Michael's Comments - March 2022
Our hearts go out to the people who are living in Ukraine with such turmoil and loss. It’s truly heart breaking to see the horrific images of the war ravaging Ukraine. From our side of the world, it seems incomprehensible and it’s difficult to know how we can help.
Being a member of a global network gives us some extra visibility that we may not otherwise have. We are proud to share the details of PKF International’s efforts, who are helping to relocate refugees from Ukraine. The PKF hospitality team have launched #HospitalityHelps, an initiative which has one single goal - providing temporary hotel accommodation to Ukrainian residents, who are forced to leave their homes as a result of the war. Over 80 hotels in 16 countries have already committed to providing free hotel rooms to those displaced by the war. For more information, please click here www.PKFhelps.org
Often in the most horrible of situations we can take some comfort in seeing how communities with shared values rally together to help each other.
The old adage of “The Only Constant in Life is Change” seems to ring especially true at the moment. We’re operating business in an environment that seems unfamiliar, whilst dealing with a pandemic, a devasting war and bizarre weather patterns. Over the past couple of years, normal business has been disrupted by aspects outside of our control, however I fear that the real impact is going to be even more evident in this coming year.
With the end of financial year looming for most businesses, owners will be armed with information about business profitability and tax positions etc. Our advice, however, is not to wait until year end to understand how your business is tracking. We work with and encourage clients to revisit business plans more frequently (even more valuable in uncertain times). Knowledge is power! Concerns need to be addressed quickly and changes may need to be implemented for immediate and long-term benefit. In an uncertain environment, time is of the essence.
If you are leading a team, one of the most important aspects of leadership is change management. It’s the piece that helps your team understand why change is happening, how it will impact them, what’s expected of them and how they can positively influence the changes.
Everyone has their own opinion on how the current government has or hasn’t managed our COVID response, however I think we all recognise that there’s been a major shift in strategy from “COVID elimination” to “living with COVID”. This is a real example of the need for an effective change management process. Please click here if you would like to read our article, where we consider the elements required for effective change management and I’ll let you be the judge of how we’ve managed this process as a country.
Lastly, I hope you and your families are keeping well during these times. Our thoughts are with all retail, hospitality and tourism businesses – a walk around both the Hastings and Napier CBDs certainly shows how quiet foot traffic is at the moment. If you need any business advice or help to apply for the current COVID support payments, please get in touch.