Change management – change is a process, not an event. Part I

“It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, it is the most adaptable to change” – C Darwin

Fear of change makes you delve in mediocrity. I remember in the days I in sales in the construction materials industry, offering specialized and innovative solutions to constructors, the main problem was not always the fact that my products were the most expensive. It was actually this type of attitude: “we have a solution for this, we use it for 20 years now and it works’. Sometimes I didn’t even have the chance to bring arguments into the discussion, the people in front of me were so reluctant to change that they became defensive and close all talks after just our hellos. But in the end, change is a natural event, in nature, life or business you have to adapt, “it’s easiest to ride a horse in the direction it is going” so learn to manage and use the change in your advantage.

Since I started my professional career in 2003 I had more than 10 jobs, some better and some worse, I faced changes inside those companies and I faced changes inside me and the solution was always to do the best you can to adapt and if not possible find a new challenge. Maya Angelou once said “If you don’t like something change it, if you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.” When you are in the middle of a changing environment you have your own changes and choices to make. And if the changes you don’t control are not to your liking you have to change something about yourself.

Lately I see so many people making big changes in their personal lives. They turn vegan and eliminate meat and processed foods form their diet, they start working out and jogging. Some go as far as becoming marathon and ultra-marathon champions, as in the case of Andrei Rosu, and in the meantime become also role models and influence the lives of others. These changes, at personal level can be translated also in your business or work environment but it seems much harder to change professionally than personally. The motivation in business looks like it is harder to find.

Moving from point A to point B in your change process (where A is Current State and B Future State) can be more successful following the five key goals of the ADKAR^® model:

Awareness of the need for change. You have to be sure you need change, don’t change for change sake. Get for example a child, when you try and change his behavior or patterns you need to make him understand. He will ask you a million questions and will only accept to change when he is good and ready. We already spoke about your business as being your child in previous articles; the only difference is you are the voice of your business. You have to ask those questions in order to be 100% aware of the need to change. After you become aware of the real need for change you will also be more open to change and accept it easier.

Desire to participate and support the change. Desire to participate is conditioned by the expected outcome, that has to be beneficial. Going back to the personal changes, working out will improve your health so this is a desirable outcome and the change will be easier to start. In the business area change will bring better profits, improved communication or happier clients and I believe these are good reason to stimulate desire. Sometimes negative consequences prove to be a better motivation factor, because we respond better to threats and perils. But in both case, positive or negative, the consequences have to be great enough in order to overcome resistance to change.

Knowledge on how to change. If there is need and desire you also have to know how to change. This is an important moment because we don’t always have the knowledge to change so we should all be honest to each other and ask for help from someone that already did that a couple of times. If you want to change your diet ask a nutritionist or doctor. In the case of your business, unless you have experience in writing code, don’t build your own website. The alternative to asking for help is giving you time to learn the required skills for the change. Attend training programs which have as subject developing the skills you require.

Ability to implement the required skills and behaviors. This is the part where you transform need, desire and knowledge into a habit. If this ability lacks you need to do it step by step. Work daily and constantly because change takes time to integrate into the existing mechanism. At this stage we are talking about the process and not about the action you take. Sometimes at this stage outside support is required, coaching or mentoring session might help you accept change easier.

Reinforcement to sustain the change. In the beginning change is accepted easier due to enthusiasm and excitement. Imagine when you first started going to the gym, it was a great feeling, but after a while you started looking for reasons to procrastinate. A new strategy in sales for example will not bring the desired results as quick as you might want them or the social media approach might not double the number of visitors in the first month on your web site and this could be frustrating. You just have to remind yourself and all those involved the rewards waiting at the finish line. Go through the process and look at the big picture not just at different stages on the way.

The second part of this article will be published next week and we will be looking at the principles of change management, guidelines that help you implement better and easier the changes you discovered your business needs.