Each and every week the Square Holes team are deep in the bowels of a number of projects, working to mine all of the insights that we can to help grow businesses and support thriving cities.

These insights are used by businesses and organisations to innovate their offerings, move into new markets, track their impact and hone their products and output. Each week we will be sharing a broad insight that we have learnt for you to use in your own work.

Let us know what you find valuable!

Jason: AI filter

I spent an hour or so this week carefully crafting an email to put my case forward. All very logical, and even fair. I copied it into ChatGPT and was told it was a bit passive-aggressive and that a lighter tone would be better. Don’t send an email when you are grumpy is an adage many have used well before AI. In the heat of the moment, that blunt email may do more harm than good. It is interesting to think that AI is there to stop us from doing something silly. The email AI gave me was fair and nice. Not hot-headed or blunt. Perhaps this is just a false sense of trust before AI turns on us and tells us to send the grumpy email, or even worse, sends it without us even knowing, as we trust the robot too much. Complacency is just what the robots want, before they take over humankind.

I wrote this back in 2017, wanting to be a cyborg. I guess in many ways we are.

Mahalia: Community care

The universe seems to be piling it on recently. Global unrest, housing instability, cost-of-living crisis and now a fuel crisis. It’s becoming harder and harder to meet our basic needs. While capitalism argues an every man for himself style model, what is becoming alarmingly clear is that we need to start flexing our community support muscle before it’s too late. People need to get comfortable with cooking for their pals and sharing resources with those less fortunate. Opening our homes, wallets and lives to the people around us, so that the burden of making it through some very scary times isn’t shouldered alone.

Dylan: The same bus

I’m currently working on a project for a large member organisation based in South Australia. A key learning from this work is the importance of consistently capturing and acting on member feedback to ensure organisations remain aligned with evolving needs. The research we’ve completed highlights that value is not just delivered through services themselves, but through how well those services reflect current member priorities and challenges. Regular, structured feedback loops enable organisations to stay relevant and responsive, particularly in changing industry conditions. All in all, organisations that actively listen and adapt are better positioned to demonstrate ongoing value to their members.

Ultimately, project success depends on everyone ‘getting on the same bus’ – working toward a shared vision with focus and ongoing communication.

Think your business or organisation could do with some insights? Contact us here.