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To be change-averse in current times is seen as a hindrance to progress. We are constantly encouraged to embrace the new, to adapt and to engage with emerging technologies, to choose faster ways of doing business and communicating. It\u2019s an attitude that appears in every part of our lives \u2013 from the latest thinking on weight loss to the latest way to educate our children. Let\u2019s scrap the diesel engine and switch to a hybrid. Let\u2019s abandon our vinyl collections, then abandon our CDs and stream. If you don\u2019t change, you\u2019re branded a dinosaur and you\u2019re going to go extinct.<\/p>\n
The pressure is on, but that doesn\u2019t stop people being change-averse, and there are some very good reasons why it makes sense to adopt a cautious approach. Frost and Sullivan is a leading US-based market research business. They\u2019ve published figures that are sobering:<\/p>\n
Only 1 in 100 new products recoups its development costs
\nOver half of all new products fall short of the company\u2019s expectations at launch
\nOnly 1 in 300 new products either changes customer behaviour, their product sector or their company\u2019s growth. This means that all those wonderful new ideas we\u2019re working with sit atop a whole heap of failed initiatives and products that never gained a foothold. That\u2019s not to say the failures were without merit. Many of us remember the race for supremacy in the home video recorder market. Betamax is still widely regarded as the better product, but it was VHS that won the battle.<\/p>\n
Change is always going to incur an element of risk but doing nothing isn\u2019t an option. If you want to make progress you need to disrupt the tried and tested and work towards something new. It\u2019s essential to have a growth mindset and part of that is realising that failures and mistakes are a learning opportunity. Yes, they can be costly, but nowhere near as costly as letting a business go under as the market moves on.<\/p>\n
Knowing when to change isn\u2019t easy. Professional athletes often take time out after a major championship to focus on changing an element of their technique or recovery strategy so that they\u2019re in great shape coming into the next big event, but businesses rarely have the luxury of a fixed calendar and a ready audience. \u00a0For example, there might be a trade event where you plan to launch a product. You might be ready, but the market isn\u2019t. Consumers aren\u2019t willing to buy yet \u2013 or at least not in the volumes you\u2019d hoped.<\/p>\n
Preparing to change is about far more than agreeing on a budget, setting targets and making a timebound plan. Understanding your position, the sector and your customer is vital. And although that might sound simple \u2013 some research, a few meetings \u2013 it isn\u2019t. It\u2019s not simple because it demands a level of introspection that many organisations find difficult. Managers can be too focused on projecting a positive attitude and meeting their commitments, and the honest and frank appraisal of the company\u2019s position and preparedness is ignored.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re indebted to Peter Knight of the Property Academy for both highlighting the Frost and Sullivan results we mentioned earlier and for putting together a series of questions that any business contemplating a change should be asking itself. Here\u2019s a summary of some of the key points.<\/p>\n
Think about the last few changes you\u2019ve made. We\u2019re talking about the significant things, not the tweaks. Anything in the recent past? If not \u2013 this is a rapidly changing world \u2013 does that hint at a certain reluctance to change?<\/p>\n
Ask yourself how you react when a task becomes tricky. Do you park it or walk away? Change is always difficult and often in the areas you expect it to be easy. Have you got the ability and desire to see a change through?<\/p>\n
Do you understand your customers? Do they want something new and if so, do they want it from you? Customers change suppliers more readily than ever before. Can you ensure the change you\u2019re planning will give them a better experience or will teething troubles drive them away?<\/p>\n
Do you have the knowledge you need to make the right choices? Do you carry out enough research or are your decisions influenced by the actions of others?<\/p>\n
These aren\u2019t easy questions to answer, but they are necessary. They are, if you like, a steadying hand for any business planning a change. When you start to look at something new, it\u2019s tempting to go after it and to move fast, to throw resources at it and force a result. If you don\u2019t adopt a steady approach, that result might be the wrong one.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m Sim Sekhon, MD of a business that\u2019s operating in a market that\u2019s seen huge amounts of change in recent times and which will continue to do so. My approach is simple: be open to change, be ready when the time is right, steady the ship, then go for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To be change-averse in current times is seen as a hindrance to progress. We are constantly encouraged to embrace the new, to adapt and to engage with emerging technologies, to choose faster ways of doing business and communicating. It\u2019s an attitude that appears in every part of our lives \u2013 from the latest thinking on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n