QUOTATION 62

SETH GODIN ON THE NEED TO MAKE CHANGES BEFORE YOU’RE FORCED TO

Use this to remind you not to delay making changes when they are required.

Seth Godin (b. 1960), American entrepreneur, author and public speaker, recognises that, as with any decision, the timing of when to embark on a change project is vital. There is never a good time to implement a major change; inevitably, it will cause disruption, additional work, concern among staff and possibly a temporary dip in productivity. However, any delay can be disastrous because:

Change almost never fails because it is too early. It almost always fails because it was too late.

Seth Godin

It is often said that people only change when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain caused by changing. Certainly there is evidence that many people are change averse and would like nothing better than to carry on as they are. Unfortunately, if a business has the same mentality, then they will be quickly overtaken by competitors and soon find themselves out of business.

As US General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, US Army said, ‘If you don’t like change you’re going to like irrelevance even less.’

WHAT TO DO

  • Every change starts with a decision. Use the advice provided by Robert Townsend (see Quotation 49) and take low-cost, easy-to-change decisions quickly. For more costly decisions, identify and collect the essential data that you need to make an effective decision (see Quotation 54).
  • Avoid becoming a victim to paralysis by analysis, always wanting more information before you make a decision. Recognise that you can never have perfect information and that, after a certain point, the law of diminishing returns sets in.
  • Use the Pareto Principle (see Quotation 55) and collect the 80 per cent of the data that is readily available and takes only 20 per cent of the time/effort to collect. Base your decision on this information. The remaining 20 per cent is likely be of marginal use.
  • Once the decision has been made to implement a change, accelerate into the next stage. Pull together a small working team, including some change agents/change champions (see Quotation 57) from the front-line staff, and plan the change.
  • Identify the aims, objectives and milestones for the change project and use those to monitor progress. Hold weekly project team meetings and monthly meetings with the project sponsors. There are only two topics of conversation for each meeting: (i) progress to date against target and (ii) cost to date against budget. Avoid adding any additional meetings. They take staff away from the important work.
  • Resist changing the content of the project. Only accept essential additions.
  • As the project is being developed, train staff to deal with the revised policies, procedures or practices. This will reduce their concerns about the change and ease the eventual implementation.
  • Implement the change and ensure that every member of the project team is available to deal with queries and concerns from staff.
  • Evaluate the impact of the change and determine to what extent it has addressed the reasons change was required. If some concerns have not been met, address them as a matter of urgency.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

  • What early warning systems do I have in place to tell me that a change is required?
  • Do I personally resist change?
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