Hemant's Week
Goal for the week
I was working with three of the client’s country organizations. This week, my goal was to ensure that the steering committee meetings or performance reviews in each country were successful.
Findings
Apart from insights specific to each country, I gained two useful lessons. First, it’s important to connect with people in the country organizations to support their commitment to the program. We purposely kept the mornings of the meetings free to spend two hours with the local product managers to make sure we agreed on our presentation and next steps.
The second lesson was that even though my choices—late dinners with the client, for example—placed some demands on my personal time, they were vital to building relationships. Spending time to just talk and reflect on things other than work goes a long way toward building a great relationship.
Impact on the client study
Through our work this week and the quality of the discussions we had, we created the energy we needed to sustain the program’s momentum. Some of those late nights working on the presentations and reaching agreement on the messages were important to building the skills of the people who would own the program and take it forward.
Monday
7:00 am
Flight from Paris to Greece
I spent the flight finishing the steering committee document I’d received from the client. We needed to synthesize our analysis into our final presentation.
12:00 pm
Lunch with product manager in Greece
I had a quick review session over lunch with the local product manager to agree on the objectives and messages for the steering committee meeting that afternoon.
2:00 pm
Steering committee meeting
My teammate and I joined the steering committee meeting with the head of the Greek organization and the country team, which included the heads of marketing, sales, and medical, and the product manager. Our discussion was in Greek, which was important because it meant the product manager owned the action plan—it wasn’t a “McKinsey answer.” We had a good discussion around the brand plan; the country team challenged many parts of the plan, but did so constructively. The product manager was very happy and suggested dinner together after the meeting.
8:00 pm
Dinner with product manager
There is a very, very strong Greek drink called ouzo. We were 15 minutes late getting into the restaurant, and when I entered I saw three or four empty ouzo glasses in front of the product manager. He insisted we join in the revelry to celebrate the successful meeting. It was close to midnight when I got to the hotel. I spent a while admiring the fantastic view of the Acropolis before heading to bed.
1:00 pm
Meet one-on-one with client director
There were two directors on the client team who were both spending more than 50 percent of their time on our project, and we talked nearly every day about progress and the way we communicated our results with senior leadership on the client team.
Tuesday
7:30 am
Flight from Greece to Austria
I spent the flight finishing off the steering committee document for the Austrian organization.
10:00 am
Meet with Austrian product manager
I knew the team meeting that afternoon would be challenging, so the product manager and I discussed how to best work through the initiatives we planned to discuss.
11:00 am
Cross-functional team meeting
The client had put together a cross-functional team representing different departments within its organization to work with us on the project. We made a presentation to this team recommending some dramatic changes in the way the sales force worked. That sparked a lively discussion. I acted as interpreter between two functions speaking different languages and holding strong views. I summarized the sales plan, moving the team toward a decision before the steering committee meeting the next day.
3:00 pm
Work with salespeople
I met with the local salespeople to get their input on our ambitious recommendations. This was a very tough discussion. We agreed on most of the initiative and ensured that the outcome reflected everyone’s input.
8:30 pm
Walk around Vienna
It was late by the time I finished working on the presentation for Wednesday’s steering committee meeting. I went for a long walk around the ring in Vienna to relax.
Wednesday
9:00 am
Prepare for steering committee
I met with the country team and the product manager to make sure they were comfortable with what they would communicate at the steering committee. I also talked to members of the cross-functional team. It was important that we all agreed on the best way to share the action plan and our recommendations.
11:30 am
Steering committee meeting
This was a very good meeting. The closing thank-you speeches were extremely positive. A couple of team members got emotional about their involvement in the program and said, “This is the best program I’ve been a part of; it’s really challenged my thinking.” I realized how energized the country team was by the program and its impact. The head of marketing, in particular, was very positive. He said the quality of what we had done in a short period of time was excellent.
6:00 pm
Flight
Evening flight to Norway
Thursday
9:00 am
Meet with team in Oslo
The marketing manager, product manager, and I spent the morning preparing the presentation for the Norwegian steering committee meeting.
1:00 pm
Steering committee meeting
While this wasn’t the most electric review of the week, we had a good discussion about the client’s brand. We agreed that it needed a significant overhaul. Our review raised issues that might have been downplayed or even overlooked in the past. We put those issues on the table, evaluated the current brand strategy, and agreed to think radically about how to reposition the brand.
7:00 pm
Missed flight to Paris
My lesson of the day: never underestimate how strict the flight attendants in Oslo can be. Our meeting ran late, and when I got to the airport, the airplane doors were closed. I tried my best persuasion skills, but couldn’t convince the attendants to let me on the plane.
Friday
8:00 am
Flight to Paris
The only thing on my mind was what to buy my girlfriend’s father for his birthday. I almost always buy him ties. Once I experimented by buying him a very nice bottle of wine—a nice chateau Petrus—but this time it looked like it was back to ties.
11:00 am
Call with team leadership
Because our team had people from different offices serving the client in different countries, we had regular Friday calls to talk about the steering committee meetings. We reviewed action plans from the three countries and discussed our next steps, identifying people we needed to keep in touch with and support to make sure the country action plans would be realized. We also planned our team event in Stockholm.
12:00 am
Lunch with a friend; afternoon off
My friend from the Paris office and I went to a very nice restaurant right next to the office and didn’t discuss work at all. We had a typical Parisian lunch that went on for two hours or so and had a good time. My friend gave me some recommendations on where to buy ties. A few drinks on a sunny afternoon in Paris to end the week, and then a long stroll back home, looking at the trees changing color under the afternoon sun; there can be worse ways to end your week.
*Hemant is currently a Partner