“TO BETTER TOGETHER” from Word to Action
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much
First, I would like to thank everyone that made this experience unforgettable: Havas Global Talent Team, Havas Media NY, my French team but also the other Lofters, Havas Worldwide, Havas Health, Dailymotion…
During my stay I was guided by some key words that I used to hear/read quite often while working at Havas Holding: “Better Together”.
This strategy has led to set up Villages around the world in order to put both Havas Media and Havas Worldwide in a same building to strengthen collaborative work and improve our work on shared clients.
It is one of Andrew Benett’s tasks. This week, I had the opportunity to meet him at an informal breakfast (thanks Elicia and Anne!). As a Global CEO of Havas Creative Group, he is leading the day-to-day management of Havas’ creative agencies and works on the “Together” strategy, facilitating the communication flow. The hardest and most key point of this strategy is gathering people around common values and objectives within the global company.
I am fully convinced that Havas Lofts is a good illustration of it, of how “Together” can be applied in a concrete way and improve global collaboration.
My work was very different from the other Lofters, and from the team I was integrated into, but collaboration is universal and can be applied everywhere. For that reason, I will make sure to maintain the relationships I created during my stay in New York when going back to France. Of course it will be mainly through emails but you never know what will happen tomorrow… Career opportunities, moves, vacations…
Within my NY team (Havas Media accounting), I learned how to use new tools such as the financial toolkit of Media Ocean (formerly Donovan Data Systems or DDS). The system is used to manage financial, media, and production data. Extractions from this software are then made and input in our global financial tool Magnitude. Havas Worldwide for example, is using another accounting software due to different business needs. Step by step collaboration/ homogenization needed for the “To Better Together” strategy is also done through software tools. For this purpose, a global HR/Payroll software will be implemented soon.
Something else that I learned was the discovery of Havas Media’s different businesses and how they are linked together. I had the opportunity to connect with Christopher, Steven, and Anthony (Lofts alumni), who introduced me to their jobs within Havas Media.
Every day spent at “200 Hudson” was an opportunity to bring more content to my further analysis.
Sorry, what do I do in Paris? My role is to analyze Havas main figures: revenue, profitability, growth by clients/region/division, investment…
The experience is A-mazing (New Yorker way!) You can’t be disappointed if you take all your chances to make it happen. You need to be proactive. Each team has its own agenda to follow, and at the beginning it can be a bit hard to just “shadow” people but in the end it is how you learn.
