The last two years have been, to say the least challenging, for our businesses. A quick analysis of the environment in which they operate shows that work practices have been redefined. Following the Covid experience and the war in Ukraine, lack of employee availability has hit new levels, supply chain issues have directly and indirectly impacted most businesses and rising costs have shaken the foundations of many business owners’ certainty about their own business’ future.
We are in the middle of summer 2022, a time when many business owners take a small break and try to cut away from work and take care of their own physical and mental health. Despite this great need for a break and despite actually taking a break, we are finding that the issues below are still on peoples’ minds:
- People challenges – Employees are looking at work very differently to the way they did before. The concept of loyalty to an employer seems to have gone. I’m struggling to retain employees and even more to recruit new ones. How am I actually going to pull off running my business until the end of the year?
- Rising costs – My business costs are increasing. Raw materials are more expensive. Transportation costs have increased. People costs are rising and even service costs have risen. All this challenges the very existence of my business as I need to pay more to operate my business. My very pricing is being challenged. How can I balance these conflicting pressures in order to keep operating.
- Unclear future – Looking ahead, the future seems more challenging than ever. It looks like I’ll have bigger challenges finding employees. Clients seem to want to pay less, rising costs are outside my control and global competition is eating away at my market. What can I do to prepare myself and my business for the challenges ahead? How can I grow my market and increase my international exposure?
- Performance issues – I’m giving all my energies to the business and working crazy hours. My employees are stretched and we’re doing our best. Having said this, the results are not as good as I expect them to be. What do I need to do in order to improve performance?
In our work with Business Owners and Management, these are the four main areas that find are concerning most of them. They are very real issues and they pose very tangible challenges to businesses. It is, however, a pity that they are worrying enough to ruin peoples’ holidays and weigh on their mental health. At CMG Consulta we are happy to meet up, discuss and work with business owners through these issues helping them find light at the end of the tunnel. Please do get in touch for a free online consultation.
