Hive Health

I’ve been spending couple of days out. Kept company by 2ft. surf and the wonders of iTunes.

My digital companion keeps playing voice memos. It’s making my ability to plug my exceptionally cool selection into the communal speakers nigh-on-impossible. Humiliation setting? It’s intent on playing excerpts from motivational podcasts or me in hushed tones saying something significant during a notepadless moment. I’ve just spent 10 minutes learning that Marmoud Dawlish‘s Waiting for her, isn’t a great new album, or a piece of patient insight but a Palestinian poet  capturing expectation in three parts. This isn’t helping me complete my work this evening.

One announcement midway through my Dutch Gabba hit a chord. Unfortunately I’ve no idea where it came from or I would provide the link for you to chase away. I urgently suggested I read up on an choice based approach to strategy and that at a later date I move away from a day to day obsession with strategic imperatives and the singular nature of a plan to an alternative higher world.

WTF? 

Could this cowardly .mp3 change the way I work with problems? At 80mph on the M4 I felt this was the case. In my estuary accent I insist that I augment my strategic approach. Consider the incoming flux to the plan by reviewing a set of “Possibilities, Probabilities and Consequences” surrounding what had previously been a linear approach.

I can see why this could have some clear value for me. I ask rather abruptly to review what could happen, the likelihood of this and it’s impact. On further thought here, it’s scenario planning genetically woven into the fabric of strategy. Perhaps even these three words assume that choice and variability is a part of the world we work in. Multiple roads leading to multiple places even? Some of which we can foresee and approach critically making us better prepared to get a plan landed. Those possibilities incapable of predicting, I guess, are a butterfly flap in the chaos.

The Army or possibly Navy, I forget which, stand by a belief that “No strategy, survives first contact”. I’m not sure how much this fills me with a sense of security. Surely in any plan one assumes some likely occurrences. In consumer goods, a competitor could increase spend prior to your launch. In our world a Payor will ask for health economic data. Surely in the military there is an expectation for the enemy to pop up every now and then, from a certain direction, holding something or other?  With PPC in place would we have more robust strategy? I think we probably would. Certainly it might help at least first, second contact keeping us aligned mid barrage.

I’m going to see what impact this distant interuption has on my strategic process. Whether it helps me shape my thinking, prepare me for the foreseeable, or drive me mad.

I have after all been asked by myself.

Last Thursday of every month is our Hive Group Meeting.

67 of us gathered for a town hall style session that covers two graphs, a review of our work, an introduction to new joiners, a Tango lesson c/o Pablo and Elizabeth, an awesome Argentinian wine tasting and pallet of Qulimes. No food was available as short notice Empanadas are an impossibility.

Broadly speaking we are above plan, have some amazing talent just joined us across Creative, Tech and Ebee, doing some of our best work, can’t dance and continue to be able to clear a well stocked bar faster than most. We also are on the hunt for ADs/AEs and Artworkers to fuel our growth this year.

An additional joy was to be joined for this session by a contingent of  pals from Chicago. All of whom launched themselves into the chest to chest Tango lesson, that left Debbie with a life long dance partner, Mel with a face imprinted on her decolletage and Ian dancing cheek to cheek newbee James (James led of course).

The weather has improved enough for the balcony to be in regular use. Like all good parties everyone congregates in one spot, which, unless it’s chucking it down or -5 is the balcony. If you every doubted it was impossible to get 60 people on a balcony 12 metres square, come by on a Thursday/Friday night and look up from Coventry Street to Haymarket House. What looks like an over subscribed  private members bar with a view down to Piccadilly and across to Covent Garden is in fact us lot getting on. If you see a girl up there with binoculars, that’s Natalie keeping a Neighbourhood Watchful eye on Platinum lace (local business discounts available), if someone is wearing a lab coat that’s Adam. It’s not unheard of for us to be shouted up at with a request to share “Where the entrance is?/How do I get in?/Is that a club?” from Leicester Square punters. Competency interviews, a case study review is our witty reply. Ha ha ha…

The brightening of our evenings and better weather seems to be kicking off the season for us. We plan some great events, small and large. From film screenings, picnics, bbqs and the occasional odd ball night as well. What staggers me more than anything is the amazing ability our cleaner has to make the change from party venue to office by the morning. If only she could work the transformation on all of us. A miracle worker.

A delight to beapart.

We’ve been part of a team this week helping cascade experience design on behalf of a global client. Like any co-promote it’s not been the most straightforward of projects, but it’s been a source of late night smiles and new friendships.

Quite a few people at Hive have at some time spent, either a year out or part of their 2-month sabbatical heading off to hot place to teach. Kieran’s recently been to Asia teaching art and English. Fully immersed in the jungle , chalk in hand. Kieran said one of his biggest challenges was not speaking the local dialect and the subsequent need to show the children everything he wanted them to do. He returned thinner, a beaming smile and a load of experience in communication, heuristics and the benefits of fish sauce on rice, rice and rice.

These two recent experiences made me consider the oft said rarely followed cliché; ‘See one. Do one. Teach one’. It seem especially useful if we are training those who have the responsibility to walk the earth and either retrain or facilitate a process or activity. These 6 words also should give us some confidence to avoid double clicking PowerPoint, and get experiential about our skills transfer.

These 6 words, suggest it’s best to embed theory into the practical, establish the task in another’s hands as a basecamp for the push to your own heart and hands. Being somewhat fidgety, I’m sure it’s the way I’ve learnt most aspects of my working life.

One of the most difficult (work?) tasks I’ve learnt in the last few years has been double handed spay casting. The mighty Gary Scott barely mentioned history, flex ratios, river topography, ergonomics, rod performance or line requirement. But the practical aspects, the feel of casting, the experience of a rod and line attached to you, all whilst watching him cast beautifully. We then got on with riverside-mid-cast-wader-clad-spooning on the River Tay with him guiding me through a few dozen casts. As my arms and shoulders started to get set the thinker in me was allowed to follow. I got less likely to hit the trees and increasingly shot the line across the river onto the dark peaty water. Any mistakes were corrected in the same way, hands on, practical. Never breaking out of this pattern.

That other famous human behaviour expert and fisherman Mark Twain once said (deep voice, Southern American drawl, mint julep in hand). “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way”. It’s a complementary view, and one that reflectively I grasp now. Although the ‘do one’ section of this particular session must be a tough ask.

I’ve been training a lot of facilitators over the last 6 months. Getting a network of partnerships to globally provide a constructionist technique to understand patients and their relationship with their medicine. If I had these 6 words tattooed on my arm  I’m sure the Italian or French learning curve would have not been anyway near as steep as it was. Now prior to meeting a new facilitator they receive a video of a real session run by another facilitator in another country and region. Then on arrival during our face-to-face session I run a pretend session. Working through the facilitation guide using the support materials and highlighting anything that might happen. Given facilitators all love open-ended questions, it’s an interactive session, detailed, fun and thoughtful. Then together we work through a couple of co-facilitated exercises, then it’s back behind the mirror for me and the ‘Do one’. The session is run with real patients, for a real disease, and with a real need to learn something. The film we make during this session and the follow up interview with the new facilitator is then used for the next training session. Only after ‘See one’ do we start to talk about the technique, approach and academic justification. But the case studies are very much as punctuation rather than a foundation to the technique.

Writing this its made me think of a strategist I worked with in the early years of Hive. Midst workshop design session she was pretty passionate about the need to avoid constantly returning to the learnings from a task. It was a real moment for me, “We don’t need to spoon feed these people they are not children. They will get it in their own way. Just have a respect for their intellect.” is one of those phrase that I consider now mine!

I guess this is an add on to the 6 word approach, allow the audience to process what the exercise was designed to show. I guess these 6 words can help us create that objective connection between seeing and doing better. If the connections not being made then, improve the exercise not repeat the conclusion.

Our industry has a tendency to go rational.ppt prior to considering experiential.pow. It’s certainly easier to get approved through the traditional channels. Twain’s cat exercise on Zinc? I think not.

I write this from a few hundred kilometres north of Sao Paulo. Early this morning Marco (driver) and I spent two hours chatting through entrepreneurship, taxation, local health provision and the role of private healthcare. The two hour Brazilian acclimatisation reminded me of a story about the regular trips the European Central Bank Chief took to London to discuss economic policy with the UK Chancellor. ECBC remarked that he often learnt more from the taxi driver in the hour in from Heathrow, on the state of the policies than in the scheduled meeting. A reminder for me that knowhow comes from everywhere.  I am here to do a workshop which starts Sunday night back in the city. I’ve grabbed a couple of days where the surf is 4ft, the wind is offshore, SPF 50 is a minimum and since 10am I’ve been bobbing out back, surfing very badly on a board that was too good to be an excuse.  I’m really enjoying this weekend.

High up on my development plan list for this year has been to increase my exposure to EMAP markets. Get out of the US and EU and explore more. The last month or so I’ve been on a Business class tour that’s I think gets me to a week away from completing my 25th EMAP market deep dive. I’ve been front man/facilitator/scapegoat/fixer alongside the London based team in rolling out the plan for 2 brands. With an agenda that takes a market, a multidisciplinary team and over four days roles out the commercial, medical and payor strategy. Working through the localisation, milestones and interconnections needed to drive a successful Local/global launch.

These fantastic sessions have given me exposure to working with markets that previously I have known, at least through a few TCs, at most VC/1 day bullet F2Fs. Having 4 days together has helped me see what we do on behalf of global brands from an alternate perspective, as well as pick up some pretty cool receipts with which to ‘awe-out’ our finance guys. The teams have all been wonderful to work with, seriously different from US/EU sessions, in terms of tone, approach and working practices. The time in between has been so valuable to get to grips with the idiosyncrasies of healthcare systems, payor groups and selling culture all helping me climb the learning curve. It has added to a stack  of reading and discussions I kicked off last year. Putting me much more confident in having an informed view on Korea, Australia, Saudi, and Chile etc etc etc. And a list of senior level decision makers happy to have their brains picked.

The week before last I was in Singapore on one of these trips (recovering from an injury resulting from 3am bungy jump) and out for dinner with a Malay Chinese management consultant. We kicked off on the amazing diversity of markets working in and out of Singapore. And a comment from me; that these very same Asian markets 10 years ago would have been wrongly perceived by us Western marketeers as largely similar – fixable with one plan, and little support from centre to optimise a central strategy. She’s feisty as hell, buying me dinner and sat with her Cambridge born head/media/digital/Asia/C suite current love interest. “It’s good that Europeans finally are understanding that Asian markets are diverse, and that within each market are massive differences locally as well. This is not Europe where you are all similar, sharing culture, food, people. We welcome that maturity!”. Eh?! Glance, saki, swig, conch sashimi. What resulted was a interesting insight into how us Europeans can be seen by some of our Asian equivalents in what became known as “an Asian view on Europe”. Now don’t get me wrong. I was being wound up. Punished for my neocolonial approach of apologising for a legacy. Only to have an equivalent European view chucked back at me. Bless her.

Although tongue in cheek. It’s a prevalent view of little old EU, and refreshing and rare to see such similarity. I guess your standing point always impacts your perspective. Kind of obvious really. Perhaps to collate, stereotype and hetrogenise (word?) is a human trait we all share. With proximity driving an understanding of the local nuance, and the importance of the differences between Venice, Birmingham.Hamburg, Hanoi, Hua Hin or Hong Kong regardless of regional bias.