The Swiss medical device industry has faced varied challenges this year, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing implementation of MDR, and the breakdown of MRA negotiations impacting both companies and individuals. But despite these issues, the MedTech job market in Switzerland has remained buoyant, and Swiss MedTech sector revenue has continued to increase.
As head of a growing medical device consultancy in Switzerland navigating the changing MedTech landscape, our CEO Jörg Dogwiler takes a moment to reflect on some of the key learnings gained during 2022.
Claude Monet once said that “It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way”. Since starting Congenius almost six years ago, I’ve made it a habit to make time towards the end of each year to consider what I’ve learnt whilst at the company helm, in order to make the necessary changes for continued success. And with our head count rising, the sense of responsibility to keep learning and improving is stronger than ever. Here are some of my key observations this year.
Balance your growth
We’ve been so fortunate to experience a growth phase during the last two years – despite the pandemic. At a consultancy, it can often seem natural to focus expansion on those areas that generate the fastest growth – i.e., our consultants, and customer projects. But I’ve found that it’s equally as important to develop, in parallel, our internal team with regards to HR, Administration, and Marketing, to ensure consistency, stability, and a high level of professionalism both internally and externally.
A company is like a house – if the foundation is unstable, and the pillars underdeveloped, the building will collapse. So, balancing your efforts across different areas of the business is more likely to achieve sustainable growth.
Be an attractive employer
With a shortage of skilled workers, recruiting the right employees can sometimes be challenging. In order to attract people with appropriate skillsets who share our values, we’ve had to build our relationships with customers to gain access to diverse and interesting projects, fine-tune our recruitment strategy to reach suitable potential employees, and, perhaps most importantly, communicate our culture with authenticity. One of our team members recently mentioned that during his interview and onboarding process he “never felt like a candidate, but more like a partner”. This kind of connection with team members is something we’ve tried our best to nurture as a small company – the challenge will be ensuring that this personability is maintained as we grow.
Love to serve
As a service provider, we are sometimes faced with difficult project environments. To prepare for these kinds of challenges, it is crucial to develop a culture of “Love to Serve”, so that our team members approach the various projects with enthusiasm to add value for the customer. This added value comes from listening, understanding, analysing, and deriving sustainable solutions in collaboration with the customer. We’ve seen this year, that when these core service process steps are executed with passion and pragmatism, difficult situations can be overcome, and lasting customer relationships can be forged.
Create a trusting environment
Whether it’s the relationship with our employees or customers, trust is the most important component of effective collaboration. Trust is not a given, it’s continually earnt over time by being open and interested, by communicating regularly and meaningfully, and by delivering what you promise. Creating a trusting environment isn’t a one-off task, but something we must work on every day with our customers, and cultivate within our internal team.
As 2022 draws to a close, I’d like to share my heartfelt thanks with our Congenius team for their unrelenting hard work, and with our valued customers for their continued partnership. Here’s to embracing opportunities together in 2023!
