Beever and Struthers, accountants and business advisors asks businesses interested in collaboration to serve people and communities for the greater good to join them at their next North West Business Leaders Forum session ‘The New Normal’

How can we build on the collaboration working which has taken place with a clear focus on responding to the critical issue of COVID-19?

Having talked at regional and national levels for a long time about breaking organisation and sector silos, over the last four months we have seen people and businesses working together finding the right skills and resources to do what has been necessary, embracing collaboration at all levels and across the public and private sector.

Targeted at chief executive officers, chief financial officers and finance directors, the Collaboration event begins at 10am on Tues, 28^th July.  Sue Hutchinson, partner at Beever and Struthers, will chair and address the Collaboration event alongside co-host and fellow speaker Grenville Page, founder of accounting, auditing, financial management and management consultancy specialist Grenville Page Consulting.

Grenville is an experienced finance, business and governance leader with a wealth of Board level and senior change experience as an executive, non-executive director / trustee and consultant drawn from across the public (local government, NHS, central government), education, housing and charity / social enterprise sectors.

Having moved out of full-time employment nine years ago, he now manages a portfolio of non-executive director and trustee roles across health, housing, social care, education and VCSE plus a range of consultancy support.

Discussions at a previous Forum event identified how COVID-19 has changed the way that public and private sector businesses can work together to maintain supply chains and services, adapt to new requirements of customers, trust their staff and engage with them more than before, whilst working proactively with clients, customers and service providers to understand their new priorities and their ‘new normal’.

Grenville and Sue will create discussion around collaboration experiences as well as what we need to do to sustain this change in ethos and culture and what support the business sector needs across Greater Manchester to enable future strategic partnerships that leverage positive opportunities in our communities.

Examples of collaboration and how they have changed the way businesses work in the ‘new normal’ include:

• wider community collaboration– can any part of a business model be adapted to help the wider needs of the community, such as Morrisons paying small suppliers immediately, F1 teams collaborating to design and produce ventilators, alcohol distilleries producing hand sanitizer and clothing companies manufacturing personal protective equipment (PPE);
• virtual collaboration– digital meetings save time, money and the environment, allowing businesses to thrive with additional cash flow, a better carbon footprint and broader community benefits;
• complete collaboration– customers – can you pay without credit terms, put down a deposit and guarantee future work?; employees – flexible working, a broader benefits package and greater job satisfaction?; suppliers – paying smaller suppliers quicker, shopping with small/local businesses and a guaranteed order book?

Other North West Business Leaders Forum events hosted by Beever and Struthers discussed COVID-19 related issues such as environmental impact, people – the management of flexible working and business resilience and continuity.

Sue Hutchinson said: “Beever and Struthers has organised these informal forums for business leaders to share experiences, to allow us to work together to overcome some of the key challenges brought about by COVID-19 for the North West and consider how we can move forward and thrive in the new normal.”

Anyone wanting to join the event on Collaboration on 28^th July can register at [email protected]