The Hand & Heart Story
The backstory… Evolution through Revolution
With a spirit of confidence, Hand & Heart has always been a concept in constant evolution, and focused on workplaces at the core of what we set out to achieve for our clients operationally. It began in Berlin with a concept called Little Joy, which was a business designed to cater and consult food and beverage businesses, offering them goods to serve within their establishments. Kate then shifted her focus to developing direct consultation relationships with clients and more corporate environments for food development projects. In this way, Hand & Heart began to take shape, combining "the hands working with the heart" to create a formula and system that provided education, training, guidance and practical applications to their clients through the Hospo Hotline program.
The big realisation… THE WORLD IS A WORKPLACE
Although operational consulting and development were effective, it became apparent that many of our clients' goals would remain unattainable without secure, welcoming, and beneficial working environments. Additionally, workers experienced a great deal of anguish and pain. As a result, our modules, education, and training shifted their focus entirely to the employer-employee relationship, social justice in the workplace, and practical solutions for businesses that prioritise their values and employees.
Growing Through Experience
HH&H has always grown through experience. Some of our best ideas and work exist simply because nothing else does or did. For example, the Mikkeller Reconciliation Program, the B.E.E.R Model of Workplace Reconciliation, and the BrewDog Affected Worker's Platform. We not only want to revolutionise workplaces, but also to evolve the service and meaning of workplace and business consultancy.
Evergreen Quality Work > Trends & Performative Concepts
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I)? We were doing it five years ago, but we didn't call it that. We were doing equity work before people realized that the 'E' stood for equity and not equality! Maybe it would surprise you, but before Wells Fargo & Coke sponsored PRIDE, employers simply thought "it shouldn't be in the workplace". Evidently, all these fancy workplace consultants agreed with them for the better part of a decade. We don't subscribe to "move fast and break things" philosophies or to moving the goalposts on workplace cornerstones that align with human rights and social justice. We take months and even years to develop our modules and programs. We use many media types and educational philosophies to go beyond performance and into the harsh realities of building better businesses. It's not easy, but it is not impossible.
From our founder
Hi, I am Kate Bailey (she/her) - the founder and managing director of Hand & Heart GmbH. I am proudly queer, Autistic and relentless in my pursuit and improving workplaces, and thus the work they produce, across the world. I am a registered Business Consultant with the Federal Office of Economics and Export control (Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle (BAFA) Consultant ID: #185675). I am a member of the Association of Workplace Investigators and I work under the guidelines of the provision of investigative services (BSI 102000:2018). I have recently joined the International Association on Workplace Bullying & Harrassment. I have a specialised expertise in the Hospitality industry and created the world’s first digital food business consultancy programme - Hospo Hotline.
Hand & Heart Media is my slow-growth media publishing business. In 2021, we published the podcast Super Cool Toxic Workplace. In 2022, we published Super Punk Corporate Meltdown. 2023 will see a variety of H&H in-house programmes and a new slate of independent projects we would like to support.
My extensive background in hospitality, business development, project management and organisational psychology has given me unique perspectives on how efficiency and nurturing environments go hand-in-hand. Or, hand and heart, to be annoyingly ‘‘on brand’’. My biggest realisation around five years ago, through direct consulting, was that no matter how good the business advice or strategy we offer is - it means nothing without a healthy, safe and functioning workplace. Despite the fact that empathetic leadership and people-first workplaces outperform their heartless counterparts every time – check out these stats , for example –, I couldn’t see this reflected in business consulting, literature or policy.
I was also disappointed to see that consultants charge upwards of 1000 euros per day – yet only seemed interested in “telling” clients what was wrong instead of “teaching” them to work better. The “fly-in, fly-out” approach to consulting didn’t make sense to me – clients need ongoing support and their support should be broken down into understandable and affordable modules.
Our team is comprised of highly competant and succesful people from a range of backgrounds, and working in different locations across the globe. My story and the Hand & Heart story is about diligent, meaningful, and smart work done with thoughtful and purposeful ambition. I’m proud of how it’s helped my clients succeed and prosper, it is my and Hand & Heart’s purpose, and that we have innovated workplaces with new ideas and concepts every step of the way.