March 2009

REACH! – Is Your Iceberg Melting?

It's tough out there isn't it? Even if your job isn't at risk directly, there are new and far more aggressive demands being made of you and your organisation. It's difficult to see how much more you can do. In fact, you may not feel that your organisation really knows how to respond to the current economic climate and its impact on your consumers, customers and suppliers. Nothing is quite as it seemed. The boom really helped ‘paper over the cracks' and many seemingly solid businesses have gone under.

Recently, I read a story and I've found myself reflecting upon it, sharing it and discussing its lessons with several clients. Now I'm going to introduce it to you. This issue of REACH! takes as its theme the book, ‘Our Iceberg is Melting' by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber and is dedicated to helping you to reflect on the past and take action to secure the future of your business.

Trese

Reaching Your Potential

Businesses that evolve survive. Now businesses have had change or the need for it thrust upon them. There are, and really there always have been, ‘melting icebergs' everywhere. Perhaps these are product lines that are aging and being superseded by the competition, services that are declining in quality, business strategies that don't make sense or new strategies that that aren't being implemented, or when they are, they don't work (and nobody says so). And here lies one of the problems; ‘nobody says so'. Icebergs were melting before the downturn, it's just we chose not to see it or didn't feel the need to examine the fundamentals of our businesses.

Change is a difficult thing. Sometimes people and organisations don't see the need for it. They don't know what the right thing to do is, let alone how to go about it. Even when they do, they don't make it stick. Mobilising change requires the capturing of hearts and minds but this can be hampered by people feeling threatened or helpless. Unless approached effectively, transforming organisations can just consist of a lot of wasted effort, pointless discussions, slow progress and lead to even more frustration.

In telling the story of a colony of penguins faced with the need for change, the authors illustrate their 8 step change process (summarised here):

Set the Stage

1. Create a sense of urgency

2. Pull together the guiding team

Decide What to Do

3. Develop the change vision and strategy

Set the Stage

4. Communicate for understanding and buy-in

5. Empower others to act

6. Produce short-term wins

7. Don't let up

Make it Stick

8. Create a new culture

I urge you, your people and your colleagues to read the book – it will take about 30 minutes of time well spent. The discussions it provokes will help you find new and better ways to take action, or convince you to stay the course you're already on. Together, you'll find ways to initiate the change needed by your organisation.

‘When you act in concert with others, the end result can be very powerful.'

Reaching Further

How can we help?

I would never describe us as ‘change' specialists. But we have been most successful working with organisations that recognise that their iceberg is melting and that their sales organisation is broken or is not as robust and effective as it should be. We help our clients:

Clarify the results (outputs) their business needs to survive
Identify the high-value activities (processes) required to achieve those results
Develop the tools and the training programs that facilitate high-performance
Develop project leaders and teams to build momentum
Evaluate, give feedback and provide ongoing support to help ‘make it stick'

We can help you, your people and your business make the changes necessary to get the sales results you need. To bring your sales strategy to life and to help make your objectives a reality, please contact us at info@amplia.co.uk or +44(0)1491 871 203.