Lessons from the pandemic

“Our crisis team ensured constant communication, especially during lockdown when workplaces in Eskisehir were closed and our plant team kept working seven days a week, 24 hours a day — worried about themselves and their families. A safe environment and communicating constantly were vital to motivation.”

Throughout the pandemic, communication has been key. The plant has strictly followed safety and production instructions and guidelines provided by Central teams and management. Every employee is highly aware of the potential risks and they all want to contribute to safety measures.

“It is absolutely vital to offer continual reassurance, communication and empathy. Make yourself accessible, be visible and empathise with personal circumstances. Recognise that people will follow your journey at different speeds. Now the team is closer, we really recognise the need to support each other and take more time out to talk about the wellbeing of friends and family.”

“We demonstrate more empathy and concern for one another than we ever did before. I want to maintain this positivity because it guarantees long-term sustainability for our people and for our business.”

“The key to a plant like Visé — with a high level of complexity — is to be agile but to have high team cohesion. This is vital: maintaining strong partnerships means solving challenges — together.”

“Every employee now has a high degree of responsibility for their own health and the health of their team. This is the main point of change caused by this pandemic.”

“Discussion, listening and building trust are key to overcoming challenges.”

“A team of likeminded people can move mountains; simplifying processes brings value to people and improves performance; visualising key performance indicators helps people achieve them.”

"Bad times and pain make teams stronger and prove character. This is a great opportunity to learn how good our people are. What a gift, going through difficult times.”

“We used confinement as an opportunity to train people and define our restart.”

“Many of our people were scared of the unknown and wanted answers from leadership. We didn’t have the answers. We all have fears but when we share them, they can easily be overcome.”

“It is vital to be present, spend time with the team, motivate
them. I like to see people achieve something they never believed they could achieve.”

“We brief everyone regularly and make sure they are aware of what we are doing and why. Everyone on site is given an updated induction and instructed on the latest rules. We are looking after each other which is the best way to look after ourselves.”

“Keep your team well informed, ask for feedback, trust them and they will deliver incredible results.”

“We have learnt if we focus more on our job and colleagues, we handle difficulties well and achieve better results. Our daily production record has been broken three times in this crisis.”

“Despite the COVID-19 crisis all our lines at Simbach were running at a 100%. The plant really over-performed.”