Blog Post

Lessons for Business from the Nightingale Hospital

Sue Lawrence • 9 April 2020


The implementation of the Nightingale Hospital in London’s Excel Centre, and similar hospital openings across the UK and around the world have one key thing in common. They all rely on the expertise of a broad group of experts working together. Like an orchestra, as individuals they are trained experts, as a coordinated and harmonious collective they bring a whole that is so much greater than the individual parts.

In the case of these new Covid-19 hospitals, they have brought together not only the expertise of medical staff but also the logistics and deployment of the military, the knowledge of the building and construction industry, engineers, delivery partners and many more. As individuals, each has their own expertise but none has worked in quite the same type of crisis. However, by pooling their knowledge, resources and experience as a collective they have planned, co-ordinated and delivered in an extraordinary way.

As businesses, we are also going through challenging times, no matter what our company does we are all affected in some way. It’s difficult and not a crisis that any of us, as individuals, have ever had to deal with before.

So in these unprecedented times, what can we learn from the medical facilities that are being built quickly and efficiently across many countries?

A key lesson is to draw on the expertise that you already have available to you. In the case of the Covid-19 hospitals, it is that which is available to each country. For a business, it’s that which is available through the organisation.

So what is available? There is the existing board of directors, including any independent directors or Non-Executive directors who will bring knowledge of other organisations, ways of working or other crises they may have worked through. The senior management team as well as the teams around them and all employees of the business who, as individuals will be able to bring differing viewpoints, often challenging the status quo by sharing knowledge from the lives they lead outside the business. Committees of the board, whilst having a clear role in the normal workings of the company have an opportunity to advise, contribute and share knowledge.

Bringing this broad experience together, potentially in a Covid-19 Committee to coordinate knowledge, with sub-groups working on individual aspects of the response, is one way that a larger organisation can respond. Even smaller businesses will need to be able to identify and respond to the many facets of the crisis, drawing on networks, contacts and colleagues.

Identifying the areas of focus is key, including:

  • Employee related: not only salary continuity but also well-being, support, communication, setting expectations from the business and by each individual;

  • Product/service continuity or adaption : rapid adaption of products has seen many businesses able to develop new products that help the medical profession or others. It has also shown those businesses that have been slow to adapt either in their existing services or products or in modifying them to current needs;

  • Financial : identifying what is needed both now and over the next few weeks and months, supplementing where needed whether through furlough schemes, delayed payments, borrowings or restructuring financial models;

  • Technological : ensuring employees can work from home, that systems remain secure, communications are effective, new technology is applied effectively, hardware is available, support is provided;

  • Facilities : if a building is needed for essential working, does it remain secure, clean, available. Have the new risks of virus spreading been identified and mitigated? Is distancing possible for key workers? Can disaster recovery centres be used so split site working can be implemented.

Finally , don’t forget the future . When working through a crisis it’s too easy to only focus on the near term impact, the 'here & now' requirements. As these lessen in priority and a new way of working starts to appear, it is an opportunity to look to the future.

Do you have a team available who can look at the company in the post-Covid19 environment? How will your business look? Will it be the same, or is this an opportunity to change? If the latter, where are the opportunities and what planning can be done now so that the company is ready? Can you take any actions now to build for the future? What lessons are being currently learnt that will be invaluable for the future? If you are drawing on the wider expertise already available to you, what value can they also bring in your planning for the future?

Is your business one that can learn and adapt to survive and thrive in the future? Utilising the expertise already available to the business and pro-actively acting and adapting provides opportunities for near term survival and longer-term success. Can you conduct your orchestra successfully?



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