Russell-Cooke partners with Resilience First and Facebook on a guide for SMEs

Law firm Russell-Cooke has partnered with and contributed to a new publication by Resilience First, Re-emergence Guide – Building Small Business Resilience in partnership with Facebook. 

The Guide is available free to SMEs through Resilience First, Facebook and Russell-Cooke.

The Guide is a very practical first step in the journey to building small business resilience, with strategies around business recovery and how to survive and thrive as an organisation. It details the eight pillars of business resilience: Prepare, People, Process, Patrons, Profits, Place, Promotion and Practice. Each of these pillars consist of an overarching goal, a checklist of key considerations and an opportunity to reflect and create actions to evolve the business for successful re-emergence.

Launching the Guide, Robert Hall, Director of Strategy, Resilience First, said: “In many ways SMEs are more flexible and adaptable than larger organisations in coping with change. But tight cashflows and labour constraints are important factors that hinder the realisation of opportunities. This Guide has been prepared to help SMEs build their resilience and not only to bounce back better but also to bounce forward.”

Matthew Jaffa, Senior External Affairs Manager, Federation of Small Businesses, said:

“Moving from recovery into growth, SMEs need to move on from keeping on going when things are bad to taking stock when things are going well. The Guide is very important in that regard so it is a very relevant and pertinent time to have this out.”

Kizzy Augustin, partner and head of health and safety said: “Something as big as the COVID-19 pandemic really had a major impact on small and large businesses. Most employers, owners, managers and employees don’t anticipate any kind of return to their working environment in the traditional fashion at all. The Resilience First Guide is a great first step in helping businesses build back recovery and resilience.”

Emma Shipp, consultant in the corporate and commercial team said: “Although the last 18 months has in some respects torn up the rule book, it has also really demonstrated that some of these principles are very important and they do make a difference. Businesses that have followed these principles have actually done better throughout the pandemic and have weathered the storm to re-emerge in a stronger position than they were before.”