Change for changes sake is nonsense. We come across both extremes of this, the company or business where the leadership appear to be continuously reinventing themselves with the next “movie of the month” and then on the other end of the scale you have businesses whose idea of change is measured by glacial erosion, you know the ones.
Before I go off a rant, the only reason you should even consider implementing a change program in your business is if it benefits your profits and your customer. Often the motivation of change is driven or demanded by your customers. Other drivers can be opportunistic, you spot a new technology, you see a move by your competitors and you counteract. Maybe you’re not growing at the rate you want.
Whatever the reason for looking at a change program you should consider the following crucial elements:
– What do you want as the outcome and is it worth the journey?
– Will the end game be worth it, for you and your customer?
– What are the costs and how long will it take?
– How will you bring your employees/team with you on the journey?
You will know that something in your business needs to change when you see elevated levels of stress, people working monster hours over an extended period of time, customers complaining about your product or service. If you see these symptoms don’t ignore them, they won’t go away until you do something about them.