How to Drive Business Growth in Uncertain Times

As business leaders examine their business goals and objectives, there are external economic pressures and operational challenges, making it difficult to navigate and successfully drive growth. These pressures can spark fear, apprehension, and evolving questions, especially since certain of these pressures are beyond the control of leadership.  

Between tightening credit standards, supply chain disruptions, emerging technologies, evolving regulatory compliance, and market volatility, leaders must look to what they can control—determining how they can make a significant impact while minimizing risk. 

To successfully drive business growth, executives and leadership should refocus their efforts on building operational resilience, implementing modern talent retention strategies, and enhancing decision-making through data. By doing so, organizations can:  

• Experience maximized operational efficiency 
• Lay the foundation to increase cash flow 
• Strategically align business objectives 

Key Takeaways 

• Leaders should prioritize continued, open communication.  
• Timely and honest communication with employees and stakeholders to better understand and address gaps.  
• Navigating uncertainty is challenging, but refocusing efforts on building resilience, talent retention, and enhanced decision-making can spark sustainable growth.  

Build Operational Resilience 

Since leaders can’t necessarily control external pressures, they need to double down on what they can control, how they prepare, and how they respond. It’s important for leadership to prioritize continued, open communication to align and target their efforts and best navigate the challenges.  

In one situation with a family business client, they spoke about how they’re refocusing and targeting their efforts with one-hour weekly management meetings, with the goal of addressing some of the challenges above. Through these weekly mandatory meetings, they increased accountability and executable goals. Holding people accountable is more important than ever.  It keeps people sharp and focused.  

By creating a standard cadence, organizations are able to maintain extreme focus and make sure nothing goes “more than one week” without being addressed. Also, focusing on communication and creating a consistent, open forum, organizations can find success and build operational resilience during times of uncertainty and change.  

Modernize Talent Strategy 

Whether it is for a small family office or a large multinational enterprise, retaining and recruiting employees continues to be a common barrier.  One root cause comes from ever-increasing inconsistencies with communication and role expectations. Also, it’s important “to avoid the blame game.” 

To proactively address staffing shortages and skill gaps, start by talking with team members and stakeholders. You’ll never know or understand if there is a problem unless someone speaks up. Once you know about an existing issue, you can take measures to address it. There is no substitute for honesty and sincerity, and that is too often forgotten. If you do not communicate, you’re risking people forming their own opinions rather than providing a factual basis.  

Leaders should look to employees for authentic feedback to understand what it takes for their team members to succeed. Organizations can better evaluate gaps through:  

• Aligning roles with business goals. 
• Incorporating standard interviews  
• Establishing rewards or benefits  

Navigate Inflation with Data-Driven Decisions 

You have likely heard hundreds of different perspectives or opinions on rising inflation, interest rates, price elasticity, or lack thereof, etc. This can leave many lost when looking for a trusted source for accurate information on both a macro scale and on how inflation impacts their operations. It can also leave leaders overwhelmed.  Utilize resources to find a factual source. And if you are not sure, do not be afraid to ask.  

When it comes to preparing for various uncertainties and pressure points and how they may impact your organization, leaders should:  

• Be cautious, prudent, and approach things with the right amount of skepticism 
• Catch a Breath.  Take and invest the time to digest information before making a decision 
• Consider the short-term and long-term impacts of decisions 
• Prioritize how decisions can affect employees, clients, and stakeholders 
• Be prepared to pivot.   

To sustainably enhance decision-making regarding inflation, organizations should implement an effective response strategy. By testing pricing changes incrementally, prioritizing talent retention, and optimizing operational efficiency before cutting costs, leadership is better prepared to navigate dynamic markets and encourage growth. 

Handling Rising Interest Rates  

Rising rates do not cause operational problems; they simply expose them.  While they may create some uncertainty for business leaders, don’t let them distract you from what matters most. It is essential to maintain excellent fundamentals, generate profits, generate incremental cash flows, service customers, communicate with strategic partners and stakeholders, and so forth. If a 2% or 3% interest rate increase makes that much of a difference, there likely were issues with operations long before the increase in interest rates.  

It is always beneficial for leaders to reevaluate their current return on investments (ROI) and examine future investment projections to navigate market fluctuations effectively. Being proactive and doing incremental planning, generally puts leaders in a stronger position. Rarely is their criticism for being overprepared and being better positioned. 

Revaluation of Customers, Products, and Supply Chain  

Being prepared for challenging operational and financial times is critical. Consider the positive and negative implications for your customers, products, and suppliers. To gain a comprehensive look, leaders should ask themselves:  

• Are all the products still profitable?  
• Are there unprofitable customers draining resources?  
• Is the company too dependent on one supplier or vendor? 
• What is the outlook for our industry for the next quarter, six months, or year?  
• Am I rewarding the stars in our organization? 

As executives rationalize costs, eliminate unprofitable clients and products, reduce inefficiencies, and strengthen relationships, they establish a stronger focus on what drives value and create leaner, more efficient operations.  

Turn Uncertainty into Strategic Advantage  

 It is easy to feel uncertain or overwhelmed by looming threats or the unpredictable nature of what’s ahead. However, uncertainty brings opportunity. Not knowing exactly what’s ahead allows leaders to reshape operations and truly make positive business transformations rooted in strategic growth.  

At EisnerAmper, our dedicated team strives to enhance operational efficiency and streamline processes that align with business objectives. As a trusted partner, we offer tailored solutions to meet your unique needs and spark growth. To learn how EisnerAmper can help your business, contact us below.