You've made the agonizing decision.
Change has to occur. You have to reduce overhead expenses. How
do you go about identifying and making the changes? How do you
convince your employees to eagerly embrace these ideas? Seem
impossible? Here are five steps for successfully incorporating
change into your business.
PREPARE: Identify the specific changes. Make
a priority list. Take the number one change and in one sentence
identify and state the purpose, goal, and anticipated outcome
of the change. Let's say your purchasing agent has voluntarily
turned in her resignation. By not hiring a replacement, overhead
can be reduced $5,000 per month.
Think back to prior changes. Analyze their implementation. Determine
what worked and what didn't. Identify key employees and their
response to change.
Clear your calendar. You will need to allocate 50 percent of
your time until the changes are complete. High visibility of
the decision-maker lets everyone know your commitment level.
You want the results to be effective.
PLANNING: This is the most important step in the
change process. This is the foundation. Get as much input from
as many sources as possible. Break each change into smaller steps
for easier implementation, measurement and rewards.
Determine the specific steps needed to implement the change.
Set a timetable. Determine the ripple effect of the change. Identify
whom the change will affect. Select the people to implement the
change. Consider how you will measure the success of the plan.
Establish the benchmarks to measure progress.
What are the basic responsibilities of the job? Ordering inventory
parts, ordering specialty replacement parts, returning defective
parts on warranty work, and verifying pricing. Can they be split
among several people or out-sourced? Parts supply houses will
inventory stock parts and restock your shelves based on mutually
determined minimum and maximum levels. The service manager can
order specialty parts. Assign return of defective parts to the
receptionist. Give price verification to accounts payable. You
can double-check the pricing while signing the checks.
Who will do the training? Divide the training among the person
leaving, the service manager, the bookkeeper and yourself. Does
it make sense to eliminate some steps? How will this effect other
departments? Everyone will have more responsibility to obtain
the correct part, understand the pricing, and not loose paperwork.
Incorporate these concepts in the training.
What's the starting point? How long will it take? Set a goal:
this reorganization should be complete within three months.
Review your plan with your managers or key people. Ask the service
manager for the degree of difficulty in locating specialty parts.
Talk to the bookkeeper about controlling purchases. What will
work? What won't work? Why? Make any adjustments. Be sure they
support the plan.
PROMOTE: The goal of this step is to alleviate
the FUD factor - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. People are reluctant
to give up the familiar for the unknown, even when the familiar
is painful. Education and information are the best tools for
overcoming fear in this situation.
Arrange meetings with all employees to explain the reasons for
the change, provide specific examples of the new procedures,
identify whom it will affect, and outline how and when it will
start. Studies show that 20% of an organization's employees will
support a change at the start, 50% will either sit on the fence
or resist the change, and 30% are immovable resisters. Explain
who will do the training, how it will affect their jobs. Show
them the progress benchmarks. Aim your communication to the 80%
who are fence sitters or resisters.
Ask for questions. They work with this everyday. They may have
exceptions you do not know. Let them become participants in the
process. Ask for their help in determining exactly how the variations
will fit into the general rule.
Have a ceremony or event that lets employees say good-bye to
the old. Celebrate the reason for the purchasing agent's resignation.
Ask her to give something symbolic of each task to the person
taking on its responsibility. Make a big deal of the change.
Make it okay for questions, yeah butts and what ifs. Let employees
feel safe in asking questions and raising objections. The faster
you listen and acknowledge their hesitation to your exciting
idea, the sooner they will get excited. The 20 somethings will
cooperate in the end, they just want to determine how they are
going to accomplish the task.
PERFORM: Put the plan into action. Schedule training.
Make a checklist of the new tasks. Relax the rules a bit and
let employees experiment. The faster they learn what does or
doesn't work; the sooner the change will take place.
People learn new habits by repeating the activity every day for
21 days. It is not realistic to expect a person to perform the
new task with only one explanation. Follow people around. Assist
them with the new job. Help them learn the basic rule and how
to interpret the exceptions. Make it safe to fail.
When a screw up takes place, avoid pointing a finger at anyone.
Play detective: trace the problem; determine how it happened;
and figure out how to avoid a repeat performance. Treat it as
a learning experience. It takes time to write the new game rules
and longer for everyone to remember what they are.
Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. Is this working? What are the ripple
effects? Does everyone understand the goal? Has this created
problems in other areas? Are there other tasks that can be eliminated
to free people's time? What can be automated? What worked in
implementing this change? What didn't work? Admit your mistakes.
Then move on.
PRAISE: Recognize everyone's efforts to work
with the change. Reward the smallest effort. Have ceremonies
as people complete the training. They increase the momentum.
Publish progress daily and weekly. Graphically chart the implementation
progress. Celebrate reaching the benchmarks. Celebrate a day
without a missing piece of paper; a week with all specialty parts
received on time; or a month of sufficient inventory stock. Talk
about the failures. It will create an innovative atmosphere that
is more open to change. Talk about the successes of individuals
and groups.
Change is an Adventure. It is on-going. It is not chaos - unorganized
and disruptive. Prepare for it; plan it; promote it; perform
it; and praise it. Properly done it will be a positive force
to improve your net profit.
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By Jan
Smith
(916) 332-7247
email: JSmith@Bennington-
Group.com
Topic: Change
Visit Jan
Smith's web site for more ideas to successfully manage your business.
Jan coaches business owners and managers how to balance working
on their business with solving day-to-day issues.
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