Safeguarding your business

Fears of a looming recession, difficult trading conditions and ongoing disruption from strikes mean businesses are under stress as they have not been for some time previously.

So how can you make your business more robust?

One way is to ensure everyone in your company knows and sticks to its core mission and values.

It helps if everyone knows how, what and why the business is as it is and does everything they can to support it. However, this will only work if everyone feels they have a stake in the business and are appreciated for what they do.

This leads to the second important aspect of building resilience – open and honest communication. Again, if people working in teams feel they are trusted they are more likely to put effort into problem solving for the benefit of the business. They will have a stake in its success, especially if they are also well remunerated.

Inevitably in even the best run businesses there are times when things go wrong and how you handle the situation is a test of business resilience.

Looking for scapegoats or people to blame is not going to hel in fact may do the opposite, but engaging people’s help to solve the problems will, like the things mentioned above, make them feel their input is welcome and appreciated and that they have a stake in the business.

With the right approach you can learn from mistakes in a way that will make your business stronger.