23 Jan 3 Quick Steps to Manage Change
3 Steve Jobs once said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards”.
Understanding change and uncertainty and being able to meaningfully observe the Change increases our ability to adapt suitably to change.
Sudden changes are dramatic, but…
Slow change occurs insidiously and can present some real challenges.
We have to identify the change type, and then we can measure it and respond. As managers and leaders, we are often trained in and talk about change and its management. We learn the methods for change, and then we observe and experience change constantly. From the perspective of our organisations, change is often the difference between where we are now to where we want to be at some future point.
Slow Change
I often describe customers who have changed their behaviour in the last 10-15 years. How they buy, research potential products, services and providers, provide advocacy etc. is something we can measure.
Customers have changed their behaviours, but this change was slow. It took time. Customer behavioural changes have and is being triggered by events that instantly changed the world. An example is the release of the iPhone in 2007. Prior to that we had Blackberry’s and computers previously – but for instant messaging? The iPhone gave us personal computing capability in our pockets and and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth enabled this capability anywhere effortlessly.
This sudden change facilitated unprecedented access to information. That event in 2007 changed the world. But the following customer behaviour changed slowly.
And yet, as the proof of a slow – and now profound – change in customer behaviour abounds, most businesses stubbornly use outdated business models that were designed for a different era—product-centric business models rather than business models that respect how the customer has changed. We can help you with continuous and slow change.
Most organisations are looking at their customer’s world from inside their boundaries out towards the customer, rather than taking the customer’s perspective, looking in.
Sudden Change
In a sudden change organisations and people are forced perhaps even kicking and screaming! The Global Covid Pandemic has had a huge impact and changes upon productivity.
Digital transformations that were previously hamstrung in bureaucracy suddenly were a primary focus and many ICT projects got done. Employers reluctant to let people work from home (often due to a perceived lack of oversight) have been thrilled to continue the work happening with people at home. Result!
We have now also experienced the value of online meetings, conferencing and workshops previously we felt it had to be done face to face. Suddenly, our work-life-balance was significantly improved for a large portion of the workforce.
It required a sudden impact to bring about this much Change to be realised and the fear of the Change to be overcome.
Observing changes: 3 Steps
Finding meaningful measures such as XmR Charts will always help us find more evidence-based ways of observing when a change has occurred.
XmR charts have been the tool of choice for serious performance improvement practitioners for the best part of a hundred years. They are also the tool of choice for PuMP® Practitioners because this style of statistical process control chart helps achieve three very important things:
- Firstly it allows an organisation to understand the natural variation in performance measure, which in turn helps us to not react to what we think is a change which is really just part of normal variation.
- Secondly they allow us to observe genuinely when a change has taken place, and
- Thirdly, they facilitate a process of deliberate target setting. By measuring first what performance is doing, and then when we have determined we want to change a level of performance, we can set targets either on the central line, or on the reduction of the upper and lower natural process limits. In other words, setting a target on the reduction of natural variation.
Observing the Change objectively allows us to be better informed about it, and hopefully make better decisions from that informed perspective.
We have been helping organisations change since 2003 and we do it well. But don’t take our word for it, be sure to call and we would be glad to have you speak to one of our customers – and have them tell you how we do it better.
We can help – with insight and hands-on expertise
Shifting your business or operations into top gear and unlocking the potential of digital technology requires change managed by right sized methodologies and frameworks.
