Manage Change Like A Boss

 

Managing change is one of those topics that businesses constantly talk about how they need to do better. Many teams that I've been on knew they needed to change, but struggled to do so. Why? It seems easier to stay with what you know and what's working now. The comfort of the familiar wins over the fear of the unknown. That same fear also keeps you stuck in the past, bad habits never get corrected and you never get to the next level. 

1. Change is inevitable, stop fighting it. 
2. Once change has started, focus on the future, don’t complain about what you don’t have anymore. 
3. Things will change before you're ready, so get ahead of it and always be on the lookout for what's next.

The first thing to realize is that things will always change.  Change is inevitable, so stop fighting it.  Around the turn of the century the United states had more than 20 million horses or about 1 horse for every 5 people.  Just 50 years later, the population of horses had dropped to just 7 million while the population doubled.  We know that cars were the change that caused the decline of horses in the US and around the world.  There were people that fought the progress of the automobile.  Called them unsafe, foolish and unnecessary, but they couldn’t stop the change.  It was inevitable. 

The folks that embraced the automobile were able to focus on the future.  What they could do with cars and trucks to make their life, business and the world a better place.  Trips that took hours now took minutes.  Traveling could be done in a day instead of weeks.  Goods products and services could be delivered quickly and effectively from ports and train depots.  Those that held onto their horses couldn’t compete in this new world.  Those that clung to the past and focused on what they had lost instead of what they stood to gain were passed by by those who had focused on the future.  

Many times, you’re not ready for changes to occur.  Your company makes a sudden reorg, or a competitor introduces a product that is poised to take the market by store.  This happens when you’re focused on what you have.  Always work assuming that what you have today is temporary and that you must look forward to the future.  Wayne Geretzky, the greatest hockey player of all time, was quoted to have said he was taught “Always skate to where the puck is going, not to where it’s been.”  Simple advice that will help you focus on where you’re going and leave the baggage of the past behind you.  

Remember the 3 steps to managing change: 

1. Change is inevitable, stop fighting it. 
2. Once change has started, focus on the future, don’t complain about what you don’t have anymore. 
3. Things will change before you’re ready, so get ahead of it and always be on the lookout for what’s next.