We talk about business growth as something that is par for the course. But if you want to be delivering results in the best possible way, you’ve got to bring about lasting change. Some leaders will thrive on an ocean of constant change, but the reality is that if you want to bring about change in an organization that is not just for the sake of doing something different, but will actually fundamentally alter the organization as a whole, you’ve got to think about some of the following areas.
Be Results Driven
You need to get work done, but it needs to be done well. When you start to think about the ways to bring about change, it always comes back to better ways of doing business so everybody can achieve those great results. Part of the solution is in having processes that are going to stimulate productive change, but it’s also about having those tools that can monitor these analytics. In an organization like a factory, we must have a foundation of being structured and organized before we start bringing about results.
This approach can be embedded into every single component of your organization, whether it’s something as simple and straightforward as a visitor management system for manufacturing business practices or having a computer software program that will help others to streamline practices, you need to be results driven but you need to bring in the tools and the processes first. When you have the results in place, it will guide your decisions and actions throughout.
Cover Many Bases
A lot of people think about focusing on one area. It is important to concentrate your efforts, but if you want to bring about lasting change, it’s about working on a variety of fronts. The structure is an incredibly important aspect of business, but you also need to learn the best ways to diversify your practices, because the results may come from an area you least suspect. Providing a variety of channels for your team to operate could bring about more efficient results. There is more than one way to skin a cat!
When you bring about different ways of working, you are also encouraging autonomy amongst your employees. And when there are more channels of work, there is a higher likelihood of success. It also helps your team to become more adaptable to changing circumstances. When there are a number of ways for you to incorporate smarter working methods, you will find new ways of doing business and everybody will benefit.
Follow Every Possibility
Implementing change is about understanding your options, but beyond your options, you’ve got to follow your nose. Change requires you to venture through a variety of predetermined steps. Problem-solving is par for the course when we’re trying to bring about a business that will make a significant change for the better. When you start to follow every possibility, but also critically analyze each component, you are going to establish a baseline behavior where you are going to encounter different practices that will either serve you well now or further down the line.
Business owners and entrepreneurs effectively need to operate like a sponge. Absorbing any potential practical, professional, or personal practices will enlighten and inspire. When you start to follow every possibility but also believe that every option is going to yield some form of benefit, no matter how small it is, you are opening yourself up to a larger world. The big mistake so many small companies have is that the owners are thoroughly closed-minded. If you want to bring about lasting change, you’ve got to believe that change is just around the corner.
Engage All Facets of the Employee
Employees don’t just travel to work, clock in, do their stuff, and get out. They can do this, but they’re not going to be engaged with any part of the business. Our employees are people with a complex set of needs. When we bring about lasting change, it’s because we’ve engaged every aspect of these people. The employee is someone who is there to do a job and they may not want to give themselves wholeheartedly to your business, which is why you have to figure out how people can work better to achieve their common goals.
One way to do this would be to look at what their goals are and see how they fit within the framework of the business. For example, promotions are something we would all like to have because we have more responsibility, more meaning, and more pay. We always want to be part of something larger than ourselves, so if you can start to create opportunities for your employees to contribute in more meaningful ways, this is not them giving their effort over to a higher power and being stiffed as a result, but about having people understand the inherent skills that can contribute to a business, but also makes them feel they are doing something worthwhile.
Celebrate Every Win
Lasting change is about taking one step up the ladder and recognizing how far you’ve come. Celebrating each win, big or little, will ensure that we all have a far better understanding of how far we’ve come. So many of us achieve something and move on to the next challenge. The fact is that if you want to bring about lasting change, you’ve got to celebrate every single win. Sometimes, the successes you have at the outset are not the low-hanging fruits or the easy wins, but those things you achieve early on give you that belief that you can go further.
We always care about winning, no matter how much we dress it up as something else. In business, one of the goals is to win, and when you have succeeded in it, it gives you so much more energy to go into the next phase of the battle. If you really want to bring about lasting change, some of these components are non-negotiable. We all want to make changes for the greater good, but bringing about lasting change is about taking that first step.