December Thoughts

What Might Be Behind the Next Advent Door for UK Business?

December always brings a natural pause.

A moment to look at the year behind us, take stock, and think honestly about the one ahead.

I often think of it like an Advent calendar for business.

Every door we open brings something new, sometimes welcome, sometimes not and after two UK Budgets in the same year, most business leaders I speak to are quietly wondering:

What exactly will the next door reveal?

Because for the kinds of companies we work with, the skilled, hands-on, technically capable businesses that keep the country running the last twelve months have raised far more questions than answers.

Costs have shifted. Policy has moved. Certainty hasn’t improved.

So instead of second-guessing the next announcement from Westminster, it feels more useful to reflect on what this environment actually demands of us as leaders.

These are my closing thoughts for the year.

1. The businesses that bend will be the ones that last.

If policy continues to shift every few months, resilience becomes a differentiator.

Not dramatic resilience, just calm, well-governed, financially aware resilience.

Boards need better foresight, tighter decision rhythms, and a willingness to model multiple outcomes rather than cling to a single forecast.

The real question isn’t “What will the next Budget bring?” It’s “Are we structured well enough to cope when it arrives?”

2. Running lean and running on fumes are not the same thing

I’ve seen too many companies cut back so far that the team is now permanently overstretched.

That isn’t lean. That’s fragile. If 2025 has taught us anything, it’s that capability needs attention:

systems, planning, equipment, leadership depth, and the space for people to perform at their best.

You can only operate at full stretch for so long before something cracks and it’s usually at the most inconvenient moment.

3. Founders need more breathing space than the market pretends. Early-stage businesses remain full of ideas, energy and ambition, but the cost of proving traction has never been higher. Neither of this year’s Budgets changed that.

Founders heading into 2025 need honest runways.

Not six or eight months of sheer panic, but time, real time to build something sustainable, repeatable, and commercially sound.

A venture built in survival mode rarely scales with confidence.

4. Productivity will define 2025, not busyness

Many teams are working incredibly hard, but in too many cases the sheer effort doesn’t translate into meaningful output. It is nobody’s fault, it’s the predictable result of years spent firefighting.

Next year has to be about clarity and simplification:

• clearer processes,

• fewer distractions,

• stronger governance,

• and a renewed focus on value, not noise.

If 2025 was the year of pushing, let 2026 be the year of sharpening.

5. Conditions may not improve, but our direction can.

Most companies have been in “hold on tight” mode since 2020. It’s become habit. But long-term growth never comes from a defensive stance.

So as we open the final Advent doors of the year, perhaps the most useful question for any business leader to ask is:

“What single decision today would make our organisation stronger by next Christmas?”

It might be:

• simplifying the operating model,

• backing the next layer of leadership,

• investing in one system that genuinely pays for itself,

• or simply stopping the work that quietly drains energy and adds no value.

Rebuilding isn’t always about reinventing.

Often it’s about removing the clutter so the good work can breathe.

Looking Ahead to 2026

It’s been a demanding year, but the businesses we work with, from established operators to founder-led start-ups show something far more powerful than policy certainty:

A natural ability to adapt, build, and carry on with purpose.

The Budgets may set the weather,

but we still decide how we build in it.

And that’s the door I’m choosing to open next.

Have a fantastic holiday season, everyone