Hubert de Boisredon is the director of Armor, Midcap Industriel (2,000 employees, €280 million in revenue), the world leader in thermal transfer ribbons for product and packaging traceability. He was voted Strategist of the Year 2019 by Les Echos, in the SME and ETI category.
What do you see as the challenges that business leaders face?
This crisis presents us with two challenges. The first is a health challenge, the second is to ensure the continuity of our business. Indeed, Armor supplies essential products for the activity of the economy and for the functioning of the nation. The company manufactures printing consumables for barcodes for food, pharmaceutical products and basic necessities. If we were unable to supply these products, the entire production and distribution chain would be affected. We have therefore chosen to remain in business.
When we had to decide whether to continue operating, a debate began. I listened to all the arguments until the end. For many, the question arose whether loyalty to one's family and to everyone's health did not require closing the business and staying confined at home. Unity was built around the decision to remain in operation in the name of the general interest, that of society as a whole. We see ourselves as being the second line behind those who are on the front lines (the medical world, the food industry, public services, etc.).
What qualities must the leader mobilize to face this crisis?
For the manager, it is a question of ensuring the safety of the teams while taking care of the social body of the company. The complexity lies in the fact that some people have no choice but to come to the factory to ensure production and others can continue their activity by teleworking. We did not want a distance to be established between the workers who are at the front, and the others at home, on the second line. Therefore, to signify the unity of the company and show solidarity with those who ensure production at the factory, some of us (including around 30% of the people in the headquarters management) have chosen to be present at the office even if we were not obliged to be. I have chosen to be present every day at the office. The other members of the general management committee as well. I then spend as much as I can see the employees who are at their workstations to support them, to tell them that I am with them, to thank them and to encourage them. And also to support each other on the phone. It also makes me feel good and gives me strength to witness the commitment of others. I therefore experience that my role in continuing the activity requires above all a quality of presence.
We are, of course, applying the highest health rules. This crisis requires the rigorous application of all health measures issued and proposed by the government to give confidence to employees, showing that the company is doing everything possible to avoid contamination. This involves strict compliance with distances, hygiene measures, the elimination of bottled water in the factory and the identification of anything that could ensure the spread of the virus. Exemplarity is a quality that must be particularly implemented at this critical time. In this respect, I thank the various managers and players of the company in the industrial and logistics field for their constant vigilance and courage 24 hours a day. And also a huge thank you to the sales, administrative and financial teams who ensure the relationship with customers, who also need to be reassured about our ability to provide them with the stocks they need.
In this period, I particularly perceive the importance for me of ensuring the unity of the company, particularly within the management team, by ensuring that we have a quality relationship with everyone. A crisis like the one we are experiencing can highlight divergences or differences of opinion that can break this unity. We have tried to identify what it means for us to be united and responsible. Everything that we have built together over the last few years in terms of the quality of our relationship is a foundation on which we can build today.
A fundamental attitude on the part of the leader is also, I believe, to transmit trust.
In this very special period, we business leaders are also shaken. Usually, I convey confidence by showing our strength, by communicating results on a healthy company. Today, it is about conveying confidence of a different kind because no one knows how long this crisis will last, what state the economy will be in a few months, what state the company will be in when it comes out of the crisis. I am unable to predict the turnover for April. I must therefore convey a much more internal confidence, a confidence in the fact that the value of the life of the company lies in the quality of our relationships with each other more than in what will happen. The pillar on which we can rely is "being together". The main message that I try to deliver to employees but also to investors, suppliers, customers is the following: we are together, you can count on us as I know that we can count on you. If we live this fully we can believe together that the best will be given to us, even if we do not know today how this best will materialize. This requires a certain letting go.
This crisis is for me an invitation to return to the source of my first commitment, which is to ardently desire to build a more humane, more harmonious, more ecological and more just world. That is the meaning of my life.
This crisis foreshadows the possibility of a profound transformation of our world: valorization of certain professions, including production professions, and the confirmation of the priority to be given to ecological commitment. When we see that we are capable of putting thousands of billions to fight against a virus, why can't we invest similar sums to fight against what can make all of humanity disappear and in particular global warming.
What advice would you like to share with other leaders?
First, don't stay alone as leaders. We all face the same difficulties, the same questions, the same helplessness sometimes in the face of the future. Share with your peers so as not to remain isolated.
In a very practical way, seize all the measures that are offered to you, including the credits offered by the banks with the guarantee of the BPI. We will have to hold on, it will be hard. We must admit that this crisis will be long and difficult.
Do everything possible to respect your customers and suppliers, commit to paying invoices on time because we are indirectly responsible for the chain and we have a real social responsibility. We are responsible for the survival of the other.
Be present on the ground with your staff who need you even more than usual. This crisis is an opportunity to demonstrate living together in society, but also within companies. Share FacebookTwitterLink to source https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/manager-dans-la-crise-avec-hubert-de-boisredon-a…
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