Are You Ready For Change?

Businesses used to develop five-year plans and review them annually to see what changes, if any, were needed. In more recent years, companies plan in shorter time frames and review in real-time to keep up with the speed of change.

Businesses start and grow and fail at much faster rates than previously, as shown by the size and scale of Facebook, Google, Instagram, WhatsApp and others.

New businesses and even new industries are appearing at great speed and growing to enormous levels, as seen by developments in cloud computing, big data and biotechnology.

Traditionally, it took many years for businesses to grow to a significant size and the development of new industries took much longer.

In such an environment large companies had the advantage of size to drive efficiency, provide value for customers and create secure employment for employees.

Senior managers could set long-term goals and expect the world and their industry to change slowly in a relatively orderly and sedate fashion.

The situation has changed and long-term planning is now more difficult and fraught with challenge, as the relationship between company, customer and employee changes.

The new environment is characterised by change and requires flexibility and the ability to perform at a high level in fast-moving situations on a regular basis.

The tradition of senior management and company boards working to control the environment is no longer effective and so business must manage change as it happens.

Many assumptions about how the world works and our role in it are out of date, as the traditional promise of a secure job for life no longer exists.

Technology is changing everything but, ironically, it means there has never been a better time to start and grow and scale a business.

The start of the 21^st century marked the end of the traditional hierarchical organisation with top-heavy structures focussed on planning, stability and the certainty of production.

The new century has introduced a new type of organisation and new management based on flexibility, speed, and the ability to learn and learn quickly.

The new organisation reacts and responds and reinvents itself according to the demands of the market and, as a result, embraces rather than tries to control change.

Success in the new world comes from the ability to create products, find new customers and manage uncertainty.

SO, we have entered a new world and the businesses that succeed will be the ones that anticipate, embrace and enjoy change.