Liz McAreavey

The American people have voted for change. Across the globe people are disenfranchised from their governments and are using their vote to pave the way for new politics. Business communities in Scotland will be monitoring the ripple effect of promises made to secure election victory in the US and how changes to the might of the American economy will be felt throughout the global economic landscape.

In the midst of this circus of surprises, resilience is raising its stubborn head and businesses are beginning to accept the surreal as the norm. Focussing less on world and European events, businesses are now looking to self-reliance and the day-to-day running of their businesses to create strong, resilient operations. Nevertheless, front of mind is how they will grow, access new markets, attract and keep talent, raise finance, embrace technological change, deliver profit and maintain a balanced life.

As we hear time and again, the most important asset of any business is its people. Now is the time to truly recognise this and focus real effort and energy into developing and nurturing our work force. This will combine providing the best career opportunities and training to attract and retain the best talent and also to ensure our businesses have the innovation, leading processes and creative ideas to improve productivity and competitiveness in a fast changing world.

Developing a skilled workforce is one of the priorities for Scottish Government. The Programme for Government focuses on the themes of an education system providing opportunities for all, an economy with more jobs and fair work, public services fit for the future, empowering people and communities through strengthened local democracy and safeguarding Scotland’s place in the world.

Yet less funding is provided for developing careers and in-work training for life-long learning. Skills Development Scotland has just removed the Flexible Training Opportunities and small businesses are struggling not only to invest in much needed staff training but managing resources. As the cost of Brexit bites, resources are pinched and businesses cannot afford to release key staff for professional development creating a short-term plug but a long-term problem.

Investment in leadership training is also woefully inadequate. We have fantastic Business Schools at our universities, offering wide ranging executive education programmes. Access to these should be made easy and affordable with training funds for SMEs. Chambers of Commerce deliver a Scottish Mentoring Programme on behalf of Scottish Government to develop leadership skills in SMEs but the criteria for entry onto the programme can be prohibitive to ambitious business that can’t yet fit the growth profile but could accelerate beyond these targets with the right support and guidance.

The Edinburgh Guarantee and Developing the Young Workforce programmes are doing a phenomenal job engaging with business and education, helping shape the curriculum at schools and colleges to ensure young people have the skills and education needed for the workforce of the future. There is huge commitment from the private sector in partnership with government to deliver this new approach. This is a great model that could be replicated to identify the training needs of SMEs and how this might be delivered through public and private sector collaboration.

In a world of uncertainty, the unexpected and the unpredictable, let’s look at how we can drive change through investing in people throughout their careers. Not just the young but those wanting to progress and advance and build on the potential they already have.

The disenfranchised could be a well trained workforce, contributing to the growth of the SME sector and productivity across all sectors, creating more job opportunities, inclusiveness and a healthy economy. In the end it’s all down to people.

Liz McAreavey is chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce