Initiating a Turn-Around by Aligning the Board
Michael Mrochen is Chairman of the Board at Vivior AG. His company needed new direction to master the COVID challenge. Discover the secret to Vivior's turn-around!
Michael Mrochen is co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Vivior AG, a Swiss digital health start-up, and he had a huge problem: “We were on the brink of failure. Our objective was to introduce a new type of health care device to the market, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, all our initiatives were put on hold. Cash was burning, our industry partners couldn't proceed, and we couldn't agree on a way forward. The future of the company was in jeopardy.”
Vivior had tried various approaches to address their market challenges, but the sales numbers were not coming in. There was a difference of opinion among the founders and management about how to react to this situation. “We were frustrated, an emotions and egos were getting in the way. It was hard to talk to each other, and this made it hard to address our operational challenges. None of the things seemed to work. We were stuck.”
“I knew we needed to get the company unstuck and create a willingness to try something new. I knew we needed to focus, but we didn’t know what to focus on. I also know if we kept on doing what we were doing, we would fail,” explained Michael.
This is where Peter Stevens came in. “Peter’s strength is his ability to listen and to understand the issues, then reframe the conversation, so that dialogue and constructive discussion can happen. Peter guided us from conflict to consensus, so we could take a real decision. He helped us see that our internal disagreements were the biggest obstacles to our success.”
With Peter's guidance, the board was able to align and make a decision. “We secured additional investment and could move forward with clarity of purpose that was shared at all levels of the organization. We were able to focus on the right priorities and make progress towards our goals. Peter continued to support our leadership as we improved our ability to align our product with customer needs, achieve our objectives, and respond to new information.”
Thanks to Peter's help, Vivior was able to find a new and bigger purpose of the company. “By repurposing the organization – to help gamers fighting digital eye strain – we were able to secure additional funding and conclude a new partnership strategy.”
