Posts Tagged ‘Change’

In the fast moving world of business, it can sometimes feel to employees that they are on a conveyor belt, simply waiting for the next initiative to come along. While organisations need to be alert to the need to change things, there is a danger that this can turn into initiative overload. So how can you avoid this?

Get Clear On Priorities

• A year is a very short period in the life of a business. In my view, businesses realistically need to be thinking about the direction of travel in terms of 3 to 5 year horizons.

  To move forward over this time horizon, it’s essential to get crystal clear about what is and what’s not priority. Armed with this you have a basis for validating proposed initiatives against your agreed priorities.

Prioritise Your Initiatives

• Of course all of your initiatives are likely to have some benefits. At the same time you want to avoid ending up with a bundle of resource intensive but low impact or low return initiatives. Look out for initiatives that are low to medium in resource need but have the potential to make big differences.

Look Out For The Tell Tale Signs

• If you notice that people are run ragged doing lots of stuff and this is not translating in terms of results or satisfaction, the chances are you are overloaded. This is the time to re-assess and re-prioritise.

The Bottom Line: Organisations do need to stay ahead of the pack. At the same time, initiative overload can easily result in a lot of effort and little in the way of results.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. You can sign up for his free audio e-course leadership success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

With the massive gap in public finances, the public sector is facing up to the period of expenditure reductions. This will without doubt require many changes to be made if the economy is to get into a solid footing again. So what lessons should leaders in the public sector bear in mind when it comes to making change?

1. Others don’t see it as important

   It is fine for those at the top of the organisation to talk about the challenges and possible actions. Yet, if they are to happen, sufficient numbers at different levels need to see the importance of making change.

2. People are not equipped to deal with change

   When I worked in the public sector, either as an employee or as a consultant, I came across many people who cared passionately about what they did. They were great within their area but had never received any training in the area of change. If you are going to deliver success through a change initiative, you need to equip people to make it happen.

3. They don’t paint a picture

   I don’t mean this literally but, if you want to get people to buy in to any sort of change, you need to clearly show what’s going to be different from the present.

4. They fix things but don’t change hearts and minds

   Changes to processes and practices might require some effort but essentially they can be done. Changing hearts and minds so that people accept the new way rather than harping back about the good old days is the real challenge.

The Bottom Line

Change brings with it fear, anxiety and a desire to hold on to things even if they are not great. The challenge for the leader is to make the change compelling enough to people who can make it happen.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

1. Commitment

If anything is going to change, there must be commitment at all levels. The top team need to be clear on the need for the change, buy into it and be committed to helping others achieve it.

2. Communication

When employees are not clear what is happening, they start to speculate, make their own judgements and choices. A clear and effective communication strategy is one of the essential cornerstones of any change.

3. Realism

Successful change is grounded in realism. Take for example two organisations that are facing significant financial challenges. The CEO of A PLC states that it will take three years to turn things round. The CEO of B PLC states that everything will be fixed in 9 months. If you are a shareholder, analyst, employee, supplier or customer, which organisation are you most likely to get behind?

4. Defined Outcome

Any organisation that wants to make a successful change needs to be clear on where it is heading and what it will be like when the change has been completed.

5. Clear Accountability

The fifth essential ingredient in successful change is make sure that everyone know what they are responsible for and that there is a clear process that holds people to account for what they have achieved.

What else would you add to the list?

Imagine you have just been brought into an organisation with the specific goal of making a step change in the performance of the organisation or a specific team, function or project.   Chances are that people around the organisation will be thinking that you are superman or superwoman and that you have some magic wand that is going to fix everything.  The reality, as you know is somewhat different.  So what is it important to do to manage expectations?

Be Totally Honest

Any situation that requires a step change in performance is not going to be something small.  As a result it is important that you are totally honest with people about the size of the challenge and that there is no magic bullet.  Get clear on your message and stick to it.  Make sure that others in your leadership team are clear on the message and stick to it.

Set Realistic Timescales

One of the temptations is to promise timescales that are neither plausible nor achievable.  The best leaders recognise this and set themselves timescales that are going to be seen as others as realistic and position them as totally grounded.  When they are seen as realistic and grounded it builds trust and confidence in them.  This can be particularly useful when it comes to handling media expectations.

Communicate Regularly

It is no use just communicating the vision and then thinking that the communication is done.  This should be the start of a rolling programme of communication that keeps people up to date with the progress and achievements.

Avoid Promises

If you have a situation where you are having to cut costs in order to achieve the step change in performance, employees and their representatives might be looking for promises around job losses.  As the leader you must resist the temptation to avoid making promises that you cannot keep.

Bottom Line – If you are a leader who is tasked with making a step change in performance, managing expectations is a key pillar in your success.  So what do you need to do differently to manage expectations?

e all know that change is happening all of the time.  Yet when it is a change that is related to our career or business, it takes on a whole new perspective.  We might see it as an opportunity, we might see it as a threat and we might even see it as a combination of opportunity and threat.

When faced with a change, it is all too easy to become paralysed by it.  If we are not careful it can lead to illness and stress.  Given this, how can we embrace change?

1. Accept it

This is the first vital step in embracing change.  We all have had times in our life when it was difficult to accept change at the time even though we know it will work out fine in the long run.  I still remember being called into the office of our newly appointed CEO and being advised that I was not part of the plans going forward.  Was I slightly disappointed at the time, yes I was, but at the same time knew resisting it was not going to help the situation.

2. Recognise your successes

I have always found that sitting and writing down all of your achievements is a powerful thing to do when you are facing a change.  For me it does two things.  It allows you to celebrate what you have done and at the same time opens the mind to things you still want to achieve.

3. Look forward

It is the easiest thing in the world to keep looking back and questioning yourself.  While it is useful to reflect on what you have learned, you don’t want to get stuck in the treacle.  Ask yourself what’s next and start moving towards it.

4. See it as a new beginning

We have all probably heard the phrase as one door closes another opens.  In terms of change, I believe that this is a really powerful metaphor.  Change is the next step in the journey, so embrace it and grab the new opportunity.

Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that change is difficult or requires some special skills which you might not have.  In reality, we are dealing with change every day.  The weather, how we are feeling, new food in a different restaurant, visiting new places are just a few examples.  The next time you are faced with a major change, ask yourself the following questions:

What are you resisting?
Why are you resisting?
What are you afraid of?
What is the cost to me of not changing?
What benefits are there?
What would I need to do to make the change?
What is the first step I could take?

So what gets in the way of you making change?

Whatever organisation you are working in right now, there is likely to be some form of change happening. You might be:

• Restructuring
• Acquiring another business
• Cutting numbers of staff
• Implementing new working practices

Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that change is difficult or requires some special skills which you might not have. 

In reality, we are dealing with change every day.  The weather, how we are feeling, new food in a different restaurant, visiting new places are just a few examples.  The next time you are faced with a major change, ask yourself the following questions:

What are you resisting?
Why are you resisting?
What are you afraid of?
What is the cost to me of not changing?
What benefits are there of changing?
What would I need to do to make the change?
What is the first step I could take?

Contrary to what we all think we are much more ready and able to make change than we believe.  So what’s the first step for you?

Those in leadership positions will sooner or later have to deal with change on a significant scale.  It is claimed that as few as 3 in every 10 changes maintain momentum beyond the initial phase of enthusiasm.  So what 3 key roles must change leaders master?

Clarity of Vision

Leaders need to be able to create a compelling vision of what things will be like once the change has been made.  It sounds like it is something that is really easy to do but in truth it is incredibly challenging.  As a leader of change you need to be able to recognise when change is needed and then get a crystal clear view of what you need to create to give your function or business the edge.

Communication

Communication is often regarded as talking and writing and less so about listening.  Leaders when faced with change need to be masters in all three of these areas. They may need to present their vision to a Board, which will require them to articulate it clearly.  They will also need to listen to the concerns and re-assure.  Once they have top level support, the message needs to get passed through the organisation and concerns need to be heard and responded to.

Empowering others

The leader cannot do everything on their own without the help of many others.  The leader has the challenging role of empowering others while at the same time making sure that the change moves in the desired direction and delivers the expected results.  As part of the empowerment, a framework needs to be developed to check on progress and ensure that all of the constituent parts in the process are functioning as they should.

Change is a challenge and leaders have a key role to play in delivering sustainable change in the fast moving and demanding business environment.

As human beings we all have amazing potential.  Sadly over time many of us end up in a position where we get into a rut and a whole batch of our potential lies dormant. 

The question is do you want to be one of the 5% who do something about it?  In my experience, there are 10 keys to start the process of maximising your potential.

1. Take Responsibility

The first key is to take full responsibility for what does or does not happen.  Yes it is easy to produce a list of reasons why you are not doing as well as you would like professionally, personally, financial and in relationships.  Trouble is when you look for external circumstances to justify, all you do is keep yourself stuck

2. Get Clear on What You Want

You really have to choices here.  In first scenario, you can choose to muddle along in the fog and hope that you reach the right destination.  Alternatively, you can get clear on what you want and set specific goals to get the outcome you desire.

3. Believe In Yourself

Yes we all have our doubts and worries about ourselves.  This can either act as a motivator or disempower us.  Believing in yourself is not about being big headed, cocky or brash.  It is about being courageous and willing to do something to move yourself forward.  Whatever you do, don’t let fear be your marketing manager.

4. Believe In Your Product or Service

Whether you are single person business or a leader of a team, department, division or even a whole organisation, you need to believe in the products and services you offer.  Even in functional areas of a business like Accounting, you are providing a service.  You need to believe in that service and the benefits derived.

5. Set Targets and Milestones

Targets and milestones have three major benefits.  Firstly they let you see the progress that you are making.  Secondly they act as a source of motivation to keep you going.  Thirdly they provide the basis for taking corrective action if things are not going quite as you expected.

6. Act, Act, Act

The best laid plans are worthless unless you are willing to take regular and consistent action to make things happen.  Visualising, being open to receiving and aiming high is fantastic but if it is not supported by action it is like building a house on egg shells.

7. View Change Positively

Things are always changing.  What matters is how you respond to it.  People who are learners get curious and start to explore the possibilities.  The alternative is to stand on the platform when the train has already left the station and expect to get somewhere.

8. Focus On What You Do Best

Let’s face it we all like to think that we can do everything and I guess we all have fallen into that trap at one point or the other.  The truth is we all need to find out what we do best, focus all of our energies on those areas and get someone else to look after those things we don’t do so well.

9. Continually Develop

We all know how easy it is to focus on what we have to do now and forget about developing ourselves.  This is this fast road to staying exactly where you are right now for the long term. Decide to invest in yourself in whatever way works best for you, but do not rest on your laurels.

10. Give Yourself Permission

Give yourself permission to try things and occasionally get it horribly wrong.  By giving yourself that permission, you will take risks and that is what leads to results.

Through some simple steps, you can start unlocking your potential.  So where are you going to start?

Change is part and parcel of life in business these days and many change projects arise out of the need to turn around financial problems.  A business might be facing problems making a profit or liquidity problems around servicing borrowings that it has made to name just a few.  So what common mistakes do people make when it comes to financial turnaround projects?

Mistake 1:  Seeing it as something for the accountants

Yes accountants have an important role to play in financial management in organisations but the reality is that they spend very little of the organisation’s money.  Often when faced with financial problems, non financial managers see it as something to be dealt with by accountants rather than by the whole organisation.

Solution: Start seeing financial turnaround projects as business change projects.

Mistake 2: Trying to rely on quick fixes

Quick fixes such as short term cuts in expenditure or deferring something are clearly important to stop the rot but they are not the route to sustained turnaround of performance.  Think about it, if you had a deep cut that needed stitching to heal properly, you would not merely cover the wound with a plaster or bandage.  You would look for the best long term solution.

Solution:  Use quick fixes as the start point not the end point of financial turnaround.

Mistake 3: Deck chair shuffling

By the term deck chair shuffling, I mean making the easy changes without ever tackling the real issues that are getting in the way of performance. It is easy to delude yourself that you are making a change when in reality all you are doing is making surface level changes within the comfort zone.

Solution:  Make a commitment to keep deck chair shuffling to a minimum and focus energies on the real issues that need tackling, even if they are uncomfortable.

Mistake 4: Short term focus

Anyone can grab the low hanging fruit and achieve short term improvement.  Trouble is that it is only a matter of time before the same problems arise again and the organisation finds itself in a worse position than it already was in.

Solution:  When faced with a turnaround and change situation focus on creating long term sustainable change.

Mistake 5:  Failing to give people enough time

When organisations are facing challenges, it is all too easy to remove the current senior team, bring in the new people and expect them to deliver miracles overnight.  Change, other than that of a short term quick fix strategies takes time. 

Solution:  Give senior people sufficient time to make sustainable change.

Sustainable change is not something that happens overnight.  By avoiding these five common mistakes you can greatly increase the chances of achieving financial turnaround and achieving sustainable change.