Tweet

Rapid Discontinuous Change

Written by: Dave Allan

Article Overview: Being a leader in today's Business Culture is not always easy. There is therefore an even greater need for leaders to understand the landscape of both the people they lead and the customers that they are trying to impact. If your organization isn't reflecting similar rhythms to the global market, then you are simply going to be left behind.

Rapid Discontinuous Change

Rapid Discontinuous Change
Being a leader in today's Business Culture is not always easy. There is therefore an even greater need for leaders to understand the landscape of both the people they lead and the customers that they are trying to impact. If your organization isn't reflecting similar rhythms to the global market, then you are simply going to be left behind.

One of the key roles of leadership today is to get and keep your finger on the pulse to the current trends. In order therefore to bring Maximum impact, to the team you lead, you must be prepared to be one step ahead and in a state of continuous growth. So let me share with you the meaning and impact of the trend of Rapid Discontinuous Change.

Rapid
This new phrase - Rapid Discontinuous Change (RDC) - is now being used to describe three unique trends happening in the West (and quickly affecting the rest of the world). The first needs little explanation. We all know that things are changing rapidly. Therefore, the first crucial thing that leaders need to embrace in order to be ahead of the global game is an attitude, which looks to change as the normal way of operating. It is all about attitude. Don't fight change, embrace it. Work with it as your ally. Attitude adjustments can be difficult to pull off, but not impossible and working with a good coach will increase your odds for success. it is amazing how much internal change (transitioning) can be achieved with just the right help.

The rapidness of which change has been occurring is now forcing Leaders to deal with unique generational styles of interpersonal behavior. Change between colleagues (and customers) in the workplace is vastly more different than in previous generations. If you ignore this, you will experience significant team conflict. You will also experience a disconnectedness with more and more of your customers. By the way, I have a professional assessment which will help you understand which generational influencing style you use (and it does not always correspond with age). So if you would like to know your style and how to better adjust or "flex" your natural approach with others, then just click this Professional Assessment Link . and read about it and order one for yourself.

Discontinuous
"Discontinuous" speaks of the fact that we no longer have an organizational approach to business where we can predict the future trends by looking back at the previous trends. In business it used to be that if we looked back ten years to the previous trends then we could "CONTINUE" to forecast that trend into the next 5 - 10 years. We would, therefore, develop our business plan based upon the past "slow continuous changes". The changes in the business world are now so rapid that our leadership styles have to be more adaptive. If we are to survive long term, we must be more emotionally intelligent (in tune) with our staff. colleagues, and customers. (If you would like to measure your emotional Intelligence click on this Assessments link to participate in an online assessment).

Each business needs to be more committed to conducting their own market research. Since the trends of customers are changing rapidly, it makes sense that we need to be getting their feedback more often in order to better market our goods and services to them. We need to discover, more accurately, how well we are reaching our customers and meeting their needs. If this is not a part of our strategic plan, then we have no hope of keeping up with and adjusting to the necessary cultural changes of our customers.

Change
Change is a dirty word for most of us. We all at some time hate to face certain types of change. Especially when it affects our comfort and status. If the truth be known, we don't really hate change - just the perceived loss that change may bring. For example, if I were to give you one million dollars it would change your life, and you would probably receive it with gladness.

Inevitably, in the workplace, we will have to adapt to meet the needs of our customers and/or shareholders. The trouble is if we don't deal with it in context to the needs of the whole of the organization (higher purpose) we will soon be out of a job. The trick is to remain flexible so that we don't see change as the enemy, but our friend to success.

If through our position at work we have the privilege to go through times of being comfortable and receiving positive status, it is human nature to try to hang onto it. The reality is that whatever current situation we are in now, will change. What we need to do is be very thankful that we have had a great experience of work (many never do) and hold onto it loosely. I am not talking about some type of "Fatalism" (we need to strive for the best outcomes), nor further acts of "Denial" (pretending like nothing is wrong). We need a healthy balance to be contributing to the things we can influence, and letting go quickly of the things we cannot change. The question is, "Will you react destructively to change that moves you out of a perceived advantage or respond constructively to it?" The difference between those two things, will make all the difference in your whole organization, your work colleagues, your personal life (stress levels), and your family.

Conclusion: RAPID DISCONTINUOUS CHANGE is currently the only constant and for now it is here to stay. It is not to be feared, neither is it to be ignored. It is to be navigated through and the more we recognize and adjust to the terrain the more effective we will be.

Related Articles
  What is an Adaptive Organization
  Change Ready Companies Experience Faster Success in Sales Development
  How do you create corporate values?
  Don't Quit Planning During Uncertain Times
  Who Has the D? Unclog Decision-Making Bottlenecks

Article Tags: acceptance, adjustment, generational, transitions



Related Forum Posts
Re: Spellcheck? - [quote="TheAnonymousMan":2f894q6j]When discussing the majority of people I would definitely say that most people hit the "Change" or "Ignore" button without thinking too much about the correct spelling of a word. All bosses are concerned about is getting the report to the Directors meeting on time.[/quote:2f894q6j] That probably depends on what the "majority" are trying to accomplish. I have word set to alert me about misspellings and grammatical problems, so I fix most as I go. But I also add names etc to the dictionary because I get tired of seeing the red and green squiggles when I know the info is right. If you're only going to click "Change" or "Ignore" then why bother to take the time to use spell check????? Business people that I work for want the info compiled in a timely manner and they want it right - which is fine because that's the way I strive to do any project. Sending out a memo, letter, report etc with obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes makes the person and the company look bad as far as I'm concerned. Shri
Re: e-Commerce and e-Payment providers - Hi GT It is only fairly recently that people in South Africa have been able to get full use of Paypal as we were only able at one time to make payments but not receive them. Fortunately this has now changed. I have received money through Global X Change for one of the affiliate programs that I promote and have found them pretty good as the money is normally transferred directly into my bank account within 2-3 days and I have not had any problems with them. MichelleJ
Re: Obama Wants Social Security for Illegals - [quote="Alan Mater":3kaa8sg4] Obama WILL make changes... but they're not the changes we as a country need or should look forward to.[/quote:3kaa8sg4] Sad but this is exactly how I feel about it. Change is coming - but unless I'm really wrong, it is not a change this country needs. Amazing how much a good speaker with a good speech writer can do. If you paid attention to the things he said "off script" - much of it is frightening. Chris
Are you an Opportunity Addict? - 1) if you find yourself saying yes without thinking about how it will affect your other priorities 2) you have over 10 projects/inventions going on at the same time and this seems normal to you 3) you have spent hundreds and thousands of dollars on manufacturing, prototypes, etc. not to mention thousands of hours of your time....but you havent followed through on any of it 4) most of your projects are falling behind or have completely fallen off your radar....which is fueling your frustration The first step in recovery is to recognize this as a pattern of self sabotage. If you are clear in what your overall goals and objectives are, you should be able to create a lens through which you measure opportunities. You create your life, and your to do list. Change, Add, Remove, Adjust time-lines - whatever you like. But remember that every piece of unfinished business - stays that way J
You are too young - I don't really believe (I've been into web designing for 7 years now... I started in 2000) there is any web design laws. Besides the fact that you can't use copyrighted images on web design without permission from the original author. Also, any web designs you do you may want to have it copyrighted so other's can't steal your idea's or whatever... of course, you can offer a "Copyright Change" option for a bit more money that will allow you to be able to transfer the copyrights and give exclusive rights to the purchaser. All in all, don't worry about the laws... you should be fine, just remember that if your in the U.S. that if your making over $400 (or maybe its $600) in revenue, you'll have to pay taxes to the government... and please get a LLC, although its not a big thing with web designs, you could get into legal trouble somewhere in the business. Lastly, use contracts for when your selling or use agreements to clear the air so that you can have a safe business and you'll have some backing up if you ever are taken to court.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How to Ask for a Flexible Work Arrangement

Fighting the Saw-Tooth Affect

Work Life Balance: Adding White Space

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.