We’re getting close to the end of the year! Sometimes that can be a frustrating time for a business, when you know you still have so much you want to achieve but you can’t find the time. It can also be disheartening if you’ve spent the year trying to get project going, but not been able to make any progress.
But it’s never too late to start the process of change. Change doesn’t require big, earth-shattering actions and is often best achieved through a measured, consistent approach. Change can start very small and still be the building block to bigger and better things. Now isn’t the time to lose sight of the prize, but to keep things going and continue towards your project goals.
If you need a little incentive, here are my favourite top five quotes on change – thoughts of people who been there and done it all. I’ve used these many times when I’ve needed some motivation or a recharge, particularly when I feel like I’m spinning my wheels trying to get change to happen…
1. “A year from now, you will wish you had started today” – Karen Lamb
You really will. You’ll be kicking yourself for putting things off. Because in a year from now, whatever you haven’t started to change now, will still be the same.
2. “The best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing.” -Theodore Roosevelt
A lot of people get so scared of change that they talk about it rather than actually doing anything about it. The reality is that change won’t make itself. So take action today.
Do something achievable and small, but do something. And then watch the ripple effect in your business.
3. “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading” – Lao Tzu
Put simply, “if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten” (thank you Tony Robbins).
Change can be painful. People know that and that’s why they resist. Or they might try to moderate the change by doing the same thing but just slightly differently, often used as a “see I can change” effort.
This is also known, as “putting lipstick on a pig”. The pig might look pretty for a while, but it’s still lipstick on a pig and nothing has changed.
4. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi
We’ve all heard this one and can relate it to our personal lives, but it also applies in the business world. Change in a business often doesn’t happen because everyone is waiting for someone else to take the first step. The end result? Nothing ever changes.
Sometimes, all it takes is one person to show their peers or staff that doing something differently can be good.
5. “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
We live in a world of instant gratification, where if we can’t get a result immediately we give up the effort. But when we need to change things in business, a key part of the process is changing people and their perceptions. You might be implementing a new report, or changing the way a form is filled in, or putting in a new IT system – it’s all change for your staff. We don’t do anything in isolation, with no impact on others.
And that is why change is hard work and change takes time. Because you’re dealing with other people and their peculiarities and preferences.
So don’t give up if it still hasn’t happened. Just recharge, take a deep breath and try again…
Do you need help implementing business change? Contact Business System Alchemy for more information by clicking here.
The Alchemist comes to your courtesy of Ruxana D’Vine and Michael Meryment, specialists in matching business needs back to technology.
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