“Timing and optimisation of time, as well as being more efficient, is essential”

JL What was the most important lesson you learnt about leadership during the pandemic?

MF The most important lesson was also a challenge - keeping focused on the change that was needed to survive and convincing staff to follow. Medical societies that have been thriving for years by basically doing the same things have been fundamentally shaken from top to bottom and being in the frontline of change is now a question of survival.

JL What was the most challenging period for you during the pandemic and why?

MF The start of the pandemic, back in March 2020, when Italy was in strict lock-down and everybody had to work from home in a structure in which almost nobody was smart working. It was just a few weeks before our annual congress – which had obviously been organized as a traditional in-person event. This period coincided with an ongoing full restructuring of the headquarters and the implementation of new software. All was successful in the end, and we were able to deliver a much-needed congress in a fully virtual manner.

JL What were your daily coping mechanisms for workload and stress?

MF I love cooking and this relaxes me, even if it is not at all good for my diet! Nice long walks also help, but sometimes this activity gets pushed aside due to some 'very urgent' work-related issues that need to be resolved.

JL When you look back on the last 20 months what makes you most proud?

MF That my team and I were able to survive notwithstanding the pandemic and the re-structuring, that all the old society activities continued as ‘business as usual’ and that new ones started in a very successful manner, and last but not least, that our annual congresses were both a huge success (2020 and 2021), even if we had to transform them both into virtual ones. I am also proud that our auditors for our 2021 accounts confirmed that we were an ‘ongoing concern’ which they had not in 2020 in view of the pandemic.

JL What did you learn about your own leadership style?

MF Being a leader is not easy and, at times, is very challenging: it is lonely at the top! What helped me was having a very strong sense of duty and caring very much for the society I’ve been working for the last 30 years: I found out that I was a lot stronger than I thought and very resilient!

JL Did you make any changes to how you manage your team and, if so, what were they?

MF The pandemic has meant that, instead of having a meeting at a certain date allowing you to have time to prepare for the meeting, to go to the meeting, and then to follow up after the meeting, you must now do all of this at various times a day: we are working more to deliver almost the same! Timing and optimization of time, as well as being more efficient, is essential. The reporting within the staff has changed making sure that each staff member is responsible towards another, and key meetings are done regularly, but only with key people (not 'altogether'). The 'pyramid' structure, within our small group (currently eight people), allows the tasks to be clear and the responsibilities to be divided among more people thus making all more efficient.