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In my experience, change is harder for those who perceive themselves to be succeeding than those who perceive themselves to be failing. Failure produces an irresistible motivation to reflect and to seek changes that will eliminate the pain you are feeling. It is those who perceive themselves to be successful who are most likely to stick to the status quo in a sea of change.
Change always happens: Contexts change, markets change, competitors change and so on. So, reinforcing a strategy and recipe for success seems the logical thing to do, right? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, goes the mantra. Why on earth would you mess with a winning formula?
The problem is that these winds of change are numerous and subtle, moving slowly and in different directions, making them invisible to the ‘successful’ eye. Business books are filled with case studies like Kodak who, despite acknowledging the threat of digital, were so entrenched in their current thinking that they sailed their ship right off the end of their flat earth.
Related: Successful SA Entreps Share Their Most Valuable Business Advice Ever Received
Here are five thoughts to provoke you and guide you in finding the courage to change.
1. This too will pass
Live by the law of impermanence that says that nothing remains permanent; neither failure nor success. This should create a level of healthy paranoia in successful entrepreneurs that drives them to anticipate what will change and when it will change, and to constantly live in a start-up mindset. Being aware, self-reflective and conscious of your bias is the best remedy for the allure of a permanent reality mindset.
2. Use what you have
One of the most common reasons that we do not want to change is having to admit that the resources we have so painstakingly and expensively built and maintained are not as useful anymore. The now popular and commonly-used terms of ‘radical’ and ‘disruptive’ conjure up scenarios of throwing away everything we have.
In most instances where change is required, the most successful way to change is to use the resources currently available in your business in a reconfigured manner. My rule of thumb is that any new strategic direction should incorporate no more than 20% of new resources, know-how or processes. This approach might not be radical or disruptive, but it ensures that there is a higher appetite for change in the organisation and a higher probability of it succeeding.
Related: Raizcorp: Business ‘Think’ has to come before the Business ‘Plan’
3. Focus on the positive energy change creates
Change is terrifying for many, but it creates a positive energy in a business. We often spend too much time trying to pacify employees who are fearful of change. In my opinion, you should rather be weeding these people out of your business as it grows.
They slow down progress and redirect valuable time and energy from focusing on the future and building towards that. It is important to focus your energy on the positive energy that is being released when change happens, such as excitement, new possibilities, and new growth opportunities for people and the business.
4. Plan your change, but also expect the unplanned
Effective change is ideally planned. Thought-through, documented and communicated phases are always better than a chaotic laissez-faire approach. But as Mike Tyson once said,
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Life happens, the unexpected is ever-present in our lives, and we need to plan for this. Allowing a 10% to 20% tolerance for the unknown is a wise thing to do to ensure your expectations are catered for. Accepting the potential of random change in your planning will make it easier to accept and manage.
5. Expect Magic
After the dust has settled following a recent change or upheaval, and nerves and emotions have normalised, there will inevitably be an unforeseen positive outcome from the change. When you expect to find this outcome and appreciate the chemistry of time, resources and random events that created it, you will see change as the unavoidable path to these magical events.
It makes going through the change so much more tolerable when you know that when this phase of change is completed, there will be an outcome that will make it worthwhile. This expectation has never failed to deliver for me.
Entrepreneurs do not have the luxury of remaining still and constant, even for a short while. Mighty corporates are also susceptible to the devastation of the law of impermanence. But, there is a different lens on this that I prefer; every day and every moment brings the gift of change to us which is always a door to a better, more fulfilled future.
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