There are quite a few talents that make a great manager or employer. Leadership and charisma, care and wellbeing, efficiency and problem-solving. They’re all important. But there’s one talent that’s particularly important in helping the business weather just about any storm. That’s the flexibility you need to go with the flow. The ability to react and adapt to changes in the market, in the workforce, in the readiness of resources is essential. But being flexible isn’t about having no bearings to stick to. It’s about planning. Here are the plans you need in place.

Keep finance flexible

Perhaps where flexibility matters the most for the survival of the business is in the financial side of things. The ability to free up some cash when you come across a potentially beneficial investment or have to deal with a crisis is crucial. Lacking even the little funding needed to repair a piece of digital equipment for the workplace can slow productivity down to a crawl. To that end, it’s crucial to learn how to keep your outgoings low so you’re always saving aside some cash to give the business the boost that it needs. For those big changes, such as scaling your operations or taking on new processes, being able to locate new funding is essential, too. Whether that’s further investment capital or a business loan, it can give you a lot more freedom to be future-oriented.

Weaving your workflow

Money isn’t all that matters, either. The time and labour you have on your hands is just as important. Sometimes, a new client or a new project comes in that becomes a sudden priority. If your team hasn’t found their footing with their general day-to-day work, then setting aside the time to take on those high priority tasks might mean that you’re neglecting the fundamentals of the business. Activia shows that there are several means of making the workflow more manageable and thus making it a lot easier to fit in different tasks and keep more productive. Helping employees manage their time and prioritise their work is necessary.

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Different people, different needs

A bit of flexibility can help you be a much more effective leader of people, as well. For one, it’s important to know that everyone has different styles of working, different comfort zones, and even different aptitudes for different kinds of learning. But where you’re going to get the most benefit is by working alongside their needs when it comes to finding an everyday that allows them to be more productive. More and more employers are turning to more flexible work arrangements such as different working days and different spaces, such as allowing for remote working. Not only does it result in a happier, more productive workforce. It drastically reduces the chance of employees encountering stress and even makes a positive change in rates of absenteeism.

The ups-and-downs

What works best for an individual one day won’t work well for them the next. Employees have a life to balance with their work and the employers that fail to prepare for that are those that tend to have the most difficulty working around that life. Perhaps the most pertinent example, as ACAS shows, is in maternity leave. Employers need to be fully cognizant of the amount of time that employees are going to need off, as well as how they’re going to fill the gap so that this leave isn’t a huge disruption. Conversations with the individual about their daily responsibilities well in advance can help you spread their duties, hire temporarily and keep the wheels turning without suffering too much in the process. Being able to handle such leave well also improves morale, as it shows that you’re willing to take the turns of the individual’s life seriously.

Comfort in a crisis

Not all twists and turns are planned or happen outside the workplace, either. There are plenty of risks to the workplace, such as fires, assault, injury and the like. Workplace stress is a very serious issue nowadays and these incidents can play a key role in its manifestation. Yet even if you’re prepared to deal with and prepare for such risk, many employers don’t know how to deal with the impact of the mental health on their organization. To that end, having qualified help like Health Assured on the side of the business can help both employee and employer deal better with such incidents. It allows the team to process trauma a lot better and to get in a better place for both the individual and the company.

Don’t anchor yourself to your people

Helping the team deal with both the expected and unexpected changes in working life is all well and good. But an employer should also be prepared to deal with the changes within the workforce. Illness, long bouts of leave, terminations, and individuals all result in a difference of available labour. Failing to prepare for that can leave the business vulnerable. Move away from a person-dependent business, so that one individual leaving will never deprive your business of something that will take months to replace. Instead, make it systems based by systemizing the different roles and responsibilities in the business. Keep the sticky knowledge that allows the business to get back to its usual pace through training, re-delegation of roles, and a thorough understanding of what every employee does. Don’t let any one person exclusively have the key to effective performing a duty.

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Reconsider how you get your work done

When dealing with a labour shortage or a lack of the abilities needed to cope with a new or temporary need, you don’t always have to rely internally on the business, either. Organizations like People Per Hour are making it easier to connect with freelancers than ever, connecting businesses with professionals without the need to temporarily or otherwise take on all the responsibilities of an employer for that individual. Just make sure you know the legal differences of what you can expect from a freelancer compared to your own hires. If you blur those lines, a freelancer could make a legal case that they’re entitled to the same benefits as an employee.

As has hopefully been shown, becoming flexible also means becoming sturdier, a stronger business with more rigid footing. That might seem counter-intuitive, but it gives you the ground you need to adapt to changes without being swept off your feet.