To Change or Not to Change?

We’ve all heard the phrases like “change or be changed” and “the only thing certain in life is change” (except from a vending machine that is). But what must change? How do we need to change? Is some changing enough? How much change is too much change?

Jim Collins’ of “Built to Last” and “Good to Great” fame recently addressed how some formerly “great” companies hit severe declines to flat out bankruptcy. Hardy, profitable, popular institutions slid, sometimes sped into the abyss of irrelevance. Sadly, most didn’t even see it coming. Collin’s likens institutional decline to staged disease: harder to detect but easier to cure in the earlier stages, easier to detect but harder to cure in the later stages.

Think about this in terms of a marriage that unravels after years of neglect. Symptoms were present but easy to overlook until it is too late. Or consider the tragedy of a golden customer who out of the blue starts buying from your competitor. Wow! Where did that come from? What are the symptoms to decline? How do you employ early detection of potential demise?

As a coach in Central Texas, I often hear the phrase “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Well how does one define “broke” and when is “the fix” too late? The real issue is not about “broke” or “fix,” or even about change or don’t change. It is more about staying AWARE and adapting. It is more about evolution than revolution.

My advice on change is to continually and systematically look out and adjust. Open your eyes to what is really going on behind the P &L, beyond the cash flow statements, behind the veiled walls of the C-suite. Be ever-vigilant. Be hyper-aware. Have you examined your relevance lately? Are you measuring your relevance regularly? What does the data tell you? What are your competitors paying attention to? Is it your company that needs a tune-up, facelift, or overhaul? Or is it just a few key products or offerings that may be lacking the necessary sizzle of relevance? What about your infrastructure – the systems/processes, people or functional alignment, or business model? Are you still operating at peak or slowly eroding into mediocre? Or, perhaps the best place to look is in the mirror. Are you keeping your eyes, ears, mind, and heart open to change?

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