There is one truth about change: It’s going to happen. Technology, consumer demand, globalization, competition, and the economy—all of these factors contribute to the need for every business to move with the times in order to survive. Companies that want to grow, have to change to remain viable and continue growing. That’s the very nature of growth—it brings about and demands change.
THE 7 STEPS TO NAVIGATING THE CHANGE MAZE:
- Accept That Change happens - Change in management, change in suppliers, change in hiring policy, change in communication, change in product or change in business strategy. Think about how many times you’ve already experienced change in your working life. Sometimes it’s welcome, sometimes it isn’t’.
- Anticipate change - Anticipating change is the beginning to managing change strategically. Fear typically keeps us in the dark when it comes to change.
- Monitor change - the next step to navigating the course toward change is to constantly monitor your business.
- Adapt to change quickly - Too often we wait too long, and change drives our businesses instead of us driving change.
- Change - At the end of the day we just have to buckle up and change or get left in the dust.
- Enjoy change - But why just do it when we could enjoy doing it? Change does not leave you with no power or control unless you let it.
- Be ready to change quickly and enjoy it again and again - As we stated at the beginning of this article, change is inevitable. Growth - whether it is personal, business or even biological - inspires change. So, if you intend on having a growing business, you have to be prepared for it. If you have accepted that change happens, anticipated the change, monitored it, adapted to previous changes well and enjoyed the adventure, you are well on your way to handling the next change and the next and the next