Millie Green of MDHUB met up with Founder of Brighton-based bespoke market research company Aviatrix, Helen Bailey
When I first met with Helen, the interaction began with a shared moment of unexpected humour. Attempting to enter a local coffee shop for the interview, we both struggled with a deceptively tricky door, missing a vital ‘push’ sign: a small yet telling detail that Helen, with her keen researcher’s eye, did not overlook.
We watched several others repeat our mistake. Helen pointed out the flaw with a mix of amusement and professional critique. “This door isn’t just a physical barrier, it’s a psychological one too. It’s essentially setting visitors up for embarrassment. For a business, that’s a subtle yet significant deterrent.”
This is Helen Bailey; analytical, perceptive and funny, and a serial entrepreneur in what she calls the fun part of life – leisure, travel and hospitality – for over 30 years.
She founded Aviatrix (literally ‘female pilot’) as a solo project in 2012. She immediately signed up for MDHUB, finding the support on offer in the early days as crucial.
Reflecting on her initial experiences at MDHUB, she recalls the daunting challenge of adopting a leadership persona. “You had to talk as if you were actually an MD. One of the main benefits of joining MDHUB is you have to take your spot. Even if you’ve got yourself in the position of MD or director, you often feel you aren’t one,” she explains.
This candid admission highlights the often-overlooked emotional and psychological aspects of leadership. MDHUB’s facilitated workgroups provided Helen with a space to talk about her business, hear other people talking about theirs, as well as providing a chance to try her thoughts out on other people. As Helen put it, “Being an MD is a really lonely business. A lot of things you feel shame about, you can bring to an MDHUB group to have a safe and confidential space to discuss.”
With the growth and success of her business, MDHUB’s Managing Director Fiona Shafer invited Helen to join the MDHUB team as a facilitator and later, the MDHUB board. With decades of experience as a qualitative researcher, Helen had long facilitated groups, making it a seamless transition to use her skills to help leaders gain insights from one another.
She sees workgroups as an ideal form of business support. “It is vital within a group that everybody who turns up has a sense of belonging, and everybody has their turn so that they get a return on their investment of time, which is such a limited resource for most leaders.
“If an MD has an issue, they must be attended to so everyone can learn from their each other’s experiences. Ensuring that people feel safe is the most important thing and that there is no judgement.”
Facilitation is an essential part of the MDHUB groups, and it’s a role that Helen feels needs to be played quietly. Talking about what a successful group looks like, she explains, “It looks like you’re not needed, and the group comes together like old, trusted colleagues who care about each other.”
One of Helen’s workgroups centres on the four-day working week, though she doesn’t work one herself. While Helen explains that she works hard, she has routines. She has her holidays and her personal time-out moments, but not in a formulaic way.
A four-day week for Helen and her business would be a challenge, so she finds her own way of making sure she gets her ‘my time’ in during any given week; something she says she used to be bad at. She feels that business isn’t about one single management approach, it’s about making sure you get the time to do the things you love alongside running your business.
Looking forward, Helen anticipates personal and professional transitions, viewing them as opportunities for growth and adaptation. “Even though I’m not fully conscious of it, I think I’m going through a massive transition – as a menopausal woman, as a woman who’s just crazily decided to work with my husband, and as someone who is trying to build a business post-family that is going to serve my eldership.”
For someone as dedicated to work as Helen, slowing down isn’t an option. ”I understand that to keep your brain alive the best advice is to keep working in some form. That’s my intention –without becoming an old stiff – by constantly learning and applying that learning to my business and my life.”
www.aviatrix.co.uk
www.mdhub.co.uk
Email MDHUB Directors:
Fiona Shafer: fiona@mdhub.co.uk or
Phil Green: phil.green@mdhub.co.uk
