So You Want Change? What Are You Doing About It?

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In December of 2009 I went to a number of conferences where I heard people say; “Oh I’ll be glad when this year is over and we can start afresh next year”.  Hey, what is this?  Is there a reset button on life?  Life is a continuum.  It isn’t a day where you can cut this bit and then just go back and restart. You want change? What are you doing about it?  You won’t get change in your organization unless you are prepared to change.  I read a report recently that said that 50% of directors interviewed say that they “felt that their organization had not reacted well to the financial downturn”.  A lot of organizations went into reaction mode, a lot of them stayed in reaction mode.  A lot of them have not looked forward and said, “well what will the world be like after this?” They are not conceiving the idea of reinventing themselves or asking where they are adding value.

The board level of an organization, how are you changing?  What are you doing about change? If you, at that level, aren’t prepared to adapt and change and think differently, don’t expect everybody at the lower level to start reacting and changing and doing things differently.  It’s just not going to happen.  Have a good deep look at your board; at the management that you’ve got and say “is this the management that can take us to the next level?” “Is this the group of people that are going to take us through this, on to where we are going in the next five years?”  There are a lot people you may find that were absolutely great at one stage, but they are not the right people to take the business to the next level.  Are you making best use of your non-executive directors?  I hold a couple of non-exec positions.  Ask your non-exec what value are you bringing to the table now?  Maybe they did when they first started, and maybe their value has now finished.  Maybe it’s time for them to move on and maybe it’s time for you to get fresh blood in.  So think about within your organization and look at yourself and say, “if I’m asking for change, how am I changing?  What do I need to do?  How do I need to change in order to elicit change?”  See it’s the laws of physics; you’re not going to get a different reaction by doing the same thing.  If you are going to continue doing the same thing, you’re going to get the same result.  You can’t do this and expect something different to happen.  So what do you need to do differently?  How do you need to look at things differently to take things to the next level in your organization and ramp up your game?  And it will start with you.  Be brutally honest with yourself, and say “if I was starting this business now, would this team be the right team?”  And look at it from the top down, not from the bottom up in your organization.

I hope 2010 is being a great year for you.  I hope exciting things are going to be happening for you through this year.  I hope you’re going to have a really great time.  I look forward to being in touch with you through the course of this year.  Have a great time and thanks for listening.

Paul