Reflections Nov 2020 – Week 3: What happens after success? When to hire a studio manager? Nocebo effect and more…

Agency musings

What happens after success?

The big exit. A dream for many agency owners. Cash out, move to a remote island with an outdoor shower. What then? Many people I speak to who have exited their agencies often struggle to find meaning in their ‘new’ life. It’s like a snail between two shells that hasn’t yet found the next shell.

What so many believe to be true is often far from the truth: You don’t define the brand of your agency, your agency defines the brand - with or without you. If you leave, your agency and its what it stands for will continue without you. Whether you like it or not. The hardest part after ‘success’ is to reinvent yourself. Find your new ‘why’.

Like the one hit wonder musician or the athlete who wins gold then retires. What next? It’s a key thought process to go through when considering your ‘exit plan’ or even whether stepping down from your agency is the right thing for you.

Inside Polymensa

Team Mintaka

New theme kick off: Remote working - team engagement and management

The three areas we will explore in depth are:
1. Mental wellbeing of team members and founders
2. Junior team member training & development and onboarding processes
3. Showcase of companies who have made remote working work well

Check out these Slack discussions from last week

For Agency Founders/MDs/CEOs

For those that have creative departments, at what point did you hire a studio manager?

What are people using for PSA/ERP/agency management, resource management?

Any good recommendations on NPS tools?

Office + video conference setup

Coming up this Friday 11am - 12pm
Join our monthly peer group call for People Directors of agencies with a minimum 20 team members. Find out more information here

The beautiful mind

Nocebo

Clinical trials are currently headlining the news. As part of that there are two effects often observed: The placebo and nocebo effect.

The ‘placebo’ effect is more commonly known than the ‘nocebo’ effect. In a clinical trial participants are often given an inactive drug, but are told they are given a drug that cures a particular medical condition. Some participants may find that their medical condition is improved purely based on the belief the drug has an effect.

In the case of a ‘nocebo’ effect, if a patient is told of e.g. negative side effects of a drug (despite that not being the truth), clinical trials have shown that patients developed the mentioned side effects. In other words, negative thoughts can lead to negative outcomes.

In Cognitive Behavioural Therapy it is often recommended that you label emotions to mitigate the psychological effect the emotion has on one - even if they are negative emotions. This suggests getting a trial participant to talk about their fear of the negative side effect may mitigate nocebo.

The same concept applies to communication with team members. It seems that a positive / hopeful outlook has the possibility to turn thoughts into positive outcomes. However if the reality is so clear that it will not be OK, the communication about how that person feels is what will make the difference. The key is to provide the tools to deal with the possible problem when it arises.

Quote of the week

"Peace can not be achieved by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
Albert Einstein

Company spotlight

Cameo

Seen this before, but they’ve had a huge uptake since COVID hit as it benefitted both the celebrities and the people receiving the personalised messages. It’s basically a service where a celebrity will read out a personalised message to you - within reason of course.

Maestro

Interactive video platform.

Panto Online

Peter, a critically acclaimed Panto Dame, Writer and Director, has decided to use his own 'Giant' back garden to film JACK AND THE BEANSTALK - a socially distanced pantomime complete with ingenious sets, fabulous costumes... and even a real beanstalk!

Nura

Very interesting subscription model for what appear to be very good headphones.

Okhy

The only open ear hearable voice assistant that stays on and stays in.

Book spotlight

Superengaged

Nikki Gatenby

Written by the former MD of performance marketing agency - Propellernet. As described by the author: Superengaged is an honest, in-depth and upbeat look at the value of having values and the power of creating a people-focused workplace culture, packed with tips and guidance for increasing your profits and improving your outcomes. It’s for CEOs and COOs, HR directors and finance directors, entrepreneurs, business owners and anyone who’s on their way up.

Random information
(entertaining at the very least)

• A protist is any eukaryotic organism that is not an animal, plant, or fungus. While it is likely that protists share a common ancestor, the exclusion of other eukaryotes means that protists do not form a natural group, or clade.

• The summit of the Chimborazo is the fixed point on Earth that has the utmost distance from the center – because of the oblate spheroid shape of the planet Earth, which is thicker around the Equator than measured around the poles.

• Kola Superdeep Borehole SG-3 retains the world record at 12,262 metres (40,230 ft) in 1989, and is still the deepest artificial point on Earth.

Thank you for reading.

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"Be an infinite learner." - Polymensa

Have a great week!
Cheers, Daniel :)