Operational and People-Focused Things SMEs Can Do During Uncertain Times -

By: Business Sherpa Group

Published March 24, 2025

It’s hard to know what to do when things are in a continual state of flux, just as we’ve been experiencing lately. “Wait and see” is a normal and reasonable reaction. But when you’re running a business, this isn’t a universally practical approach.

There are some areas of business that can’t and shouldn’t be left to a “wait and see” mentality, especially the elements of your business related to strategic operations and people.

So, here are some things that you can do – even when things are uncertain and decision-making feels frozen.

Operations-Focused: Financial Modelling

Financial modelling is something that you can – should – be doing throughout the year. In normal times, you would already be bringing external factors into your modelling, looking at spike-scenario planning and creating financial models that are realistic for the business conditions of your organization and applicable market.

Right now, this normal process becomes a bit more sensitive and requires additional flexibility be added into the models. Easier said than done, right? We agree; our CFOs have seen how hard it can be for a business to independently build effective models, and then how hard it can be for a business to adapt the models to changing conditions. But the time spent building greater flexibility into a financial model is worth it because it means having clear financial plans set up for various ‘what if’ scenarios which – if market conditions do rapidly change – enables an organization to act more proactively, rather than on impulse. And this is also why many organizations opt to have CFO-level support building the models rather than trying to do all the work independently; the strategic benefit is applicable for normal and abnormal times.

So, if you have a financial model already built for 2025, consider reviewing it and building in additional flexibility. If you do not currently have financial modelling, we recommend beginning the process – as soon as possible.

Operations-Focused: Leadership Support

Another operations-focused thing business leaders can do sooner rather than later, is to find a peer to lean on and share the leadership burden during this uncommonly confusing time.

Often one of the best options for support is you CFO, fractional or other. The finance and leadership experience along with their knowledge and intimacy of your business is why your CFO is often a top choice for this role. You can openly discuss the various “what ifs” all businesses are currently wading through, challenge each other, divide areas of focus and simply, not have to navigate all the uncertainty alone.

While good financials based on strategy are an underpinning of a healthy business, the other side of the coin is that the financial outcomes – what ends up happening in reality – will always have an impact on staff as well, which brings us to the people-focused elements of this article.

People-Focused: Communication

One of the top things our HR team recommends leaders do in uncertain times is to focus on what communications and messaging are going out to the team. Consider: is the messaging doing anything to build trust?

This matters because during uncertain times, people tend to feel more vulnerable, anxiety can rise, and the unknown can become overwhelming. This in turn can impact quality of work, attendance, workplace moral – all of which isn’t good for employees’ well-being nor for the business’ health.

If the leadership team doesn’t have a good communication plan in place, it’s worth focusing on creating communication strategies centred on transparency. You can share a look into what the organization is doing (are you updating financial models? Are you reaching out to check in on clients? Are you securing any government or private relief support? And so on.) Providing staff a transparent look at the organization’s plans can help foster trust and contain some of the anxiety – people often feel better simply from knowing.

Not every leader is an expert communicator though, and even if you are communicator-extraordinaire, messaging during difficult times is a different strategy. This is a moment to lean on your fellow leaders and senior HR personnel to help craft a strategic communication plan that achieves transparency and builds trust. HR can support the actual communications as well as conduct leadership coaching to help managers navigate uncertainty and get the right kind of message to their team.

People-Focused: Workforce Planning

The other top thing our HR team recommends doing is to review your workforce needs. What are the critical roles or skills for your business? How is employee moral? Are you concerned about employee retention, restructuring, or potential layoffs?

Workforce planning can help you get a solid understanding of priorities and strategies should market conditions change quickly.

Results from a workforce planning undertaking can include:

Updating policies to allow for more flexible work arrangements that allow for improved business adaptability
Change management initiatives that help employees embrace any new ways of working
Creating new retention strategies to keep employees – especially those with critical skills – engaged and productive.
And, if restructuring is needed, having a plan in place to process the change strategically and ethically.

Most businesses’ number one asset is their people, so taking time to review how the uncertainty is and can impact them often has equal strategic benefit as financial modelling.

Summary

Given all the ups and downs as of late, it’s hard to know what to do. But when you feel helpless, chipping away at projects like those listed here can help bring control back into your organization’s hands.

There are also relief programs beginning to be announced, including: