Business is constantly changing and whilst it might not always be easy, change is necessary if you want to keep up with your competitors, improve and grow your business. If your company needs to implement new ideas or practices then it is worth keeping in mind The 5 A’s of Change as a guideline.
Awareness
It might seem obvious, but the first step is to be aware of what will happen if you don’t actually make any changes and to what extent this will impact on your business and your business’ profits. Take Netflix, in 1998 they initially launched as a DVD mailing service, posting DVDs to subscribers based on each user’s curated collection. As DVDs declined and streaming grew, Netflix became aware that if they continued to charge just one fee for DVDs and digital streaming, the likes of Amazon would overtake them and they would ultimately lose profits. Whilst the decision to charge separate fees initially caused them to lose subscribers it is estimated that in the last ten years they have gone from 23 million to 209 million subscribers.
Acceptance
Next is accepting that the change needs to be made. This could be something such as learning how to empower your team so that they reach the Performance Zone - we discuss this further in ‘Reaching the Performance Zone Through Effective Leadership’ or it could be accepting that your business model needs to change. When Facebook first started it was more like a social media members club, you had to be a college student and sign up required .edu email addresses. This somewhat restricted Facebook’s expansion, so in 2005, despite backlash, Mark Zuckerberg changed the rules to allow high school students to sign up and then again 2006 by allowing anyone over the age of 13 to have a profile page. Action
In order to make changes you need to take action. First start by breaking these changes down into smaller steps and factoring them into your business plan - for more information about how to build your plan check out Planning For Success. Have you got the right people in the team to implement these actions or do changes need to be made in the team first? It was only when in 1997 Steve Jobs returned as CEO (he had previously left due to internal disagreements) that Apple started to gain traction with a new direction and products. Accountability
It’s all too easy to let changes slip and old habits creep back when there is no accountability. Start with writing a personal mission statement of what you want to achieve for your business and the steps you are going to take and then find someone independent to hold you to account such as your business mentor or coach, something that at Grace Team Accounting we offer.
Acknowledgement
As your business changes and you start to break old habits it’s important to acknowledge both your own and your team’s achievements and provide positive reinforcement when changes are actioned and targets are met. If you don’t have an employee recognition programme now could be the time to look into one.
Looking for a business coach to help you with your business growth? Contact us at Grace Team Accounting.