Zoom was our saviour but it then nearly killed our business!

Andy Nicol

Strong words but absolutely bang on. On the 20th March 2020, ABSTRACT was a face-to-face training and development company so when we went into Lockdown, our business model was massively challenged. We had to switch to virtual which we did and our clients came with us as did some new clients. This was when Zoom saved us. It was the platform we used to deliver our programmes and for the leadership team to meet and agree on the future direction of our business as well as running the day-to-day stuff as well. It was new, it was novel, it was exciting to be able to communicate through this medium so effectively. We could share screens, we could go into breakout rooms, we could run polls, we could stay connected with our clients and our colleagues. Sure it took some time for people to get their backdrop right, we had dogs appear, we had children crash a session, we spoke over each other and then we had that awkward ‘to wave or not to wave’ end to a Zoom call. Some went single hand, some went double hand, some saluted, some blew kisses; each to their own! We had Zoom quizzes, Zoom drinks, Zoom dinner parties, it was an integral part of every part of my life in lockdown!

It was functional, it was operational and it worked. But then the novelty wore off. We had long stopped doing the Zoom quizzes when I realised that things were not right in the business. We had lost the human connection. We were being totally operational concentrating fully on the business side of things without taking time to work on the human side of things. We had stopped talking to each other; we had stopped caring for each other; we just went on the next Zoom call to discuss the next business issue.

This changed last week when the ABSTRACT leadership team went for four days to the Scottish Highlands and Boat of Garten to be specific. It was the first time we had been together in person for 18 months but, boy, did it feel good and, boy, did we need it. Within seconds we started laughing, we were finding things out about our colleagues that we didn’t know anything about. One of the team had sold their dream car six months earlier, another had purchased a jet ski for his family and another was having their kitchen renovated, but no one knew about any of them. This information would have been known after six hours pre-Zoom. It was clear we had each lost our ability to share and connect. Zoom had cut out all the banter and personal chit-chat that we had taken for granted before but we now know to be so important.

We ate together, we drank together, we had a board meeting, we rode quad-bikes round the Rothiemurchus estate, we did a 10k hike from our amazing Craigard Lodge (well worth a stay!) We basically connected together as humans and got the business back on track without really talking about the business. All business is about people and how they interact with other people whether colleagues or clients and we lost sight of that. Zoom stopped us connecting in the way we needed to, it almost killed the business and we will not let it do that again.

ABSTRACT deliver learning and development programmes that promote inclusive leadership, career management for women and other underrepresented groups, and building modern-day businesses' fit for today's social objectives.

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