Is your business stuck? Stalled? Mature? Declining?
You know you have to change things in 2012 but what is the management of change?
If the buck stops with you here’s a 4-step change model, created by McKinsey‘s Colin Price and Emily Lawson, that can help you lead change:
- Create a compelling change story. Hint: “We’re losing ground” isn’t one of them.
- Be the role model for the story. Do your employees see you ‘walking the walk’ or do you believe ‘talking the talk’ is your only responsibility for change?
- Reinforce the story. Systems, processes and incentives are powerful change reinforcement mechanisms.
- Build story capabilities. If your change involves creating new products you’d better have truly experienced experts on hand.
CLICK HERE to read the rest of the story.
There’s an economic recovery under way, even though visibility to the casual observer is obscured. Here are 3 key things to watch for in 2012:
New product and buying trends
New product and buying trends will appear and existing trends will accelerate. Smart companies position themselves at the front wave of these trends.
- Example: Distance learning is accelerating. Any company involved in training must have budget set aside in 2012 for introducing distance learning or improving existing distance learning.
- Vulnerable companies: Associations. Lots of small businesses without the resources or knowledge of how to introduce and run a distance learning program.
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- Do what top athletes do…visualize success. Every day.
- Create business power by doing something bold and daring for your industry.
- Have your employees create a pitch for their product, their job or their department and present to investors.
- Remember that business is a social process. Go tell someone daily, face to face, why your business matters.
- Create a contest for employees to give your elevator pitch to strangers…in person.
- Create a leadership strategy based on leveraging your strengths and compensating for your weaknesses.
- Want your employees to take ownership, show initiative, be creative? Start every employee discussion with “here is our latest income statement…”.
- Cultivate a management style that’s unique and easily remembered. Mine is “Be yourself, be fair, give credit where credit’s due”.
OK, that was eight. No worries, there’s a long weekend coming up.
This is easily the best article written on ‘what is strategy’ I’ve seen this year. Published by McKinsey and written by Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt and Sven Smit it’s a fairly long article but worth every word. Click here to read “Have You Tested Your Strategy Lately?”
