You need to change, but don’t know how!
“change is the only constant in life.” Heraclitus once said.
How very true! We all face change, every day.
Some fun change, like the weather! You never know what delights are in store, other change is more challenging, like changes required to grow your business or move you from a current chaotic state to a state of productive performance.
Taking control of dealing with change is key. Being able to consistently deliver against changing customer and employee needs. Being ahead of change required to ensure your operation is efficient and maximising its resources, has simple, effective, ways of working that are optimal. Implementing and embedding change that enables you to feel confident that you are proactively moving your business forward is a priority.
Being aware of the need to change, understanding it and having the skill and capability to respond to change, whilst avoiding disruption in the day to day, is important. Being confident you have exactly what you need, when you need it, to compete in today’s challenging, diverse change landscape, is a competitor advantage.
For some, change is exhilarating, full of possibility, an opportunity to challenge the status quo, to feel liberated that they can make improvements to move their business forward, with ease. For others, change is full of chaos and can be overwhelming, in some instances an outcome of a current crisis. In these situations, change can cause a state of flux.
Either way, the great thing is you are aware; you are acknowledging that a change is required. You understand change is needed which opens the next step of moving forward.
Whether the change is something small or something more significant, the below simple steps help you to get clear on how to tackle any change. Further developing these practices and integrating them into everyday life comes later. But you can make a start now.
If you know you need to change, but don’t know how, here are a few things to think about in terms of questions and process for you to get clear on as a start:
1) Why is there a need for change? Keep asking yourself this question so that the ‘what’ becomes even clearer. Do you know enough about the actual situation and or issue that you are trying to address? Is there really a need to change? What are the facts surrounding the change required? What is the specific outcome being sought? What’s working – keep, what’s not – change. The for and against change arguments are interesting to reflect on.
2) What – is the required change ? What is the ‘rationale’ for change? Is there a valid reason? What is the root cause of the need for change? What are you trying to make different? What is the potential change plan? What are the considerations you need to think about? What are the costs and or resources involved? If you don’t change, what does that mean for you, your business? What are the implications for the change?
3) Who is impacted by the change? Who do you need to get involved to understand the situation more broadly and support the change requirement? Especially if the change is significant feeling confident that you have all the facts is important. Investing time getting clear and hearing other perspectives is important. But, be careful, how much discussion is enough? It’s good to have a rounded view but always keep in mind the reason why you started to delve into a change-thought in the first instance, the why. Be careful not to get caught in FEAR of change (False Evidence Appearing Real) stick to the facts.
4) How & When will you go about implementing the change plan? Who will be involved? How will you communicate about the change? Who will communicate about the change? To who? When? How will you monitor and track progress? how will you measure success? Keeping on track of the change progress pre, during and post implementation is important to a successful change. How will you embed the change in the short, mid and longer term? What resources will you need? When? How do you know that everything and everyone are ready to change?
5) After action review – Take time to reflect on the change programme. What worked? What did not? What would you do differently next time? Learning from the process is invaluable. Creating a blueprint, a method to evolve, instil for the future will create a confidence that this is how we deploy change, grow, learn, evolve and embed change. Developing skills and capabilities in these areas is helpful to build behaviour that supports continuous evolution.
Change can feel different for different people depending on the significance of the change and contributing factors such as how much you have been involved in the conversation on the run up to the change, personal circumstance, where you are in your mindset, the support you have around you, competing priorities etc. Free flowing communication in any change is key.
In an ever-changing landscape, how brilliant it is to always have an eye on possibilities, operating from a place where conversation around challenging the status quo and having a method to change quickly, pivot and action change at pace is the norm. Embracing possibilities, without negative disruption, and moving your business forward.
If you need some help to get you started in creating a clear path for your change, let’s have a virtual cuppa to see how I can help you unlock the power of your people.
