The Met Office didn’t warn us that the Welsh football team would
last longer than England in the Euros (and longer than the whole of the UK in
the EU); Andy would win Wimbledon again;
we’d need to keep up with which political party has a leader today; and that formerly red-haired TV stars would join
in the fun! What is normally the start
of the silly season as the press gamely scrabble round for stories has had more
bombshells than even seasoned hacks can remember. No wonder they missed an HMRC building,
struck by lightning losing its, already fragile, IT systems!
It has been an emotional roller coaster and many have felt distracted
from getting on with day-to-day (I won’t say “normal”) life. As hard as it may seem, we have to trust our
new PM, our MPs and the civil servants (who really run the country) to keep UK
Plc on track. There are positives in Brexit and we all need to grab them – from
opening up new trade deals with the world on terms that work for the UK and our
partners, to forcing us to be, again, a truly entrepreneurial powerhouse.
While we work out Brexit, UK business needs to focus on
keeping operations on track and, in some cases, learning to be more proactive,
rolling with the punches that may come in the ensuing months.
At BattleAxe HQ the jungle drums have brought stories from
both sides over the last few weeks. Contracts
lost “because of Brexit” which, when you delve further, seem likely to have
been cancelled even if the vote had gone the other way. Contrast that with exporters who have rapidly
signed new deals as the fall in the value of the pound has meant products are
now more attractive to overseas buyers (btw, a little reminder to bill in sterling
to avoid the exchange risk!). Both of these have a dramatic effect on a
business – how do you resize rapidly enough to deal with the consequences? Can you invest and recruit fast enough to
grasp opportunities or scale back quick enough within your cash flow?
Those businesses that have planned will do more than just
get through, they may well thrive – just as many did in the last
recession. Planning is key: taking on
new business just because it’s there isn’t always the right thing to do, indeed
it can ruin a business. But it takes clear thinking to say no. For all of us in business building in
flexibility of workforce and operations, thinking positively about each
opportunity and broadening our horizons is going to be as key to survival as ever.
