Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

‘Turn and face the strange’, as Bowie said.

I’ve lived through and played a small bit part in some big change programmes in my former life as a management accountant at a large food retailer.

Big consultancy firms were involved, large PowerPoint presentations, lots of jargon and buzzwords and backing from the Board. Some went better than others. Key aspects were engaging those affected and ultimately the whole business on why the changes were needed and communicating, communicating, communicating.

Some of the changes implemented like effective meetings, project management tools and process improvement became part of the DNA of the company and helped it stay ahead of the competition for a sustained period of time.

What about managing change in a smaller company - say with 10, 20 or 50 employees? Processes and ways of working tend to be more informal and centred around people and their likes and dislikes rather than a company style. Budgets are small and people (including the owner) are normally working at capacity so there is little time to consider and actively engage with change.

But sometimes change needs to happen.

Small businesses evolve and from time to time they reach a plateau. Perhaps they have become too dependant on the owner. Perhaps the owner is nearing retirement age and wants to move away from doing 50/60 hours weeks. Perhaps the business has become a bit stale and is not focussing on their customers.

Making a change can be difficult but it can transform a business if the owner and key employees commit to the change and focus intently on delivering it.

The same principles of communication and engagement are critical as with a larger organisation.

I strongly believe that an external facilitator of some kind is important if not essential. This could be the company’s external accountants or a business consultant of some description. Their key attributes should be that they are experienced in managing change and ideally with specific experience in the areas you are looking to transform.

Another essential component in my view is to have a programme manager or project manager whose responsibility is to oversee and facilitate the change. This would probably involve freeing up one of the team from their day job for a period of time to manage the change programme.

So you have a plan and the objectives you want to achieve. It’s worth bearing in mind Mike Tyson’s quote, ‘Everyone has a plan until they get a smack in the mouth’. You will probably get several smacks in the mouth to veer you off plan and will need to keep the objectives in mind and try to steer back on track.

With luck, effort and resilience the plan can be achieved and the business taken to a much better place.

Good luck if you decide to embark on your own change journey.

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