Succeeding through the Pandemic: A People Solution

A People Solution to a Pandemic Problem

Businesses large and small have been impacted by the pandemic; for some it’s been positive but for most it’s led to significant disruption. The effects have touched every area of business including how businesses engage, motivate, support and communicate with their staff. One client that Secantor has worked with for over a decade has deployed effective team management strategies to adapt to the challenges of remote & hybrid working by modifying its communication style, methods and technology to strengthen cohesion with their team. Here’s their story…

Smooth Exit & Transfer of Ownership

The Founder/Owner of this 30 year old engineering business worked with Secantor over several years to plan his business exit strategy and prepare a smooth transition to the management team. Secantor, acting as Finance Director & facilitator guided the team who created business vision and values together with strategic business goals through a carefully executed strategic business planning process. The team worked well over several years using various ways to improve business performance, adopting business analysis metrics and key performance indicators to monitor progress against plan. The result was steady growth in market share and company profits, and a carefully nurtured culture of team working with all staff.

Pandemic Disruption

It was just 12 months before the first lockdown that the well-established management team of Directors took over ownership from the Founder. They had continued to grow steadily and generate some cash reserves when the pandemic hit. This helped them through the first two to three anxious months of poor trading in 2020 when they were unable to visit customer premises. However they were determined to recover trading back on plan which started to upturn during June 2020.

Technology Improves Communication

The Directors had recently introduced an intranet platform for all staff to communicate together. As remote working took hold, this platform became the central hub for company-wide communication and collaboration including:

1. Directors sharing regular progress against business aims & objectives
2. general sharing of information, tasks and dates avoiding 1,000’s of emails within the team of around 50 people
3. celebrating staff news, awards, “get to know people” articles, Q&A’s etc.
4. social – football team results, staff leisure & charity activities, wedding & births etc.

Effective Team Management

The Directors devised & introduced effective team management strategies to ensure each person was safe & secure, both as individuals and as part of the team. Homeworking was arranged and Directors maintained close links with each member of staff through intranet, telephone & video calls with some home visiting. One Director plus a few staff started working in the office on a rotating basis with safety paramount.

Office Transformation

Capitalising on the newly deployed technology, the management team actioned a plan that saw a 100% digitisation all company records. The storage units that previously housed the physical records were no longer needed so these were removed freeing up valuable office space. The Directors did not want or need to take on further debt despite generous Government loan support but they did exercise best practice financial planning & analysis and strong business cost control under the watchful eye of Secantor.

The company owns and operates from industrial premises which included workshop & store with basic offices above and tiny functional kitchen & bathroom facilities. During the early months of 2021 lockdown with few staff attending the Directors arranged a complete renovation of the building, with tired décor, partitions, furniture and filing cabinets removed. A new modern “hot-desking” working environment was created separately from a comfortable staff lounge, dining room & kitchen which was tastefully decorated in relax mode complete with TV. Similarly, both a conference room and training room were created complete with full digital communication technology plus modern bathrooms with showers for the cyclists.

Positive Staff Engagement

Staff were determined to win following the Director’s caring & inspirational leadership. Everyone stepped up a gear and trading performance mushroomed with all KPIs being exceeded and profits for Covid year much greater than plan and prior year. The combination of intranet, video & in-person communication has bonded the team to nurture & encourage one another in a very positive manner for the future.

Staff are sharing in the success of the business including:

1. significant performance related bonuses for all
2. a beautiful new working environment, celebrated with a grand opening event to start the process of reconvening together
3. a company awards ceremony to celebrate outstanding performance provided the opportunity for everyone to reconnect in person in a relaxed and fun setting following the relaxation of Covid restrictions.
4. a new middle management team is being developed who have subsequently worked together to prepare a programme to deliver the business strategic plan.

Strength for the Future

And so the good news continues. The Directors are reaping the rewards of investing in their team. Staff feel valued so respond by supporting each other to deliver business objectives. As a result the workplace atmosphere is positive, friendly and dynamic. This is building a very strong future for the business. It is privilege for Secantor to support and guide the Directors of this exciting company as they continue their successful journey.

Fulfil the Potential of Your Business

Are you a small business owner who wants some support in building the best company you can? Or perhaps you know someone else who is? Get in touch with us. Secantor has a wealth of experience with helping businesses fulfil their potential - let us know how we can help.