​Supporting the ongoing development of their engineering, manufacturing readiness and product quality investments, the Gapro team will support this sizeable and growing global furniture manufacturer in enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of key processes across their Vietnam and UK operations. “Our team really enjoy working with engineering centric manufacturing businesses globally to help them develop and grow. Being asked to provide additional support is always a great sign of client confidence in our skills and abilities”, remarked Gavin Armstrong, Managing Director.
 

​Provision of Product Safety, Engineering Design Review and Business Process Development services to clients in Vietnam and Hong Kong from their base in the United Kingdom further expands a truly global customer base. 2020 also saw GAPRO add engineering consulting and business process development provision in Consumer Goods (FMCG) to an extensive portfolio of proven capabilities across Aerospace, Marine, Nuclear and Conventional Power, Rail and Automotive. “Despite a challenging global environment in 2020, we were really pleased to be selected to provide truly impactful services to new clients, sectors and countries”, remarks Managing Director Gavin Armstrong.

Critically evaluating your business position will require taking time to review your performance. This may involve a comprehensive review of financial performance, sales pipeline, product performance, capabilities or footprint and infrastructure.
 
 
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes”
(Marcel Proust)

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3. LISTEN

As we enter a new phase of response to the global pandemic, uncertainty continues to be a reality of life for a lot of people and businesses. During times of uncertainty, people look to those in positions of both formal and natural authority and leadership for answers.  ​

“The power for authentic leadership is found not in external arrangements but in the human heart” (Palmer)
 
At its heart authentic leadership requires openness, honesty and vulnerability; essential ingredients for building foundations of trust and respect. Authentic leaders consciously foster trust; trust in themselves as credible leaders who have the individual, team, group and organisations best interest at heart. Authentic leadership encourages and promotes self-belief in a team’s ability to succeed – and “where there is a will there is a way”
 
To be successful, authentic leaders need a good level of self-awareness and emotional intelligence to truly build the emotional and psychological responses that enhance team performance.
 
“Without trust we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It is trust that transforms a group of people into a team.”  (Covey)
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Teams look to leaders for direction, purpose and a sense of expectation. In times of uncertainty, it is important to be as clear as possible. Donald Rumsfeld famously talked of “the knowns”, “the known unknowns” and “the unknown unknowns” and this can provide a simple yet useful framework for leadership clarity:
 
1.        Reinforce and reassure what is known about direction, purpose and expectations in the current situation.

2.        Acknowledge the risks presented by the known uncertainties and, where possible explain the contingency plans to address them.
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3.        Remain open to the unexpected, that is those things that aren’t known – Coronavirus was certainly not known when most business plans for 2020 and beyond were made. However, as the current pandemic and associated impacts move from unknown unknown to known uncertainty to known facts, business, leadership and personal responses need to adjust accordingly.
 
Leadership clarity in these times of dynamic uncertainty is important to build and maintain confidence and perspective.
 
“Clarity and simplicity are the antidotes to complexity and uncertainty.”  (General Casey)
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There has understandably been a backstory of commentary on the leadership displayed by leaders on the world and national stage during the pandemic; both the good and the perceived bad. One thing that such challenges have at their heart is the simple principle of consistency. Consistency is an essential ingredient in building confidence and respect. A leader needs to be able to inspire confidence, consistently with everyone in the organisation, at all levels, at all times. Consistency and respect are also important to foster the trust mentioned earlier.
 
Leaders need to be consistent with their values and behaviours, their expectations and, to a large extent, their focus.  By their personal example, leaders need to set and uphold values and behaviours that are important to the organisation. Leaders who set expectations and then choose not to follow suit can quickly lose confidence and breed discontentment and disillusionment.

Consistent leaders lead by example and set a consistent timbre of focus and expectation for the organisation. Conversely, leaders who shift with the latest whim or initiative to the expense of the long term can quickly lose the respect of the group they lead.
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Leaders who genuinely and consistently put customers at the heart of the business and their focus will naturally engender and set expectations by example that will build customer loyalty that adds real value to the organisation over the long term.
 
“Consistency is what transforms average into excellence” (Unknown)
 
Gapro helps engineering, manufacturing and infrastructure businesses transform their people, processes and performance. Need some help to develop to transform your performance then contact us here.
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“Balancing your money is the key to having enough” (Warren)
 
The phrase “cash is king” was coined amid global recession. It is certainly true and somewhat obvious that businesses who look after cash and cash flow have a level of resilience and the best chance of survival. With focus on top line growth, businesses often push all of their efforts into business development, work winning and collecting cash from customers. What is often lacking is sufficient, prudent focus on cash outflow in terms of operating costs. Business that struggle with bottom line returns have often lost or have insufficient focus on where their hard-earned revenues are truly being spent.  In times of difficulty it is more important than ever to ensure that operating costs are optimised and carefully controlled.
 
 
“A penny saved is a penny earned” (Franklin – well almost)
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