Local Accountant shares Top 4 strategies for recession-proofing North Shore businesses

Local Accountant shares Top 4 strategies for recession-proofing North Shore businesses
 

North Shore business owners need to focus on leadership, not on staff cutting, if they are to keep their businesses afloat during the recession, according to leading local accountant Butch Mawdsley.
 

Butch Mawdsley, partner of local accounting firm RES Group and its business development branch, 10X North shore has led his North Shore business clients to success during the recession by encouraging them to first engage in proactive leadership, before focusing on keeping costs down.
 

According to Butch, cost-cutting tactics such as staff cutting are often found to result in decreased productivity, due to reduced staff spirit and morale. “This can pose a real threat to the sustainability of a business,” warns Butch. “Working in an environment where job security is threatened can be demoralising for staff. Businesses cannot succeed if their workplace spirit is broken.”
 

Butch explains that “in tough economic times, when a business’s goals are limited to survival, active leadership is often neglected. Business owners need to get out of the recession mentality and start prioritising leadership as a strategy, because dynamic and effective leadership is proven to have most impact on a business’s long-term success.”
 

Butch Mawdsley offers his Top 4 Leadership Strategies to engage effective leadership, based on a report by organisational psychologist Tony Vickers-Willis:
 

• Look for new ways to stimulate business growth during the recession by exploring new possibilities, ideas and approaches. See what opportunities are present.
• Lead with vision by pursuing a new, positive growth vision for the business and inspiring employees and stakeholders to commit to that vision.
• Start viewing employees as a business’s most valuable asset. Engage with staff and seek their ideas and suggestions in developing strategies, remembering that they are just as concerned with securing the future of the business as you are.
• Adopt a positive, inspiring and encouraging leadership attitude, as research shows that positive attitudes have a direct effect on high levels of performance at work.
 

As a trusted industry advisor providing support to many local businesses, Butch warns business owners that now is the time to step up and take leadership initiative. “Leadership is what will differentiate your business from its competitors, and will allow you to survive this downturn,” he says.

Leadership strategies are offered to North Shore business owners as part of the 10X Coaching Club service. The Coaching Club, one of 10X’s business development tools, is a coaching and mentoring service that provides local small-to-medium business owners with ongoing assistance to improve their business, and serves as a professional support group for like-minded business owners in non-competing industries.

 

Butch Mawdsley has wide experience in Chartered Accounting and Commerce built up over many years working with companies from small right up to multi-national corporations. He has enjoyed particular success in the design and implementation of management systems and this is where he can really make a difference. He considers himself a Chartered Accountant with a difference - he has fun while helping clients achieve what they want in their business lives.

Further reference information:
• www.10x.com.au/ northshorecity
• Article: “Recession Proof Your Business – Win Their Hearts & Minds”, Tony Vickers-Willis, VWCorp, January 2009, available at www.vwcorp.com.au