Change is inevitable and can be scary, but perhaps not as scary as staying the same forever. Whether it’s in our business or personal lives, things are always in a constant state of movement.
As we begin a new year, many of us make personal resolutions – to lose weight, exercise, stop smoking, or save more money. Many companies do the same thing, but they call them
business plans – to increase sales, improve customer service, launch a new product, or get more involved in their community.
The problem with both resolutions and business plans is that they usually require an attitudinal shift, one that many of us as individuals or as organizations are unprepared to make. To say
you want to save more money sounds great, and the results of building wealth are enticing, but the sacrifices necessary to accomplish this are oftentimes where the plan falls apart.
The same thing happens in organizations. We say, for example, we want to increase revenue in the New Year. Do we know specifically how this will happen? Is the goal realistic? Does our company have the capacity to deliver? Does our team share our ambition to grow? Do they see this as opportunity or simply more work?
I speak to business owners, executives, and staff members at all levels of an organization every day, and one constant theme I observe is a sense of too much work and too little time. While technology is supposed to make operations more efficient, the constant changes in systems, apps, upgrades and options coupled with the 24/7 access to information and each other overwhelms many of us.
As business leaders, it is our responsibility to navigate our respective organizations through this never-ending sea of change because we understand success doesn’t just happen by chance; it happens by change.
Josh Field, publisher