Proactive Balance

What a title! "Proactive Balance". What should be proactive and what is being balanced?

There is usually never a week that goes by where I receive a call asking for assistance about something that happened (past tense). My team and I try to understand what occurred, try to untangle the actions that were implemented and then realign the actions in accordance with process, procedures, administrative policy and even sometimes legal precedents. 
Then, there are the PROACTIVE calls. The calls where I am being asked for guidance about what to do. We discuss the business plan and scenario being researched and, at times, provide options that align with both the business plan and Customs regulations as well as provide other suggested avenues to explore due to any number of reasons like efficiencies, cost effectiveness, ease of implementation, etc.
The proactive approach can cause some or even significant delays with respect to on-boarding the process of the business plan but in hindsight, it can also save a corporation a significant amount of money. Implementing a process with speed usually leads to inaccuracies with compliance and can cause retroactive monetary outlays that far exceed the profits created by saving time at the implementation phase.
So that is the PROACTIVE issue.

The BALANCE comes with analyzing the risk factor. There are some items of compliance that can be looked at concurrent to or even after the implementation phase. In these cases, the risk of non-compliance is low. Balance also comes with understanding when to obtain guidance from an outside source versus reliance on in-house team members. Is there time for the team member(s) to focus on both the business plan and Customs regulations to ensure that there is no delays with the "Go-Live" date of the business plan that is being implemented? External resources can BALANCE the work load and assist with aspects of the process that require attention in order to meet timeline obligations.

Some previous Blogs to reference:
1)    Proactive communication with your Customs Broker --> 
        https://customsandcooking.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-taste-test.html
2)     Outsourcing some of the Compliance work -->
        https://customsandcooking.blogspot.com/2021/06/order-in.html
3)     Partnership:
        https://customsandcooking.blogspot.com/2021/07/partner.html

Balance and Proactiveness also relates to cooking. How?
- Balanced diet that incorporates all food groups
- Proactive preparation of the meals
- Related to cooking is health and with proper eating comes exercise. Balancing an exercise routine is different for every individual. I am not one to preach about exercise as I am still trying to get on that treadmill (but that is a Blog that I might get to at a later date).

It's not all about the cooking and the food but about the preparation of the food and the balance of what is being prepared.


Proactive Balance. Who knew we could gain such insights from two seemingly simple words?

Location: Montreal, QC, Canada

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