out loud.
There was another incident today. Only inhuman reflexes, the same that took a a set off Tim Henman, enabled Stuart to avoid a gout of boiling hot coffee scalding his genitals. No chance of suing me though, I’ve a watertight defense…….
It wasn’t my fault. As I plunged my caffetiere with abandon, a hairline crack in the glass gave way and it shattered – the force of the plunge sending the entire contents flying at Stu’s man bits. Proof that I’m not clumsy, I’m unlucky.
I’ve been pondering the unlucky core of my fecklessness before. Now I know it IS a curse. Stuart is obviously blessed though. His reactions were worthy of Neo and Morpheus.
So it’s a matter of weeks until I move jobs. I’m in that funny limbo period when I’m mentally half out the door. But there’s still work to be done.
Some of the stuff I’m working on will be finished by another person, but I’m glad I’ll get to see one or two things through. It’s nice to want to care.
You also notice things more when you’re about to leave a place. Some things seem far more special than they have done for a while……and you get less patient with little niggles too.
And of course, after the initial euphoria, as the day draws closer, reality sets in, and a few nerves. There’s the ‘Will I be good enough?’ worries of course – which is good. Fear raises your game.
No, it’s the ‘What will it be like?’ questions that creep into the front of my brain. Gossip is the social glue the keeps organisations together. I won’t be a part of that at first. And there are all sorts of unwritten rules in offices that you learn through osmosis. That will take time.
And what will people think of me? I’m usually the shy person in the corner of the room that no one notices. Will they get that I’m a wallflower? What are they expecting?
So I’ll keep my head down, keep my mouth shut and listen and learn as I go along.
NORTHERN PLANNER 