Pandemic & Lean Management of my Company

We never imagined the devastating impact of Pandemic prior to COVID 19 hits the Globe. If the year 2022 -20221 has made anything clear, it's that the most important trait for a business is its ability to adapt. Startups and MSMEs have learned that they can't afford to shelter in place and hunker down, paralysed by the uncertainty of what's to come; they must proactively choose how to act in order to forge their own path.??

The viability of any business depends on its ability to stay agile, flexible and resourceful in the face of the unknown. Thats what we learnt and executed every day — operate in uncertainty — and it's something that needs to be ingrained into the mind of every employee.?

Strengthen your culture.

Company culture is the glue that holds everyone together. It provides a code to operate within. It offers a sense of tribe with continuous motivation. A strong culture within the workplace is a direct reflection of the highest company mission. Thats exactly what we did during the continuous journey with COVID. We challenged ourselves and we kept asking questions to ourselves : What types of decisions are we making in times of uncertainty? How do we carry ourselves around our team, investors and customers? Whether we are holding impromptu 1-to-1 meetings, encouraging personal vacations or helping complete actual tasks, these gestures move mountains when it comes to impacting culture, productivity and trust.

Culture of transparent from the start.

We being a Japanese company we maintain the culture of transparency. With any disunion comes the need for an extra layer of transparency from the top. It is key to share all the data and open the books so everyone has a complete understanding of where the business stands, whats happening within the team, situation of businesses, status of employees mindset and what not. Transparency and over-communication in business can build lasting trust and provide agility. And we did the exactly the same. We kept engaged ourselves with the investors and stakeholders day in day out.

Sharing budgets, runway, forecasts and expectations create that culture of trust and mutual respect among employees and management, which goes a long way when times are tough. When transparency is a permanent fixture added to the corporate culture, employees become more engaged and committed to the vision of getting through this time.?At TechnoPro India, our employees show the dignity and represented the true picture of loyalty and they hold the fort with confidence.

Culture of Learn to do more with less.

Many companies across the board have found themselves in a place of needing to generate more demand with smaller budgets and fewer people. But I believe scarcity leads to innovation. Scaling a lean organisation also means not falling into the trap of hiring in a linear form to support growth. Instead of continuously on-boarding more resources to account for growth and extension, we identified bottlenecks and fixed them, thus building an oiled machine that is primed for growth but can also weather a storm.

Culture of Empowering my Team

In general form of organisation from economic standpoint, shareholders and executive members are left making difficult decisions during times of uncertainty, such as layoffs, cutting expenses or reducing salaries. However, it's also a time where it's important to empower those around you and enable them to become more efficient. If they can be as efficient as possible, they can help get through a downturn.?

With times lean, management and employees are left with shared sacrifices. Many leaders might convert employee commission to stock within their respected startups. We certainly empowered our engineers and other support resources to take decisions and remain charged.

Lead by example.

However, one can empower a team all that is needed , but the standard for leadership and culture, both in and out of the office, needs to come from the top down. During Pandemic we had to care of our own mental and physical health so that we could encourage employees to do the same, whether it's engaging in R&D, eating healthier, volunteering or donating, and the list goes on.

As a CEO, navigating this unprecedented business landscape, I can say for certain that there isn't time to sit back and wait to be told what to do. We used this time to come together as an organisation and persevere through the pain points of this disruption. Lean organisation , like ours need nothing more than to keep the eye on the ball and focus. Now is the time to take advantage of and capture opportunities, and it all boils down to adaptability.