Business mentors exist to support business leaders with all of the challenges of growing and sustaining a business in uncertain times. This includes helping companies strategise and plan their growth journey, identify areas which would benefit from improvement and nurturing the wellbeing of the leadership team.
These are uncertain times:
32 % of businesses with 10+ employees said they were worried about future supply chain disruption and costs Office for National Statistics. Supply chain nerves are back: owners need multiple sourcing options and pricing contingencies baked into every quote.
Over ¼ of employers (27 %) expect redundancies in the three months to March 2025, the highest redundancy intent for a decade outside the pandemic. CIPD Labour Market Outlook.
In March, the Association of Business Mentors saw recruitment support requests reduce (−16%) and a corresponding rise in both Outsourcing (+10%) and Employee Wellbeing (+9%).
The Government’s SME Digital Adoption Taskforce recommends “creating artificial intelligence-powered support tools available to all SMEs.” GOV.UK. Great for SME productivity, but slow-adopters risk slipping behind AI-powered rivals.
Manufacturing Employment and investment expectation at lowest point since the pandemic. Make UK/BDO Manufacturing Outlook
Whilst these are indeed challenging times for UK SMEs, every ABM business mentor is an experienced business person who has been through similar disruptive circumstances in the past (Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, 2008 financial downturn etc.)
As business mentors, we would share the following with any business facing uncertainty:
What can you do to focus on the value you bring to your customers?
Where do your business and employees create value?
What problem do you solve for customers?
What can you do to better ‘sell’ the value you produce?
In the context of the ‘tech-tonic’ shifts presented by AI and the changing economic landscape, what new opportunities are opening for your business?
Where does AI sit within your business now? How may it feature in three years’ time?
How will these shifts impact existing clients? What new openings are on the horizon?
How do you need to develop your existing resources (employees, equipment and processes) to grow into these new spaces?
Given these trends, where do you see your business in three years’ time and what can you add to your growth plan to improve that picture?
What do you need to do to nurture and grow yourself as a leader?
What do you and your business need to STOP doing? What do you need to start?
What support (training, business mentoring, restructuring) do you need to put in place to continue to grow?
Ben Jacobs is Chief Project Officer for the Association of Business Mentors where he directs the Help to Grow: Management programme and heads up artificial intelligence workstreams.