Prompted by the hardships and disruptions many small businesses faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Small Business Committee of the IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) sought to offer a path toward small business resilience. Using insights gathered through storytelling and interviews, the Committee created a guidebook with instructive tools for leaders in accounting and finance to follow during challenging times.
With a clear vision, leaders can guide their organizations in cultivating an inclusive, creative, and innovative culture, where a company can achieve goals and profitability, even during economic disruption. As management accountants serve as strategic leaders particularly during times of crisis, the guidebook introduces a Resilience Model that identifies three interconnected areas – visionary leadership, business focus, and a people-centric culture – as key for small businesses that thrived during the pandemic.
Real-world cases and stories shared illustrate how management accountants led their organizations in reflecting and reimagining the future, re-evaluating and reinventing offerings, reconnecting with stakeholders, and recharging themselves. The guidebook concludes with an illustration of how companies can foster innovation by igniting creativity. By exploring and utilizing the creative preferences of team members – clarify, ideate, develop, and implement – companies can use out-of-the-box thinking as a means to resilience.
Strategic Finance article: Rethinking How to Grow a Small Business
Count Me In podcast: Survival Strategies for Small Businesses