Expect Change, Manage Accordingly

The only thing more important than dealing with change is being ready to make changes in the first place. The person still balancing their checkbook by hand is going to struggle with downloading the banking app. Making the change will be painful (especially on that flip-phone). Staying mindful of the need to make changes can help us do more than just stay afloat, it can help us get ahead. In the world of business, these are often called Change Management and Readiness Management. They apply to everything.

Change Management is the theory and practice of making changes inside of an organization. Change Management is a means for protecting employees from disruption. It’s how we make people do something new when “the old way works just fine… but, argh, ok.”

Readiness Management is the theory and practice of preparing a business to adapt and evolve. Readiness Management is a way to protect a business from disruption. It’s how we keep employees engaged with the shifting landscape and future potential opportunities ahead of us.

We will need to utilize both strategies. Readiness is a recipe for understanding why change has to follow. Change isn’t something that passively happens to us or our businesses. Change is something we get to actively choose how we respond to. The last thing we want is to be left shaking an angry fist at a world moving on without us. Instead, by being aware of change and staying ready to respond, we can be proactively involved in the shaping of our future.

Survival strategy: Expect change, manage accordingly.

h/t Cy Wakeman’s book, “No Ego”