Understanding the importance of Workplace change

Implementing change has a polarising effect on any business. Calmly acceptance uncertainly can be difficult. Not everyone adapts well to workplace change. Many ignore new ideas or rebel against them. Galvanising your team to approach change collectively trumps all other tasks as a Business Owner. 

Take a minute to think about this formula for change.

Effective change requires four equally essential drivers.

Critical drivers of change: dissatisfaction. 

Dissatisfaction can come in many forms and elicit complex feelings of frustration, anger, and helplessness. And that’s perfectly okay. Why? Because it shows that you care about the business. What’s not okay is letting your discontent fester.

Grab a piece of paper and write a list of what you are dissatisfied with within your business. 

Here are five that I hear often:

I’m sure you can add specific issues to this list.

Dissatisfaction left unresolved will inevitably leave you mentally exhausted and ready to quit. The longer you leave it, the harder it is to rectify. 

Critical drivers of change: vision. 

Vision is best described as what you want to achieve from your business. What would you like to happen now and in the future? Perhaps you started with this vision years ago, which has slipped away almost silently. You now focus on day-to-day problem–solving and forever seem to be running into issues that demand your time.

Take a few minutes and write down an outline of your vision for the business.

How different is the vision you wrote down from your dreams when starting your business? Are you now thinking bigger or settling for less?

I’d encourage you to hang that piece of paper next to your computer and read it a few times daily for a week. This exercise will stir emotions and future thoughts. Are you dreaming of an expanded vision?

Can you be helped?

Go back to the formula and see that the (D*V) section is in parentheses. It may be a while since you did equations at school (it certainly is for me), but if you can remember back then if one of these two variables equals zero, the whole equation is zero. Okay, enough of the boring maths, but here is the point.

If either your dissatisfaction or vision is zero, I can’t help you. 

I’ve spent countless hours with business owners who have an innate ability to complain. Nothing was their fault, and the world was against them. Truthfully, we all feel that way at times. The point is that without notable dissatisfaction and a vision for the future, you will never change and can’t be helped.

Critical drivers of change: action. 

Next, the F stands for the first steps you will take. Thinking about change is not enough; you must put those thoughts into action. Brainstorm some ideas right now and make a list of the next steps. How will you implement these steps over the next week or month? How will you hold yourself accountable to get it done?

Critical drives of change: resistance. 

Finally, the formula states that your dissatisfaction, vision, and action must be greater than resistance. 

Resistance is best described as doing what we have always done. Most business owners faced with a challenge take the easier path. The same old thinking (even though you are comfortable with it) will produce the same old results. Surely you don’t want that! You must think outside your comfort zone, be more open-minded and apply new thinking to change.

You can be blind to change, even when staring you in the face. When you are busy concentrating on one thing, you simply tune out vast amounts of other information that your brain cannot deal with at that time.

Don’t put off important decisions, and don’t worry about your past mistakes. Just keep focusing on what is best for you and the business. Many factors drive change, consumers, competitors, innovation, technology, and expectations, none of which you have control over despite a want to do so.

If you’re not heading towards your vision, it’s time to change.

Business is a journey driven by the choices you make. Change in all forms will appear around every corner. Learn to embrace it, and don’t waste energy fighting the inevitable.

Your next decision may be guided by your vision, dissatisfaction, or resistance. Which will you choose?

Your efforts to change may fail. It was not because the change was complex or unwarranted but because we didn’t communicate your vision. Poor communication led to a misalignment of expectations. Negative attitudes from your team or your clients obliterate the opportunity and render change useless.

If change is necessary, and I guarantee it’s overdue in one or more aspects of your business, then focus on how you will communicate change. Work through the steps, engage other people’s opinions, and tell everyone that matters once you have decided what you will do. Let them hear it from you, not another team member, absolutely not a supplier or client, just you. Create a communication plan that informs, supports, and guides change. Don’t make an initial announcement without a plan to communicate further down the track. People’s attention spans are limited, stuff happens, and your cleverly devised plan becomes chaos before you know it. Change didn’t fail. You did!

Start with why. Why can’t the status quo continue, and is it necessary to change now? The status quo is commonly enshrined in a curious mix of beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviours. Messing with the norm is risky without first understanding the history and politics of its acceptance. Change, for change’s sake, won’t fly without a fundamental understanding of the benefits of doing it differently.

Ask questions and search for the truth. Why do your team or clients accept and trust the status quo? You may encounter serious resistance until you know. How you will sell the change.

Change, when poorly presented, often represents a perceived loss. In my experience, rarely do owners want to punish their teams. They want to make the process more productive. You need buy-in from influences who will support your decision to do so. This requires an investment in time and a willingness to be flexible during the change period. “We are all in this together” must be the mantle. 

Change exposes people’s attitudes to work. If you are continuously butting heads, being challenged and roadblocked, then it may well be that some of your people are not willing to grow. It happens all the time. People you employed years ago may well have reached their capacity. This can be a confusing, gut-wrenching realisation. Management inaction in these situations is cancerous. Waiting, hoping you can change behaviour, is often the preferred management method. Rarely does it work out. Time won’t fix poor attitudes or an unwillingness to adapt. Their attitude negatively impacts other team members, and silently, your best people start wondering if it’s time to move on.

Are you consciously aware of these situations? Then, act appropriately. Spend time understanding the person’s situation. Why are they struggling with the change? Is there a reasonably easy fix, or is it better for everyone if they move on? Yes, this might sound harsh, but I’m trying to condense issues that have disrupted businesses I’ve coached for over a year into a few words.

Be prepared to have those crucial conversations that change creates within a reasonable time.

When the time comes that you fear the future more than cherish the opportunity it represents, then you know change is close. It’s time to seek personal clarity that focuses on the purpose and direction of your business. Select one issue and work on it. Don’t open up change on multiple fronts and expect to be able to handle them all. Change is often a succession of small steps (please make them bite-size). Have one clear goal and a set of action steps to successfully implement change.