The old axiom – “the only thing that is certain in life is change” – seems to have never been truer than in 2023. The shifting economy, new workforce expectations, personnel changes, prices changes, shipping changes – it all makes operating a business challenging to say the least.
The real issue seems to be the RATE of change. Our world ebbs and flows at a much faster pace than it used to, and planning in business must take that into account. Think about trying to fill a position – you advertise it, receive resumes, do interviews, and find the candidate. There is a greater risk that months or even weeks later, that perfect candidate is going to make a change and look for another position. As a business owner, it is all-consuming to manage that type of change.
Change can happen in an instant, or it can come slow and methodical. Being prepared for aa many contingencies as possible is the best defense against change upending your business. The term we hear used to describe this planning for the inevitable that may never happen is “resilience.” One part of being resilient means understanding that change could happen and having plans in place to survive the change or mitigate the outcome of that change. Resiliency in business calls for imagining worse case scenarios (key member no longer on the team or a storm causes structural damage) and putting into place plans to allow the business to continue to operate with the change (having a succession plan for key members or having a solid building insurance policy in place).
Today, when we say, “things aren’t the way they used to be,” we could be talking about changes that happened in the course of a month or even a day. Change is inevitable – what makes us successful as business leaders – as human beings – is how we deal with that change through resiliency.
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Caroline County Economic Development and Tourism is an office within Caroline County government. For updates on any future business support, please sign up for our newsletter, and follow Caroline County Economic Development on Facebook.