It’s a challenge that’s for sure! But fundamentally is it really any different to what we do every day when it comes to running our businesses?
Well, yes, in as much as this is something that hasn’t been seen in the modern world in the last 100 years. The impact on people’s health and their emotional welfare has been enormous at both an individual and a global level. And yes it’s rare that any of the crises we have to deal with as business owners happen to affect everyone everywhere simultaneously.
Beyond that however, this is what we do. We manage our businesses, securing our stock and supply chain; we look after our people, ensuring as best we can the mental and physical well-being of our team; and we take advantage of government measures to help us, such as the various grant and furlough schemes recently made available. The best companies also always take the opportunity to reflect and regroup whenever they can.
So whilst not exactly ‘business as usual’, once Covid-19 entered the UK we began taking a number of precautionary measures, as much we might in any other difficult business situation.
Team
My first consideration, when it became evident we were not going to avoid the virus reaching epidemic proportions in the UK, was for my team. As MD I feel a great deal of responsibility for the emotional, physical and financial well-being of the people who make up our company.
We quickly moved to home-working where that was possible. Easier for the operational team in Bristol; more challenging for our team in Edinburgh who are entirely engineering focused (and therefore based in the cleanroom).
Looking after the team and keeping us all connected was really important to me. In addition to my usual weekly emails to everyone keeping them informed of what’s happening in the business, I added increased regular 1-2-1 check-ins with everyone. We also joined in with the newly found national appetite for socialising via Zoom by holding our first ever NuNano Virtual Pub Quiz in April!
Stock
We shifted our short-term engineering focus from R&D to production. Consequently, when lockdown struck, we had a healthy inventory of stock, not knowing quite when production would resume.
These were quickly moved home with me to ensure that orders continue to be dispatched efficiently (not many probe companies can guarantee 24 hour UK delivery – much less packaged and shipped by the MD!).
Furlough
When lockdown was announced on 23 March our Edinburgh home, the Scottish Microelectronics Centre, understandably, closed its doors almost immediately. Having the ability to furlough team members was crucial. My only alternative would’ve been to ask them to work part-time – with all the negative implications for them financially, and for the company bank balance.
Consequently, we quickly furloughed the team in Edinburgh, as well as our Operations Manager in Bristol, who needed to focus on being at home for childcare. A month later, with the backing and encouragement of the Board, the decision was taken to furlough me too.
Reflect
One thing I’d been chewing over, with colleagues and board members in the weeks leading up to the decision, was how we could in some way turn this situation to our advantage.
What could we as a business do that would be a temporary change in direction or tweak to our standard model? A way of potentially helping out in the crisis, of utilising the skills of our team in a different way, a way that might even turn into an opportunity post-pandemic? Furlough felt like a great opportunity for me to take some time to explore ideas around this more widely.
Well I’m emerging now from a month of furlough. The time out from the commercial and everyday side of the business has been enormously useful. I can’t say I’ve had my moment of genius inspiration (yet!) in terms of what we could do differently as the pandemic continues its course over the coming months. However, like many people in the country, I have at least had time to take a breath.
Stronger and more resilient
This breather, this opportunity to reflect and regroup, is going to be crucial going forward. The small businesses that survive the next couple of years aren’t necessarily going to be the ones with the best products, the best ideas or even the best people (though as it happens I believe we have all three!). They are going to be the ones that are the most resilient.
My belief is that the down-time that some of us have been able to take now will reap benefits in the long run in terms of personal and company strength and elasticity. As we begin to emerge out of lockdown into the brave new world of life without a COVID-19 vaccine I am back at the helm, working with colleagues and partners to chart the best possible course for NuNano going forward.
While the immediate future will be challenging, I believe NuNano will emerge a stronger and more resilient supplier for our customers, and a reliable partner for our distributors and commercial collaborators for years to come.