How do you manage this frustration while maintaining the team’s levels of motivation?
Our associates are getting up in the morning and going out to save lives. Our sepsis test really could save several million people every year. However, even with this amazing technology that can help the patient, we have noticed that many people are fighting against it. We are trying to work as positively and collaboratively as possible, but sometimes we have to accept that it simply won’t happen and concentrate on the segments that are most open to this level of technology.
Have you put special measures in place to support the team?
Two-thirds of our team are biologists and production technicians, and we currently don’t have the possibility of executing production work from home, so they have had to come in, but we did consider home office for the management team. Most of them come in to work every day because they like being around their colleagues and in our work environment, which complies with the hygiene standards. This enables us to have a social outlet, which is vital in a company like ours.
So, the company’s mission is strong enough to keep the team motivated?
Definitely. Our associates know that we never make a decision just for its own sake – we are looking to simplify their lives. We have built up a trusting relationship with them, which is absolutely key.
What would you tell yourself if you could go back in time to a year ago?
The pilot in me would say: hold on tight, it’s going to be a bumpy ride, but we’ll come out of it stronger than ever.
Does the “new normal” apply to your sector?
Our industry is essential enough to continue its activities in as normal a manner as possible. Apart from travelling, nothing has fundamentally changed.
Have your customers’ expectations changed?
Yes, we’ve noticed that there has been a focus on COVID, although the needs in the sepsis sector are far greater with 11 million deaths per year. However, getting a point of care system onto the market when the laboratories have got a firm grip on the entire diagnostic sector can’t be done overnight, especially in a crisis.
What are Abionic’s objectives in the short, medium and long term?
In the short term, we want to achieve commercial success with the sepsis tests. We have mainly pushed forward on the marketing front in Europe and Asia, and we are now targeting the USA and other key markets.
So you haven’t been hit in a major way, ultimately?
I’ve had to fight to ensure that we haven’t been hit by the crisis, because a lot of our shareholders really wanted us to tighten our belts. Along with the board of directors, we had to insist on not reducing our activities too much and had to explain that excessively diminishing the company’s main asset, human capital, would drain its lifeblood. We got caught up in a panic. People generally say that when you spend less, you can keep going for longer. That isn’t necessarily good mathematics, as the point of our business is also to be able to hit the ground running again as soon as the crisis has passed. However, if we lose our substance, that will be very difficult to do.
How do you manage uncertainty?
I am not sure whether you can manage uncertainty, by definition. Our motto has always been perseverance through resilience. We are tenacious, we fight, we stick with it till the end, we really want to change the world for the better. Yes, it’s complicated, yes, it’s tough, but in the end, that won’t matter: we’ll get there. That’s what motivates us, that’s what makes us wake up in the morning with a smile.
Is resilience innate or can you learn it?
From my point of view, learning how to be resilient is like learning a new language. Even those who aren’t gifted will learn, if they are immersed in it for a long enough period of time. We simply don’t have the choice, and we are forced to adapt.