Forget Fearing Change; Embrace it!

It’s a fairly common assumption that people do not like change but as a rather simplistic view, it fails to recognise that people will typically respond well to positive change. People make changes every day, new jobs, children, marriages, travelling and on the whole these are made voluntarily. It shows that even massive changes aren’t resisted by people – as long as it’s positive and will improve their lives.

Negative change on the other hand is naturally resisted, for instance, having to reduce the size of the workforce without changing the workload is a negative change, one that could well be caused by a crisis.

Change, regardless of whether it is positive or negative requires careful consideration for businesses, not only for the reasons such change is being initiated but also in the way it is presented and managed.

What causes change?

Market forces

Marketplaces are in a constant state of flux, and as such it is vital that businesses commit to changes to innovate, to maintain a competitive edge or to continue providing the right level of service to their customers.

Technology

In similar vein businesses must also react to technological developments, to ensure that they stay ahead of the curve and do not miss out on a potential advancement that could improve productivity and enhance services they deliver.

Customer needs

As the world evolves, customer needs change and grow, creating demand for new types of products and services. Reacting to these changes can open up opportunities for companies to meet these evolving needs.

The economy

The economy plays a huge role in organisational change. A strong economy increases demand for products and services meaning companies must expand operations to cope with this demand. A weak economy will result in a business making difficult decisions that will have an impact on employees and stakeholders.
Managing the business through good and bad times is important to maintain a strong brand and strong relationships, although this should be achieved without jeopardising the business’ ability to react to change in the future.

Why agility is essential

In order to respond to these causes in a successful and timely way, it’s important to be agile. Agility can be gained in a number of ways, including the utilisation of outsourcing where possible, which limits the financial and logistical restraints of enacting rapid change, particularly as they take the financial and operational weight of staffing and technological investment. The right outsourcer can actually be an instigator of change, and in a successful outsourcing partnership you would expect to see a two way discourse of ideas on ways to change operations, identify new markets and maximise the service delivered to customers.

Why it’s important to change

Change is important for growth within a business; it can enable the exploration of opportunities, facilitate creativity and increase security. Businesses benefit especially from change that results in new ways of looking at customer needs, new ways of delivering customer service and new ways of strengthening customer interactions.

In today’s world of disruptive, 24/7 change, responding well is critical to success. Being unprepared for change could quickly lead to becoming a victim to shifting socioeconomic conditions. Change is always a risk, but in many instances it is a necessary risk to develop new avenues for revenue generation. Outsourcing this risk is sensible, as it minimises the implications to your business whilst allowing you to diversify revenue streams and become more robust in the future.