Joe Harris: The future of the retail workforce will never be the same again. Times are changing more rapidly than ever.
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: If we work together, we can make really great things happen.
Yasmin Grigalunis: I could feel an essence of purpose and professionalism that just made me want to lift my game.
Peter Knock: Innovation doesn't have to be finding the new shiny thing. It can sometimes be looking within to say, well, let's sit as a team and work out where our next steps are.
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: Hi everybody. Welcome to the chaos. Hope you enjoy the show.
[Voiceover]: Welcome to Add to Cart, the podcast that express delivers all you need to know in the fast moving world of E commerce. Every month, Nathan Bush from 12 High and an E commerce industry expert will share the news, research and insights that you need to know to keep you at the top of your game and of course, keep your customers Adding to Cart Foreign.
Nathan Bush: Hello and welcome to Add to Cart. My name is Nathan Bush, host of Add to Cart and E commerce strategist at 12 high. We have a very exciting episode today where we're going to bring you the winning team and the winning idea from the retail Hack games. It's also the first time we've had four retail experts join us at once, so hold onto your hats, it's going to get a little bit wild. The Retail hack games, if you haven't heard about it, was the brainchild of Alita Harvey Rodriguez, who's the founder of training provider MI Academy. Today we speak with Alita around how she got this idea off the ground and we also speak with the members of the winning team. Now that winning team includes Joe Harris, who's customer experience guru and the co founder of Hunting for George, Peter Knock, former CEO of the Co op, executive director and specialist advisor for businesses with purpose. And joining us for the second time, Yasmin Grigalunis, otherwise known as Yazzie G, who is the CEO and the co founder of the world's biggest garage sale. What a bloody stellar lineup. In this episode we dive into how the retail hack worked. We'll get the winning pitch delivered firsthand and and we'll get some tips on how we can use hack techniques within our own businesses to foster creativity and innovation. So let's get into it. Thanks to our partners Shopify plus and Klarna. Here's everything that went down at the retail hack games.
Nathan Bush: Alita, Joe, Peter Yaz. Welcome to Add to Cart.
Joe Harris: Hey, thank you. Thanks for having us.
Nathan Bush: Pleasure. This is the first time we've had a panel of four on Add to Cart, so don't screw it up.
Peter Knock: No pressure.
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: Just as we all Jump in. It's going to be your job to tame the beast, I think.
Nathan Bush: Nath, we are here to discuss what happened two weeks ago at the Retail Hack Games which was the grand final attended by over 100 people virtually. Alita, I know you're the mastermind behind the retail hack games. Can you give us a little bit of an overview around what the retail hack games and what you're trying to achieve with retail hack games?
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: Yeah, sure. First of all, Mastermind, love that.
Peter Knock: Thanks.
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: You know, look, this is an idea kind of that I had bubbling around for about three years and just in true Alita and MI fashion trust a pandemic to make it all happen. So look, yes, it did what the retail hat goes. What it is is short and sharp innovation initiative to showcase the importance of critical and creative thinking to drive real solutions for our industry being retail. And what we set out to achieve was well look, anybody can run a webinar and there's been so many of them and they've been great. But what we do at MI is so different and it's not easily translatable through a webinar. And yes, we can do training webinars and yes, we could do a leader's lunch and we can tell everybody about all of our great results and all of these kinds of things but we do so much more than that. We have so much life in our workshops and our programs that we run and we're also very community centric and that's what Hack Games was designed to do, was to one, to cheer people up. Because retail has been really tough and it is still really tough at the moment. We wanted to also establish solutions and share implementable knowledge and ideas for our players to take back into their organizations. And it's been really nice. You know, we're kind of two weeks post event now. We've done all of, we're doing the wrap up. You know, we're still in that kind of process and but we've seen in our wrap up we've been getting replies from all of our players saying hey, you know, I took this idea away and I've been implementing it straight away. You know, I wouldn't have got this idea or seen how important this strategy is if it wasn't for hat games which is really exactly what we wanted it to do. And then of course show people the dynamic environment of what it's like when you step into the room with mi. So did we achieve what we set out to do? Yeah, I think 100% we did it and we just saw the buzz, like you've all probably seen the buzz online. Nathan, we're a great part of the buzz. And you're continuing on this buzz of just, you know, this community coming together and going, hey, if we work together, we can make really great things happen.
Nathan Bush: I think you've done such a great job in creating that space that's missing this year so far in retail, because retail in Australia is such a kind of a close group of people. Right. And we're so used to catching up regularly conferences and events and all that sort of stuff, and that's just fallen flat.
Peter Knock: Yeah.
Nathan Bush: So I felt like the retail hack games was a great chance for us to come together in a really lighthearted way and connect and still have something of substance at the end of it, which we're going to hear more about today. All right. And we've also got here Joe Harris, Peter Knock and Yazzie G, who has been on our show before. Welcome, guys. Now you are part of the winning team, which is the Deloitte Digital team, or otherwise known as Team Steve. Thanks for joining us.
Yasmin Grigalunis: Thank you, Nathan.
Nathan Bush: Now, can you guys give us a bit of an overview? You are one of the team, One of six teams.
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: Five teams.
Nathan Bush: One of five teams. Can you guys give us a bit of an overview around your roles around Team Steve?
Peter Knock: Yeah, of course. Who do you want to kick off?
Nathan Bush: Let's go with you, Joe. You were a bit of the leader here, weren't you?
Joe Harris: Jo was the team leader.
Nathan Bush: Go.
Peter Knock: Jo was the team leader. That it was an interesting process actually, because it was a very. It was a new design of event for us, plus the fact that it was all virtual. So the team leader role, I won't lie, I was very nervous about it from the get go to see how it would work. But my role was around facilitating that. The fact that everyone had a voice during this, make sure that we were tapping all of the different, you know, the diversity of skill sets that were within the team. So getting to know everyone's specialties and passions and then, I guess ensuring a bit of an atmosphere that allowed participants to speak up and listen and get creative. So my role was really just. And of course having that goal of steps we needed to go through to get to the solution at the end. So my goal was to kind of keep everyone on track, but also make sure that we were getting the most out of the incredible people that were part of the team.
Joe Harris: So.
Peter Knock: And it did tend to evolve quite organically sometimes. Some meetings I just sat back and listened to Just the incredible, you know, ideas and creativity that started evolving and the respectful nature of the team dynamic, you know, really shone, which was wonderful.
Nathan Bush: And what kind of skill sets did you have in the team or what kind of backgrounds?
Peter Knock: Oh, it was great. We had a few with marketing background. We had a cfo Julius, which was amazing. We had some kind of brand management. I'm trying to think what else.
Joe Harris: We had digital, really good ux.
Yasmin Grigalunis: Yeah, ux.
Peter Knock: It was a great diversity, wasn't it?
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: Yeah. We had so many applicants too. We had over nearly 200 applicants. So we kind of had a week and a half to hustle because we kind of had to pull this whole thing together in about eight weeks, which was, you know, amazing. But we were able to do that. And people were saying we're crazy, but like in a really good way, which was lovely. But yeah, we nearly had nearly 200 applicants. So, you know, it was just really nice to see that everybody wanted to be part of something that was really different.
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Nathan Bush: It's a huge commitment, Right. And it shows that there's something of value there when E commerce was hitting record heights during that period. Right. So it's not like everyone's sitting around going, oh, I'm looking for something to do.
Nathan Bush: May as well do these hack games.
Nathan Bush: Everyone was crazy at this time.
Peter Knock: Biggest challenges in the beginning because we knew the benefits of it, but we also knew that people were hurting for time financially. So even approaching sponsors, which ordinarily would, you know, people would be jumping up and down to get involved. You know, it was a real commitment for a lot of people to be involved with time away from businesses and their roles. So you've got to, I guess those that did put their hands up to be involved and did in the end, you've got to give them credit for that enthusiasm and that vision to see this would add benefit.
Joe Harris: Just thinking about that, Jo, I think that's what really brought this to the fore was that agility of the E Comm industry. It just leapt out. People have been in ISO and the sort of nervousness around wanting to get involved, I think was because you Just don't know what's going to happen tomorrow and the day after. Everyone's sort of been working from day to day, and a week at the moment is such a long time. And I think that that was probably the nervousness around the commitments.
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: To have 200 applicants in that time was just like, we want something different. We want to give something back, which was so cool. And a lot of applicants actually said that it's, you know, it's time for me, because we had some really amazing senior, very senior people, CEOs and things apply for big retailers. And, you know, they were just saying, I just want something back.
Peter Knock: And I guess with Yaz as well, from the. From a player point of view, I mean. Yes. You're, you know, in the thick of it within your business. I mean, you can probably speak from your point of view as to what you thought of coming into this event.
Yasmin Grigalunis: Yeah. Like, I have to admit, when I saw the call out, I thought, gosh, I really want to be involved. And then I critically analyzed, is this the right time? Is it, you know, do I have the time? It's such a significant period of change for our business. But for me, I really thought it a little bit of fomo because I thought, oh, my gosh, I get to work a lot by some of the most amazing retailers in our country. And then I had a feeling like, I know Peter, and I'm a bit of a fan girl. So when I knew that they had some pretty rock star mentors, you know, chiming in on it, I thought to myself, you know what? I just have to be a part of it. I just felt like, oh, my gosh, this is like the ultimate fantasy. I get to learn. I love that. And it's true, right? I thought this was so good. And I actually have to admit, I felt a little bit like, oh, my
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: God, I hope I can contribute something. You contributed, Yazzie.
Nathan Bush: Yaz, we're going to hear a little bit more about your contributions in a second because your pitch was off the charts. But before we get to the winning idea and the pitch behind that, can you guys talk us through the process over that week? So I know that mi, you guys have really great processes for finding creative ideas. How did that translate into the retail hack in terms of a process to get from ideation all the way through to a solution?
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: Yeah, look, I mean, it was no small task because at the end of the day, most of our processes are stuff that we do in person. So we're like, okay, what tools can we use how do we make this event super dynamic? So I'll talk you through the process and then I'll tell you a little bit about some of the tools that we used. So the process went like this. So we had the kickoff, which is where we announced the teams. We wanted this element of surprise along the entire way so that people. It was truly a game. There was, you know, you don't release the rules of the game until. Until you're there to play it. Unlike a traditional hackathon where you might have, you know, a couple of weeks with the problem statement, and that can be, you know, you're buying and things like that, we were just like, no, we're releasing it on the day. So we gave them the problem statement at the kickoff event, and then we had everybody break off and meet with their team, meet with their mentor, and then they were popped into slack groups so that they could continue the conversation throughout the week. We gave them like an ideal week of when you should be hitting key milestones. It was just a guideline, and the teams were able to do it however they wanted, but we gave them this guideline. So for them to break down the problem statement and then develop a buyer Persona, we also gave them a whole bunch of different research opportunities. We also collaborated with Power Retail, who had some decent insights there from the COVID survey that they did recently that would help them along and then also encourage the teams to, hey, go and Talk to your LinkedIn. Go and ask them these questions so that you are validating some of the assumptions that you've made about the Persona, about things that would help them. Then from there, once they understood the Persona and some of their assumptions were validated, then we told them to go into solution mode. This is where you start coming up with your ideas on how to solve the problem.
Nathan Bush: What was the problem statement that you gave the teams?
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: The problem statement that we gave the teams was, so I'll read out the whole thing. And the problem statement's just one line. So the theme of the hack was survival and revival, applying considered and insightful innovation to retail's new normal. And then the context behind that is almost overnight, retail has been forced to look in the mirror. Do the existing trends and models still apply? That part there is really important in the context that trends and models part, there's no denying the impact has been epic. Bricks and mortar staffing, supply chain logistics, attitudes towards marketing, profit margins have all taken a huge hit. Remaining agile is the key for navigating our future. Reimagining traditional retail models May be the only way forward to create retail's new normal. So the problem statement itself is create a solution that challenges an existing retail model to future proof our existence to fuel the revival of retail. So this was all about challenging traditional models so that we could adapt. Because some of the, you know, our retail models have been stuck for a really long time. Our biggest shift in retail models has been e commerce and you know, and then we've seen three pl and things like that and they've been the biggest disruptors. But there's been nothing to help us to de risk ourselves moving forward, especially if, you know, we can't go into stores anymore or the confidence in going into stores has changed. But we needed to be really considered about how people shop when they shop, because not everybody shops by price. Those people are usually pretty good for shopping online. But the people that want to touch the material and stuff like that, you know, maybe the future doesn't cater to that, but we needed to find a solution to get there. So that's why that was the problem statement about specifically challenging models.
Nathan Bush: So it was a big, big problem statement, but it was still pretty broad. Right. So I still gave a lot of rope for people to kind of think a bit laterally around where they might want to focus their efforts.
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: Yeah, exactly, exactly. So to finish off like the process side of things, they've got that problem statement. They go and checked in, checked in with a mentor. So, you know, absolute gurus in retail, just like Peter who go, you go, okay, so this is what we're thinking. What do you think? You know, is there anything that we've missed? Is there anything else that we should be consider? So the mentors weren't there to be
Yasmin Grigalunis: like, yay, you did really great.
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: Good, keep going. It was like, have you thought about this? You know, they were there to design and the brief that they had was that you've got to challenge their ideas and make sure that they're really deep and thought out and think almost like, almost like what the judge would be potentially picking apart. Then the teams designed their pitch, they practiced them, and then they killed it in the grand finale where we had a whole bunch of spectators and we had so the judges choice and we also had the people's choice award and each team also got an MVP because we really wanted something to continue the engagement through the teams and make sure that the people that were doing the most and things got some really nice rewards as well.
Nathan Bush: Awesome. Joe and Yaz, from your experience being part of that process in the thick of it. How did that feel compared to an ordinary day in retail?
Yasmin Grigalunis: Look, I love process, so I felt like some of the tools were familiar to me. I knew mirror and I knew slack. I have to admit, I'm in quite a lot of slack groups, so I was like, okay, I really have to stay on top of this one. I don't want to let the team down. But I remember going first into the mirror board and just seeing all the slides laid out beautifully in the order of which we needed to go through the workflows. And Joe kind of corralled us through it so well as a team, and instantly we were all really active and using it, even though it was new to some and not new to others. And so I felt like a lot of time and effort had gone into the whole proper pride, preparation side of things. And I. I felt because of that, it was almost like a really solid foundation to set the scene for a really high quality hackathon. It wasn't just about slapping people together and seeing what sticks. I could feel an essence of purpose and professionalism that just made me want to lift my game. I don't know about you, Jo, but that's kind of what I felt.
Nathan Bush: I was waiting how long it'd take you to say purpose.
Peter Knock: I think as well in all of this, I think what Covid has done is that it's forced people out of comfort zones and throughout every aspect of life, honestly. So business, no different. And what this hackathon did as well was it forced people out of a comfort zone and reinforce that need for collaboration and to embrace different tools, different ways of working, different people that they're working with. So it was really, you know, kind of an event on steroids almost, in that we were kind of thrown in the deep end, as Yaz said, without knowing anyone. New tools, a new way of thinking and working, and then coming up with a solution, you know, in a relatively quick period of time. But I think what I saw that just made me feel so incredible at the end of it was the bond. Like, you wouldn't have picked if you sat in on our second session, Nathan. You wouldn't have picked that we didn't know each other, which for me, it made me feel so good. And the fact that, you know, that was just. Was what was mind blowing to me in all of this. The connections that were made, the voices that were heard. Yeah, it was an incredible opportunity. And I did, you know, we did speak about it at the end, saying, look, you know, we do hope that these ways of Working can be taken back into their businesses where they can encourage people within the team to have that voice and have an opportunity to speak up and to maybe look a bit within. Innovation doesn't have to be finding the new shiny thing. It can sometimes be looking within to say, well, you know, sit as a team and work out where our next steps are.
Nathan Bush: Yes, it's a really good insight, isn't it? Because I think a lot of businesses are now getting through the normality of, yes, we're working from home. We've transitioned, our team are comfortable. We can do this. This is fine. The next challenge that I think is going, oh, if I've got to onboard new people into this culture, into this team, how do I do that remotely? And I think you've shown there that it is possible to bring new people together remotely.
Joe Harris: Yeah.
Peter Knock: And I think it goes to show as well that, you know, there are a lot of studies done on if you can show your team that you're listening and actually implementing and using their ideas. People don't need the spotlight. They're just happy to be working within part of the team to come up with an incredible solution. And I think, you know, would you agree, Peter, that it's just allowing people that voice, but also actioning on that and saying, do you know what? That's an awesome idea, and we're going to work together to implement that. People don't need the limelight. They're actually really just excited to be heard and to be actioned. I think.
Joe Harris: Yeah, I agree, that's the natural part of a team, but it does take particularly good leadership, I think, and that's where really good leadership skills come out. And I think, Joe, there was a couple of the quieter members initially, and you worked with them and you brought them to the fore, and in the end, we were just blown away by what they could contribute.
Yasmin Grigalunis: Yeah.
Joe Harris: Some of us were initially thinking, oh,
Nathan Bush: well, yeah, who was that guy? Then he pops up with his whole
Joe Harris: solution and everyone goes, whoa. Yeah, you sort of weaved everybody in and then everybody's natural skills, and once everybody realized what the others could offer, it just all felt flowed into a natural team.
Nathan Bush: I want to touch on something because it sounds like the Brady Bunch at the moment, and we know that it doesn't. Doesn't always work that way. There must have been some sort of disagreement or some sort of friction at some point throughout the week over those late nights.
Joe Harris: The.
Nathan Bush: The slacks conversation. Has to be something where there was some sort of disagreement, Was there?
Peter Knock: I don't. There Actually wasn't. But I don't think we were probably okay if we had a longer period of time to work and you and personalities can open up more. Maybe that's where you would have the challenge of people. Maybe some different opinions, you know, being raised. But in all honesty, we actually didn't have any challenges.
Yasmin Grigalunis: Zero friction.
Peter Knock: That's a bit unique and that's just not making it up. But we didn't and I guess.
Nathan Bush: Well, this doesn't sound like retail at all.
Peter Knock: No, I think again the diversity. So if someone's got an idea and it's come from yourself, cfo and it's a great idea around, you know, your budgets or whatever, I mean, are you going to listen? He knows more than, you know, the other people at the table on that topic. So I think there was a respectful nature of people and why they were at the table and therefore who was a specialty in their field and people we all kind of got to know each other and where their strengths were. So I think yeah, it was kind
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: of part of the goal here as well. Like to make sure that we had these collaborative teams and truly cross functional teams because I mean that's the future of work and we shouldn't just have these departments that do things. We need to have cross functional teams that can drive strategic projects forward. And that was part of what we wanted to show the value of having teams like that can do in a short amount of time.
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Nathan Bush: Yaz, you were the pitch master and I know you have pitched many, many, many times in your life and it's showed on grand final day. I'm going to throw to you to give our listeners the pitch for your winning idea that you delivered in the grand finale.
Yasmin Grigalunis: Okay. All right, I'll, I'll give it a crack. Don't tie me. I think I talked.
Joe Harris: Hey, Yaz. For the benefit of the audience, I'll just define quickly the problem statement and then the vision and the mission. So the problem statement came around from what we heard earlier was ours was the future of the retail Workforce will never be the same again. Times are changing more rapidly than ever. The emerging working generation above all are seeking alignment in culture, purpose and impact. Current reality has seen staff stood down without hope of an alternative opportunity. Retailers and employees need connection. So out of that our vision and mission became create the retail workforce of the future. Leverage the latest in technology and innovation to deliver an on demand AI platform that connects the right employer with the right employee every time, while empowering retailers and staff to excel wherever they are placed.
Nathan Bush: Go.
Joe Harris: Yes.
Yasmin Grigalunis: Excellent. So on behalf of Team Deloitte Digital including Dane, Megan, Julia, Stacy became Alex, Jo and Peter, our leaders and mentors. This is Steve. So it's out of control. We can't keep up. The shelves need filling, online orders are piling up, there's an exploding inbox, pings on all social media channels and someone just called in six today. Oh, I wish there was a reliable and speedy solution to access trained and trusted retail professionals within a moment's notice. As easy as it would be to swipe right for my lunch date later today. Introducing Steve empowering and training a new generation of highly skilled, certified and passionate retail professionals, connecting them seamlessly with all retail brands. We can all agree that the future of our retail workforce will never be the same. Times are changing more rapidly than ever with the largest emerging workforce, our digital natives seeking alignment in culture, purpose and impact. They care deeply about climate change. They value ethical behavior and trust from leaders. They desire a positive culture and if Covid has taught us anything, they crave and flourish in flexible working environments. Retailers and employees need connection. We've built that connection with Steve. Steve has an important job. Not only does Steve deliver instant Uber Eats like delivery of retail professionals to retailers in a single swipe, Steve is also home to the country's largest retail focused workforce where team members are seeking flexible, agile, remote and community connected retail roles that fit their unique and diverse needs all in an instant. Steve seamlessly processes billions of data points in the blink of an eye, harnessing the power of big data and predictable analytics to provide the industry with forecast workforce demand. In a future where schedules are set on team members terms meet Mike. You'll see Mike's week that it looks like no other. Steve provides Mike with the ability to pick and choose his preferences across a whole range of retailers. Louise and Brent are both retailers who know the value of training and consistency. They trust Steve to support spikes in demand within moments where they can access team members ready to work in an instant. Brent was even able to draw on the experience of a Marketing gun, a new mum available to support his campaign while working remotely from her home in Waiwoi. Steve connects regional talent for digital retailers too. What does Steve deliver? Steve connects the right employer with the right employee at the right time, every time. With predictive hiring and powerful AI technology. Steve is as affordable for all retailers from micro to mega with tiered fees, enabling Steve to do all the hard work, leaving retailers to focus on what they do best, customers and sales. Steve's job doesn't stop there. Steve stays connected, engaging, teaching, training and proactively transitioning our country's largest workforce. Steve can get to work immediately with an investment of just $500,000, enabling the platform to launch and quickly gain traction, returning capital to investors within two years. But Steve has a bigger job. Steve will transform the entire retail industry, resulting in an increased retailer revenue, customer retention and a highly engaged and agile workforce. Steve is a multiplier. Our strong and diverse team has the capacity and capability to execute with a broad range of skill sets across key business areas. We can all agree that things have changed. The world is rebooting. And as we all transform, retail needs Steve. Because Steve knows jobs. Well done. That took longer than the three minute timeline of. Oh my God, so much.
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: Going to give you the buzzer.
Nathan Bush: I know, I'll leave that. You were there with a buzzer ready to go.
Yasmin Grigalunis: Oh my God, it was so scary at the time. I was standing up, I was shaking, I was like, don't let the team down.
Nathan Bush: So guys, what I loved about your pitch is that you're solving a real retail problem here. But you've also, I think you were the only real team in there to show the commercials around when it would actually pay off. How did you get that balance between idea and commercials and how did you validate those commercials?
Peter Knock: Again, that was having the skill sets on board, wasn't it? And it was a hard, with an event like Hat Games, you know, it did tend to resonate with certain, you know, skill sets, I guess within, you know, marketing minds. But we, we did have, you know, Julius on board who definitely cfo. So he, he was actually able to, to put some figures in and start the ball rolling to say, well what would it cost to create a vision and put some projections around it?
Joe Harris: Which, I mean, yeah, we just skirted around the market and checked out what sort of was currently being charged for a base level of service and just amplified from there.
Yasmin Grigalunis: Yeah, we did really deep and live competitor analysis as well. Like, you know, I remember in our Miro boards at night, Joe we were, you know, people were sharing on Slack channels all the different potential, not competitors, but similar people with. Not the same, but, you know, across the spectrum, similar technology, but no one was really solving this problem. And, and to be quite honest, as a retailer, I want. Steve, I'm like, how do I get my hands on that product? And it just seemed like a really easy, I won't say easy pitch to pull together, but it just made sense that we should ask for money because we believe in the product.
Nathan Bush: Have you had any interest from anyone willing to take this to the next step?
Peter Knock: Well, not as yet, but we have actually. I think our team was so motivated at the fact that this is something that really is needed. So we've started working behind the scenes to see if we can flesh this out and actually present it, to see if anyone is willing to come on board and, and get behind us and invest in this idea and see if we can actually make it happen. We all got quite passionate when we spoke about the benefits to the workers. And looking at all the different generations of XYZs in retail, they've all got such a huge bonus to bring, I guess, to the retail industry. But it's how to upskill where needed and tap into those skill sets and to make sure that they stay valid. Because the e commerce industry especially is growing. So, you know, having a knowledge of core, I guess, platforms is important. So that training, we fleshed out a whole lot more than we haven't even included in the pitch. But this is where all of us got quite excited as well. Not just the benefit for retailers, but for the workers as well.
Nathan Bush: It's nice that it celebrates retail skills as a skill set. Right, that's, that's, you know, you can build up your skill set whether it's in customer service, whether it's in warehousing, whether it's in whatever it is. It's like you can build that skill set up and it's, you know, can be used across so many different retailers.
Yasmin Grigalunis: Yeah, that was actually discussing a discussion point, Nathan. In, in our collaboration as a team, we talked about how, I mean, we're all career. This is our career, this is our. In my case, it's my business. Right. And so this is not. You just get a retail job to fill in the gaps between uni. This is. We felt that we were lifting an entire industry and a perception that students making their way through school would actually be thinking about professional careers in this industry, because this industry is the bigger. The biggest employer in the country. And it is Actually a really important, vital pathway for people to take. And it's not a back, it's not a backup plan. This is the plan.
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: No, we've all made great careers out of retail.
Joe Harris: Yeah, yeah, yeah, agree.
Nathan Bush: So it's almost like you just need a big consultancy to come in with a bit of seed funding. Almost like someone who might sponsor a team in a retail hack games to come on board with some seed funding to bring it to life. Right,
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: All right.
Nathan Bush: So fantastic idea, guys and well done on taking out the crown on the retail hack games. Brilliant idea and I think we can all see the gap and the opportunity there now going through this process and now stepping back into your day to day lives, whether it is in helping other retail businesses or in your own retail business businesses. What have you carried over or what have you changed from participating in the hack games in your own businesses?
Yasmin Grigalunis: Well, from my perspective, my team were really a big part of it. We sit, you know, in social distance quarters, but we sit all together in a really open, flat structure in our business. It really put a lot of energy into our team. I think that they drew on the collaboration knowing that we were working in technology platforms that connected people, even though we were also disconnected physically. So for us as an organization, A, we all want the product, we'd love to use it for our own company, but B, we all just feel an essence and energy around retail and its transformation. And so if anything, for us that's changed. It's really helped us believe in the bigger picture and the greater good of connection and collaboration for retail to really transform during these challenging times.
Joe Harris: Yeah, I think from my perspective, it certainly helped refocus on purpose and I think we've all got used to working at this pace and one of the reasons I think that the ideas and everything came together so well in the group is that we had a goal and we knew we had to get there very quickly and that just kept everybody focused and it's a bit like it is in our day to day right now. So it just sort of picking up on those skills and the way of working, but it also totally motivated me to ensure that we get the best out of every team member. It is just amazing what people have to offer and the skill sets that are there. It's amazing what you have just sitting around you.
Peter Knock: I agree. Peter motivated me to kind of encourage and I guess facilitate businesses to look inward at the incredible resources they've got within a team. How do you get to really tap into who you've got there and how can you encourage that team to work collaboratively and innovate as well? I think there's way more opportunities for businesses to do that.
Nathan Bush: I think it's a really, really nice way of putting it in that you don't have to wait for retail hack games. You can look internally to start innovating yourself and using the resources that you've got, which is what we're pretty good at doing in retail. Right?
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: That's it. And you know, and invest. And you know, there's so much study behind investing into people. You know, I know there's the, there's this great meme that the CEO says, what if we, what is it? What if we invest? You know, we should get training for our people. What if we invest and they leave and the CFO says that and the CEO says, what if we don't invest and they stay? You know, we know that training, when you give people the power to get better, the longevity that they have in that role just increases massively the value to the business, their passion for that business, because you'll see who they are and the loyalty that comes along with that is just, is precious and you know, and the impact that it has on the business, on HR recruitment costs and then of course, those passionate ideas that just can be brought out of the woodwork is, you know, really important.
Peter Knock: Yeah, people come and ghost, great staff will come and go. But if you can maximize them while they're there and get some incredible opportunities, opportunities and enjoyment of having them there while they're there, isn't that what everyone wants as opposed to exactly that quote, invest in people and then it will pay off a lot of the time.
Nathan Bush: Fantastic, guys. Thank you so much. I feel like all warm and fuzzy after this.
Yasmin Grigalunis: You can do it.
Nathan Bush: Get a car.
Peter Knock: Do we all get a car?
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: I feel like I've got to go
Nathan Bush: back and do some Google Analytics or something just to kind of like balance it all up. So, Alita, what is next for the retail hat Games?
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: What we have coming up for Retail Hack Games is. So this is going to be an annual event. We will probably do it a couple of times a year. So we're looking hopefully if everybody can stay safe and stay home just once we get on top of everything that hopefully can do something in February next year. And in true hat games and true mi fashion, we're going to do something really spectacular, something that nobody will expect and with, you know, surprises around every corner. So I don't want to say too much, but there will be a boat.
Nathan Bush: You really have gone a life for her, haven't you?
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: Everybody gets a boat and chairs and steak.
Nathan Bush: That sounds amazing.
Nathan Bush: Well, we'll keep an eye out for it. Alita, well done on creating something that's really fantastic. So, so brilliant to see here some of the insights that's come out of it. Joe, Peter, Yaz, well done on being the winning team and thank you all for sharing what you got out of it. It's probably not so much about the idea, even though the idea is fantastic. It's about those that come out and how we can apply them every day in our businesses. So you've really shared some fantastic stuff there. So we really appreciate it and look forward to see what's coming next.
Peter Knock: Thanks for having us Nathan.
Alita Harvey Rodriguez: Thanks for having us Nathan.
Joe Harris: Thanks Nathan.
Nathan Bush: I'll be honest with you, I wasn't expecting to come out of a conversation about a hackathon feeling so zen. It's almost therapeutic. Definitely not the mayhem that I expected to be involved with such a team. While MI have an amazing framework for delivering such an event, there's no reason that you can't run this internally or at least a version of Remember the main message the team were talking about around involving and developing your own people. To help with this, I asked a leader if she could send through the rules that they set for the hackathon and there were three that really stood out for me. 1. Let the voting do the talking you to want. You might think your ideas are ace but let your team decide with voting. I think this speaks to letting everyone have their say and making sure all voices are heard. 2. Be limitless with your ideas. Imagine if you had an endless budget Academy Award winning performers to act it out and gravity wasn't a problem. Go big and I think the guys really nailed this with their broad problem statement. That was really ambitious. Number number three and one that we really love. Don't be a tool. While we have tech tools in the game, we don't want you being one. I think that just goes for life. Alita and Team Steve have shared all the rules, the tools and the winning pitch which you can access in the episode blog post over at add to cart.com there's so much in there to get you started. If you're into E commerce you might also be interested in the 12 high newsletter high five Friday we read all the ecommerce news and send you the best bits. Every Friday morning you can sign up for free at 12high.com au until next time keep adding to cartoon.
