Giving Back…

For the last three weeks, I’ve been working with a team of subject matter experts to provide a free on-line information resource for business as we manage through the current crisis. I’m excited to share this with you today and hope you will take advantage of this information as we evolve over the coming weeks and months.

We are living in unprecedented times.

Between 1929 and 1933, Canada’s Gross National Expenditure fell by 42 percent. By 1933, 30 percent of the labour force was out of work. One in five Canadians became dependent upon government relief for survival. The unemployment rate remained above12 percent until the start of the Second World War in 1939.

Today, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bank of Canada is forecasting Canada’s GDP to shrink by as much as 30 percent in the second quarter (on an annualized basis). Unemployment rates will vary across the country from 20 to 30 percent, surpassing the Great Depression.

What does this mean to you?

The crisis is changing, and will continue to change, the business landscape. Many businesses have been forced to close due to the financial impact of this crisis, but many others will fail due to an inability to adapt to the new business environment.

New tools and processes will be adopted in the short-term and find themselves embedded into our new daily practices in the long run.

Your objective is to move away from present threats and toward emerging opportunities.

Help is here.

A free on-line guide has just been posted by Business Health Council to expedite identification, development, launch and assessment of adaption opportunities and then, when the crisis winds down, to solidify and to build on lessons learnt. The guide was developed by a team of subject matter experts to help small and medium sized businesses manage through the COVID-19 crisis and the economic recovery thereafter. I am delighted to be a contributor to this team.

Unlike other resources that tend to be specific to one function or issue, the guide is structured as a three-phase system that ties together critical strategies across sales, marketing, operations, finance, accounting, human capital, and information technology.

For more information about Business Health Council and the free on-line guide, visit: