Johnson and Johnson boss reveals how she’s lead company through Covid

While lockdown meant Sue had to manage a multimillion-dollar company from her spare bedroom, the mum-of-three has learnt a few lessons along the way.

Johnson and Johnson Medical Managing Director Sue Martin balanced family and work commitments during each lockdown. Pictured: Supplied

For most Australians, being in lockdown isn’t the most enjoyable experience.

Being stuck inside, only allowed to go out for very limited reasons and not being able to see closest friends and family can take a toll on your mental health and wellbeing.

The restrictions come hand-in-hand with increased isolation, loneliness, a loss of routine and fear about the future.

During every lockdown, Johnson and Johnson Medical has had to adapt to the ‘new normal’ while supporting their thousands of employees across the country.

Managing Director Sue Martin spoke with news.com.au to share some helpful tips on how she balanced homeschooling her teenagers while managing a multimillion-dollar company from her spare bedroom in Melbourne.

Johnson and Johnson Medical Managing Director Sue Martin balanced family and work commitments during each lockdown. Pictured: Supplied

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Why lockdown gets harder:

With Victoria extending it’s sixth lockdown and New South Wales is extended till the end of August (at least), Ms Martin said there is ‘no doubt’ that each following lockdown gets harder.

“Every time you go into lockdown, it just takes that wind out of your sails,” she said.

While ‘each lockdown has their reasons’ Ms Martin said it brings that extra element of worry as it’s ‘more time away from engaging with your team face-to-face’.

“While on one hand it gets easier because you know what to expect, both from a personal and the organisation’s perspective, there’s no doubt an element of fatigue sets in,” she said.

Ms Martin said while lockdown has been a challenge, everyone experiences it differently.

“What you may be experiencing might be completely different to somebody else and truly understanding that goes a long way to having some empathy,” she said.

Lessons learnt from lockdown:

When the first lockdown began, Ms Martin said everything was all ‘brand new’ and it was a ‘time of firsts’ for the mother of three boys.

“For me personally, it was about understanding what it was that I could control and what I couldn’t control and working accordingly,” she said.

She began homeschooling her teenagers and revealed she had to strike the right balance between prioritising their academia with their overall health.

“It became very clear that it was more about making sure they were healthy and not stuck in front of a screen all day as it (the lockdown) was a significant change to the children and family,” she said.

From a professional perspective, Ms Martin revealed each lockdown was a ‘very interesting time’ for Johnson and Johnson as they had to transition quickly – sometimes without having all the information or answers.

“We made sure we communicated really clearly to the organisation about what we were doing and why we were doing it as everyone’s experience was very different in Covid,” she said.

“Whether that was people living with young children, in a shared house or alone … we tried to cater for that as much as possible while trying to run a healthcare business in a pandemic.”

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Creating a supportive workplace:

During lockdown, Ms Martin said fatigue was her main concern for employees and made it her mission to ensure people ‘felt empowered to balance their responsibilities with their families and the organisation’.

“We are very fortunate working for the organisation that we do. No one has been furloughed and no one has lost income,” she said.

“We really made sure we could provide for our employees and had a really strong focus on mental health.”

But Ms Martin revealed communication was instrumental and tried to inject some fun into what was a serious situation.

“Whether that was trivia competitions, cocktail making classes or Friday night drinks we wanted to maintain that social element which is so important to the organisation,” she said.

Be kind to yourself and others if you’re overwhelmed during lockdown. Pictured: iStock

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Advice if struggling during lockdown:

If you’re feeling overwhelmed while in lockdown, Ms Martin recommends being kind to yourself and others.

“We’ve got a lot of expectations on ourselves. I need to be the best parent, I need to be the best leader in the business,” she said.

“While that makes for great aspirations, it’s important to be kind to yourself and others as everyone’s situation in lockdown is completely different.”

Ms Martin said to practice ‘not sweating the small stuff’ can provide clarity in challenging times.

“It goes back to understanding what we can control so we don’t over analyse things we can’t actually change,” she said.

This article was created in sponsorship with SEEK