Leadership in times of crisis: How we managed to keep Oves Enterprise afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic
This article was originally published on the Oves Enterpise blog
When I heard that Italy went into lockdown, I have to admit my heart skipped a beat. I realized this will soon happen in Romania as well, and we will have to lock up everything and go into isolation. I was fully aware of how everyone’s level of stress raised and how the uncertainty was constantly present in our office. Everyone was concerned regarding the future — theirs, their family’s and nonetheless of the company.
Although I am the owner of many businesses aside from Oves Enterprise — an aesthetic clinic, a luxury shop and a luxury cosmetics shop, and I have fought several other crises, including the one from 2008, I am aware that each crisis hits different. Especially since this one is of a medical matter and everyone’s safety was at stake.
But somehow we managed to overcome this crisis instilled by the appearance of the virus. When major tech companies started to fire their employees, Oves Enterprise didn’t. When others were concerned about finding new projects, we managed to seize opportunities. It’d be quite a stretch to say we thrived, but we managed to do more than to keep ourselves afloat.
There is no fail-proof recipe for leadership in a time of crisis. Everyone is wired differently and have another level of resilience, especially when it comes to distress. But below you can find several dimensions I approached to tackle it.
1. Honesty is always the best policy
As a leader, your employees look up to you. They need answers, guidance and even reassurance. However, the latter is hard to offer. I wasn’t going to make promises I couldn’t keep — this is one of my core values and the business’s as well. Instead of promising and keeping an overly optimistic view, I chose honesty. Harsher, indeed, but more realistic.
Therefore days before the lockdown was instilled, I went to the office and gathered everyone around. I reviewed the situation, how everything might come to a halt. I mentioned that I wasn’t able to make real predictions but based on my experience and the available information, all we could do at such times is to go on. I encouraged them to not think too much about their future — because we will still be here. They will still have the chance to pay their loans and mortgages. Oves Enterprise won’t shut down, we’ll go forward.
And we did.
2. Adapt quickly and boldly
There’s no “how to crisis 101” manual. And even if one would exist, it’d be comprised out of pretty generic stuff. Unless you know, it would have been written by someone in the future and it says there when this will end and what are the best procedures. But as I said, there’s none.
So, I threw away all possible protocols and let my self guided by intuition and expertise. And this is what I did — I sent everyone home. I told them to grab their things, take care of themselves and that the next day we won’t see each other at the office, but we’ll hear each other over any chat platform.
Afterwards, I had to see how to maintain communication when it comes to projects with the team, to ensure progress is still made. Since the discussions over the watercoolers and daily meetings were cancelled, a systematic alternative was needed. So I talked with my C-level colleagues and team leaders and together we picked a platform where all tasks, progress and issues were listed. All of our employees were instructed on how to use them and how often they should be updated.
Then, I had to find a way on what to do with the office for a while. Since nobody would have come for at least of a couple of months, I had to cushion the immediate blow by reducing costs — turning everything off, cancelling our contracts with the vendors for a limited time and staying at home to keep everyone safe.
3. Set your priorities straight
The first thing that I ticked off my list was to ensure everyone had optimum resources to work from home. Then, together with the project managers and team leaders, we went through each ongoing project to see if we can keep up with the original estimation and which tasks are the most important. However, it was up to them to find the right solutions to ensure they stay on track.
What was highly important in this step was letting the team know what needed their immediate attention and the deadlines they have to keep. I also emphasized to the project managers the importance of smooth communication between them and the developers and to make sure nobody is left out of the loop.
4. Taking care of our clients
As a leader, on your checklist there should be a couple of items:
- Ensuring everyone is safe and fine.
- Reassuring everyone that the show still goes on.
- And being transparent with your clients.
After tackling the first two, I reached out to my clients. Since the pandemic is a global issue, the feelings of distress and uncertainty were all around. This is why I scheduled calls with our clients and reassured them that their products still go on as scheduled. I mentioned that the only difference is that everyone will be working from the comfort of their home instead of the office, but everything else is still the same.
Needless to say, this took a great amount of weight off their shoulders, since they could focus on other urgent tasks that required their immediate attention.
5. Taking care of our employees
Indeed, it’s a priority to nurture your clients. But it’s also highly important to look after your employees too. After all, they are the ones who help you get and maintain leads. To ensure the pandemic distress didn’t take a toll on their overall health, I started scheduling several calls.
Weekly calls with the PMs to see the projects’ status and to ask them how they feel. Constantly reassuring them that this too shall pass. Also, since most of the team is comprised of 20+ years experts, who are well-versed in adversities, I advised them to assure the younger ones that everything will turn out fine in the end.
Moreover, I kept in touch with the team members as well by providing weekly information regarding the actual status of the projects, when it will be possible to return to the office and I always recommended reaching out to me if they need anything.
6. Keeping an eye open for new opportunities
Nothing lasts forever, not even the Coronavirus. Hence, to guarantee that all the promises will be kept, I started looking for new opportunities. Reaching out to my network, reaching out to former clients and letting them know we’re open for business. Highlighting that we have full-stack tech capabilities, from front-end technologies, back-end, mobile to emerging ones such as Big Data, machine learning, Internet of Things and Blockchain. Mentioning as well the various industries we tackled along the years — urban mobility, e-commerce, travel, FinTech and PropTech.
Saying it was easy would be a blatant lie. Finding new opportunities in times of crisis is a struggle similar to Don Quixote’s battle with the windmills. But through our perseverance, professionalism and expertise, we managed to bring new projects at Oves Enterprise.
To reiterate, there’s no 101 on how to be a leader during a crisis. But what I learned is that kindness, empathy, resilience and perseverations are the main keywords in overcoming it and going further.
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