This week I had the privilege of attending a joint Board meeting between the Te Awe Māori Business Network, Wellington Chamber of Commerce and the Wellington Pasifika Network.? We had the opportunity to discuss the challenges for small to medium sized businesses in the current market conditions.? It was topical to discuss the impact of the change of government, the challenges facing our local business community and what we can do to support businesses in our membership base for the next 12 months.
My key takeaways and advice to those struggling with the downturn are:
- The government is moving away from a co-dependency model and is expecting the business community to find their own way to survival and success in these difficult times. It is time for de-coupling from government and finding independence.
- If you are dependent on government work, you will need to find new work – there is no set timeframe for government to get back to spending and the spending will not be at the same levels as before.
- The notion that government has spent 100 days disestablishing agencies rather than progressing new initiatives was pushed back by Business NZ CEO Kirk Hope.? He reassured the Board that the government has been communicating clearly to progress their plans for the next 100 days.? They are progressing matters that can directly lead to positive outcomes for their three-year term. They are focused and determined.
- We are a government town and while the government has stopped spending, we need to sharpen up, ensure our teams are performing, productive and using their time wisely to find other work.? We cannot depend on government for work in the short to medium term.
- Dame Winnie Laban attended the meeting and reminded us, that if you don’t have money, you must THINK, CREATE and INNOVATE – that time is now if you aren’t already.
- It is a time for leaders to step up, stand at the front of the waka, feel the brunt of the storm to forewarn your teams, think ahead and make plans to ride out the rough water.
- In a government town that isn’t spending, look for work in the regions, use your relationships to find referral work outside of Wellington.
- This isn’t a market for cold calling, it’s a market to use your relationships for referrals and new connections.
- At a time when some organisations will need to downsize and reduce spending, the advice is to hold fast to the people who have strong values, are able to bounce back and that won’t wallow in the negativity.? Keep good people who are competent, and that are proactively looking for positive ways to weather the storm.
We are coming into the eye of the storm now, but we have done this before, covid taught us how to be resilient, the GFC taught us how to rationalise, sharpen up and get creative - to stick to what we know we are good at.
