Change or Die! To Change Your Organization, Hire a Business Coach

Written by admin on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

I like this article because in today’s society, things are moving so rapidly that change is not only inevitable, but a repeated process. If your company doesn’t change, it will be left behind. Even in the industries where technology is not an integral part of it, you will have to change the way you interact with your customers because your customers will eventually catch up with the latest technology. This article touches on the basics of change management from the owner’s point of view. Read on for this basic overview of change within an organization.

It is a common business axiom - change or die. As a small or
mid-sized business owner or a manager, there will be times you
will need to make changes in your organization but may not be
sure how to go about it. Change is hard to implement and even
harder to sustain. Think about all of the people who have
trouble sticking to a diet or quitting smoking or keeping up
with an exercise program, let alone just starting. If changing
yourself is hard, how can you change an entire business,
organization, process or department?

As a Certified Business Coach, one of the biggest challenges my
clients face is this issue of change. Did you know there are
eight reasons why organizations fail to change from a lack of
urgency to underestimating the power of vision to failing to
create short-term wins? The eight reasons are:

Lack of a sense of urgency
Failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition
Underestimating the power of vision
Not communicating the vision
Allowing obstacles to block the new vision
Failing to create short-term wins
Declaring victory too soon
Neglecting to anchor changes firmly into the corporate culture

Take the third reason, for example, underestimating the power of
vision. A clear vision helps direct, align and inspire actions
on the part of large numbers of people. Lack of vision, on the
other hand, leads to lots of debate and confusion. Think about
the organizations you have worked for or know. When everyone
understands the vision, work gets done, employees are energized,
and processes get put into place. Without a guiding vision,
employees lose passion, urgency and focus. And, it is just as
critical to communicate your vision ” reason number four ”
instead of keeping it in your head. Communicate your vision to
your employees, vendors and clients - often.

How can a business leader do it all - create and communicate a
vision, get the work done and make a profit? Business coaches
help business leaders step back and create the processes
necessary to communicate and sustain their vision for their
organizations by focusing on sales, marketing, systems and team
building. One strategy I use is to facilitate a team alignment
day. I often start out with a number of traditional and
non-traditional team-building exercises. Then, I introduce a game
called “Leverage: The Game of Business,” in which employees
learn the five key areas to impacting the bottom line. By
playing the game, each employee learns how he or she plays a
pivotal role in making the business work and impacting its cash
flow. By the end of the day, the team is aligned with the
business owner’s goals as well as the team and the business
manager being aligned as people. When everyone is on the same
page, change can take place and things happen more efficiently
and effectively.

A recent article in Fortune Magazine, entitled, Executive
Coaching - With Returns a CFO Could Love, stated, “Asked for a
conservative estimate of the monetary payoff from the coaching
they got, these managers described an average return of more
than $100,000 or about six times what the coaching had cost
their companies.”

My goal as a business coach is to help business owners step back
and think about new and innovative ways to achieve profitability
and business growth - and to do it in a way that provides a good
return on investment of a business manager’s time and money. The
ability to change, while remaining focused, is an integral part
of this philosophy.

David s. Levine, B.S., Certified Action International Business
Coach, holds both a BS and MBA, and is a seasoned executive with
more than 25 years of business experience in the retail,
high-tech, business-to-consumer and business-to-business arenas.
His extensive experience in marketing and sales, finance,
process analysis and systemization uniquely positions him to
mentor business owners looking to become more successful.