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Change Management

Written by: Bob Ready

Article Overview: People sometimes think that if you’ve been in the business world for ten plus years, you’ve got all the answers. You know what it takes to manage your employees, manage your financial accounts, and run your business smoothly. And while that very well may be the case, no business person can ever think their job is done. In fact, change management is one of the most important aspects to running a successful business.

Change Management

People sometimes think that if you’ve been in the business world for ten plus years, you’ve got all the answers. You know what it takes to manage your employees, manage your financial accounts, and run your business smoothly. And while that very well may be the case, no business person can ever think their job is done. In fact, change management is one of the most important aspects to running a successful business.

In any industry, every organization is going to experience change at one point down the road. It can be difficult and the initial impact can be devastating – that is, if you’re not prepared. Every company should have as one of its goals a commitment to being change-ready. That means being ready to respond to the ever-changing environment in which it finds itself. From new and stricter regulations to greater competition to even shareholder demands, changes are everywhere.

In order to adapt to these changes, companies must recognize that they are inevitable and not resist. Accepting and adapting to changes is far less costly and troublesome in the end than trying to keep the status quo, whatever that may be. I recommend trying to find the positive in any change as soon as possible. The more quickly you can accept a change, the smoother the transition will be.

Change management can be overwhelming if not done properly. Take stock of the types of changes affecting your organization. For instance, are the changes internal or external? Then, familiarize yourself with the new realities. Does your staff need training in a new computer software program? Do new teams need to be created? Figure out the new way of doing things and go with it.

It’s also a smart idea to focus on one change at a time. Changes can come at us in what seems like a rapid barrage. But even the most change-ready and flexible organization will have difficulty adapting to several changes at once. Don’t move on to the next change until you have conquered your last one. Take things one step at a time and the transition will be much smoother.

Finally, remember that all of the other employees are new to the changing situation as well. You might need to exercise patience with others as everybody updates themselves. Encourage them to ask productive questions instead of getting stressed. You may not have the answers to the “whys,” but you should be able to answer their “hows?” Focus on making it work instead of letting them succumb to the difficulties.

What change management all boils down to is never letting your company get too comfortable with the status quo. If change came once, it will inevitably come again. You may not like the idea of having to retrain all of your employees again in a few years, but chances are your competitors will be doing the same. By being change-ready, and open to that change, you will be giving your organization a head start above the rest.

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Article Tags: barrage, business person, business world, change management, computer software program, financial accounts, flexible organization, initial impact, job, new computer, new realities, running a successful business, shareholder, smart idea, staff need, step at a time, stock, time changes, transition



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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
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