Were you aware that Management Events has gone through a huge business transformation as the pandemic hit and turned the event business upside down?
Luckily what happened didn’t scare our brave people.
Instead, we saw our employees stepping in and joining the management in making these historical changes to how we do business and work here.
One of our business transformers is Nick Werring who works as the Head of Sales for our Dutch and Belgium operations.
Nick has a rather long history with Management Events dating all the way back to 2014.
Experience brings perspective and that perspective became hugely valuable as Nick steered his team through the most daunting phases of the transformation.
Facing an unimaginable challenge in the very first months as a Head of Sales
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Nick had just started as the Head of Sales.
Imagine the stress when, for the very first time in your career, you take on the huge responsibility of leading the sales, and not just for one country but for two!
Add to that an unimaginable pandemic hitting the globe at the same time and eating your industry as a starter course.
“Personally, it was an extremely hectic and stressful situation to be in a new position as a country lead in sales. We were out of business for many months” Nick sighs.
Something new had to be invented and all of us at Management Events pitched in trying to come up with a solution.
“Then we thought, why don’t we do the events virtually?” Nick says.
In retro perspective, this was the most logical idea!
What this meant was a decision to change our entire business strategy we had executed successfully for a couple of decades and what had made us grow into this internationally operating business events company.
“We were talking about a historical turn of events for our company.”
That decision was not made with pure joy and excitement.
On the other hand, there was the relief brought by the hope for a better future. On the other hand, there was the worry of killing our successful business altogether.
But when you are pressed with the most life-altering scenario: face potential downfall or rise up and take over new business opportunities, you have to trust your guts and move forward. And this is part of our DNA: moving forward with courage and determination especially when times get rough.
“It was a back-against-the-wall situation where you had to either try or die.”
In essence, we shifted from the traditional face-to-face business events to fully virtual events in order to continue responding to our clients’ now changed business needs.
To be honest, we had not even dreamed about virtual events at Management Events before.
But as Nick sums: “It was a back-against-the-wall situation where you had to either try or die”
Out with the old live events, in with the new fully virtual events
Even though Nick was in charge of the country sales, he was heavily involved in changing from physical event production to virtual event production.
The toughest part was not convincing our employees. The toughest part was selling the idea to our clients and convincing them that this was going to be a really good improvement and that they should stick with us.
The business development was pure trial-and-error at the beginning.
At first, we tried an easy way: implementing the same physical networking event concept into a virtual environment.
Lesson learned: Too exhausting and little inspiring for the participants.
“Then we decided to split the event into smaller sections and spread it into a wider time span”, Nick tells.
This was a success.
How Nick convinced his team to survive and thrive during the toughest period
Not only was the new business development eating a lot of Nick’s time and energy, he was also managing his own team of five Sales Team Managers through the very uncertain and extremely stressful times.
Because each of the Sales Team Managers had their own teams to manage, Nick knew he also needed to set them a good example of how to pass on hope and faith instead of worry and stress. So, in total, Nick had 18 people under his span of control.
And bear in mind, this was not just a day or a week. We are talking about a period of several months where sales dried altogether because of Covid-19.
Because each of the Sales Team Managers had their own teams to manage, Nick knew he also needed to set them a good example of how to pass on hope and faith instead of worry and stress.
When you are developing a new business model at the management level and are immersing yourself deep into the process, it is easy to lose sight of where your team is, the feelings they go through, and how they perceive the changes.
“The most demanding part was to make sure that everyone was on board in this same train with you and knew where we were going”, Nick says.
It became critical for Nick to document and communicate the management-level vision to his team members and make sure everyone understood what the expected changes were going to mean in practice.
How did Nick manage this?
“I literally repeated the vision to myself and my team over and over again”, Nick answers.
It is far too easy to start telling people what to do. People at Management Events are far too smart to settle with the following. They want to participate and understand what is happening.
“One of my biggest learnings as a leader in transformation was to learn how to lead with questions instead of answers.” – Nick Werring
Nick solved this by inviting his team to join him in the development work.
Together they followed the same trial-and-error routine and made the plan on how to implement the new business model in real life.
When the business model changes, sales forecasting becomes impacted.
Nick developed a new tool for sales forecasting and his team helped to develop it further.
“We discovered by doing”, Nick says.
Growth mindset becomes your key asset during a major change
Change always comes with uncertainties and turbulence.
And this happened in Nick’s case as well.
During this business transformation, Nick discovered that the most important skill to survive the transformation and thrive in change is a growth mindset.
What does it mean?
Growth mindset is an attitude that comes with certain skills. The attitude part means openness to new opportunities and seeing the change in a positive light.
“The ability to adapt whatever comes your way is the specific skill vital in change”, Nick explains.
We were, and still are, discovering by doing.
We did not have any existing processes or instructions on how something like this should be done. There were no best practices to follow or templates to copy-paste.
What we had was our DNA: always striving for excellence. Getting there meant persevering through obstacles and climbing over hurdles. If anyone could, we knew we would.
“If you have the growth mindset, perseverance and you find it natural to adapt in the tides of change, Management Events is truly the place for you, whether you are just starting your career or more experienced and still hungry for more”, Nick explains.
What we had was our DNA: always striving for excellence. Getting there meant persevering through obstacles and climbing over hurdles. If anyone could, we knew we would.
How Nick felt and what he personally learned from this experience
Looking back, our business transformation did not happen overnight.
In fact, it took more than a year to develop and implement the new business model.
A lot can change in a person’s mind when you experience such a change on a daily basis for over a year.
For Nick, this was a year that came with his biggest personal transformation so far.
And we have to remember, he was only a few months into this role when he was forced to rise up and take on a challenge many more experienced sales professionals may never get to experience!
Not only was his leadership style put to test, his knowledge of the two out of three Benelux markets was also proved.
What has been his greatest learning?
“In times of change, the leadership goes way deeper than managing. In the end, it is all about the people who do the job. My number one job as a leader is to inspire, cheer, coach, and show my team the way, the Management Events way”, Nick explains.
Despite all the stress and anxiety that year brought about, for Nick the year was most of all a truly exciting journey that harnessed countless personal and professional growth opportunities.
Despite all the stress and anxiety that year brought about, for Nick the year was most of all a truly exciting journey that harnessed countless personal and professional growth opportunities.
From day one, we have emphasized celebrating success at Management Events. We learned that during the tough times it was even more important to celebrate our accomplishments and emphasize our key learnings.
“The successful end of that year made up for all the struggles in the beginning”, Nick happily sums up the process.