It is not what you look at, but what you see

 

Technology is part of our lives and continues to play a central role in creating a healthy business. Therefore, pouring hours into producing outputs manually is no longer modern and it does not fit with our need to deliver on the demands that come with business.

 

As we ponder over who is responsible for the change that needs to occur and how we do something about it, we need to look at ourselves. We might not be cognisant of all the detail on what has been happening over the years, or appreciate the wastage, but we can look at who is responsible. We know it is probably not technology that needs to change its behaviour - its people.

 

Complacency has grown to be a problem in business, and it seems foolish that some know so little about the amazing opportunities that comes with change. The odd thing is we have been surrounded by change forever. So, how can we miss what is going on with the advances in technology?

 

What we have learned over the years, is the answer for that is - change blindness. It’s the inability to notice the mess that surrounds us. It’s kind of a function that protects our brain from being overloaded with a lot of information about the un-useful processes.

 

The vision for the future business is not doing all we can to preserve what remains. The way we use to do things is practically impossible to repeat. Therefore, we need to get busy understanding what could be and change it. And, when something is beyond comparison to what we have been used to, we need to at least consider the benefits and mull it over.

 

All it takes

 

Change can begin with doing all we can with what we have in place. It is no longer necessary to take years to make simple change with the technologies available. We recognise it is not always easy to get started when it comes to change. However, procrastination is not the answer, nor is the act of complacency.

 

To make change happen, we need to help each other make the transition and change behaviour. This often needs drawing on the strengths of others combined with our own knowledge. The tipping point with change comes when you act -

  

• Establish a plan for change and be confident in sharing it and selling it to others

• Analyse the current state ensuring you keep focused on what is best for others in the future

• Design what will be the outcome and take others on the journey

• Develop the change and avoid deviation unless there is a gap in your design thinking

• Validate the change and get others to help with this - to own it

• Communicate the transition, don’t look back, and celebrate the achievements.

 

We are not alone. Around the world everyone depends on change for an endless range of benefits – from improving basic communication and all kinds of information sharing to make better decisions, to more exotic but no less valuable, opportunities to present our worth and manufacture new business in the future.   

 

If you need some help with managing your future change, contact us. We have spent most of our lives learning about change and have taken ourselves and many others through a change journey.  We are always willing to share our insights and experience where help is needed.

 

Amanda Harriss, Partner, Harriss Wagner Consultants & Advisers