Tool Box
Issue No. 28 - April/May 2006
Do you let change just happen?
by John Doughty
When we were at high school we were taught a perspective on the world from a set of boxed subjects — Maths, English, Social Education, PE, etcetera.
We received a view on how the world works which did not emphasise change but sought to reinforce the continuity of the style of life that we are in today.
We still teach students to become obedient and able employees, only now with the proviso that they may have five different careers, some in jobs not invented yet, as they play their part in society.
Even though our parents often told us stories that suggested the dramatic changes they had been through.
The Wright brothers only demonstrated a practical single-seater plane 103 years ago and we have just seen an 800 seater fly!
We do not take much notice of those changes because most of us take such little notice of epoch-making changes that we fail to observe their impact unless an event forces us to do so.
For those of you who are old enough — think the first grey hair you noticed on yourself!
Business is about creating a system that delivers a product/service to a welcoming market at a price that covers all the costs of getting it there, plus delivers a margin (profit) back to the business to be reinvested in the business, or distribute to the owners.
When a business system that works has been developed — usually over time and through much trial and error — it is very natural to try to maintain that system for as long as possible, in the face of continuous, insistent and not-always-obvious change.
Re-engineering, downsizing, restructuring, divesting of non-core businesses, refocusing, becoming customer centric, etc, are terms used to describe what a business gets involved in when the management team or board suddenly realises that they have to change the business radically or be put out of business.
These changes are often last-minute, painful readjustments to standard operating procedure â€...
