Management
Issue No. 3 - December/ 2001/january
Managing Change
Cavemen knew that those who could outsmart and outrun predators had a far better chance of survival.
Not a lot has changed.
The business owners and managers of today know that those who can outsmart and outrun their competitors have a far greater chance of survival, but many businesses struggle to find ways to do this. New product development and marketing techniques are options, but the benefits of these are often short lived as competitors can respond quickly.
To gain a long-term advantage that is difficult for competitors to copy, one proven strategy is to create an organisational culture of highly effective and motivated employees, within a flexible structure that can always adapt to changing demands faster than competitors.
Several Adelaide businesses have already achieved significant success with this strategy.
Hyster South (featured in July/August ‘in-business’) is one; the Adelaide office of 45 employees is one division of a national structure. In 1999, new product sales in SA — of forklift trucks — were not meeting quotas. A new General Manager, Ken Wood, was appointed and Ken drew on his extensive background in 'change management' to restructure the company. Two years later Hyster has not only turned new sales around, but now has the lowest turnover rate of employees of any Hyster division in Australia.
To achieve this Ken focused on people. He built relationships and strong informal communication channels to identify the 'champions' and 'blockers' — those people who were open to change and those who would not be able to cope with the dramatic structural changes required. The people or 'soft' issues were addressed before any actual business changes were implemented. The extensive changes — new business processes, new information technology and, most importantly, accountability at all levels — impacted the whole Adelaide division. The keys to change were ongoing comm...
