What if the same resilience that helped your business survive could now be your biggest engine for growth?
We are living in truly VUCA times – volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. While the term “VUCA” may not be part of most SME vocabularies, the experience certainly is. From geopolitical instability to economic turbulence, SMEs today face relentless uncertainty.
Working with business leaders through the Help to Grow: Management Course, I have seen that prioritising resilience is a matter of survival – but can also give businesses a competitive edge.
The unique challenges SMEs face in turbulent times
While 80% of British SMEs state they were resilient during the pandemic, 84% of leaders admit they’re unprepared for future shocks (McKinsey). This is staggering but unsurprising, given the threats facing businesses today.
In the past five years alone, business leaders have faced a pandemic and public health emergency that made the world of work unrecognisable. They have witnessed a meteoric rise in digital threats, with cyber-attacks escalating and the explosion of AI transforming working practices. Wars, geopolitical tensions and a bumper election year have forced them to navigate a complex global landscape. Meanwhile, the spectre of record-breaking inflation, the cost-of-living crisis and changing global tariffs has led to a tumultuous economic environment.
Amidst such change, SMEs are up against unique challenges. Many SMEs operate in overseas markets, facing many of the same market pressures as large firms – without the luxury of dedicated risk teams or deep cash reserves. Yet time and time again, we have seen SME leaders participating on the Help to Grow: Management Course prove that they have the dedication, ingenuity and strength to adapt and survive.
Resilience – an SME’s secret weapon for growth
Imagine a business that is not only equipped to weather economic disruption but which can also rapidly adapt to changing market conditions and seize new opportunities. Resilient businesses do exactly that – facing down uncertainty while maintaining a competitive edge.
In fact, businesses that invest in resilience are four times more likely to maintain strong financial performance over the next three years. Moreover, highly resilient firms achieve profit margins eight per cent higher than their less resilient counterparts (Accenture).
Despite this, the importance of agility and innovation in the face of adversity as a driver of long-term success is often overlooked.
How can businesses boost their resilience for growth?
Working with over 11,000 small business leaders has shown me the importance of embedding resilience into every part of their organisation and turning it into a strategic advantage. The experts delivering the Help to Grow: Management Course swear by three key steps:
- Set a strategy for growth and innovation
The most resilient small businesses are those that intentionally set a strategy for growth and innovation. It starts with reviewing your business model and asking critical questions: how much do you want to grow? Where can you innovate and do things differently? A well-crafted strategy aligns these goals with market opportunities, enabling your value proposition to evolve as conditions change.
By embedding flexibility into your strategy – through digital adoption, innovation, and smart risk management – you create a foundation that helps you withstand disruption and more confidently seize new opportunities.
- Embed agility into your organisational structure
A critical enabler of business resilience is the way a company is structured to grow. As your business moves through different phases of growth, it’s essential to evolve your organisational design to keep pace. That might mean rethinking how teams are structured, reviewing roles and skills with your team, or investing in training to fill capability gaps.
The most agile SMEs build flexibility into their operations, from flatter hierarchies to cross-functional teams, so they can pivot quickly when needed.
- Lead with purpose – and bring your team with you
A universal lesson on the course is that growth and change don’t happen in a vacuum. They depend on a leadership approach that’s clear, confident, and inclusive. One topic of conversation between the Help to Grow: Management Course 1-2-1 business mentors and participants is how effective leaders engage their people early, communicate openly, and create space for genuine collaboration.
At the same time, building a resilient business means investing in your people. That includes regular training, upskilling opportunities, and open dialogue about where the business is headed and why. When employees feel part of the strategy, not just subject to it, they’re far more likely to embrace change, contribute ideas, and help drive the business forward. Strengthening your own leadership capacity, while equipping your team to grow alongside you, creates a culture that’s ready to thrive through whatever comes next.
Thriving not just surviving
In a VUCA word, resilience has become more than just a means of survival and is now a real catalyst for growth. A key part of the Help to Grow: Management Course is understanding that new challenges are more than just obstacles to overcome, rather opportunities to learn, innovate and build momentum for long-term success.
About the columnist
Flora Hamilton
CEO of the Chartered Association of Business Schools
As CEO of the Chartered Association of Business Schools, Flora also holds the position of Executive Director of the Small Business Charter. Flora took up the position of CEO at the Chartered ABS in May 2023. Prior to this, she was the Director of Financial Services at the CBI.