This week’s topic is Time to Change
If you are in the UK then you will have noticed the recent change from British Summer Time to good old GMT (your daylight saving time change may be on a different date). There are reasons for changing the time – but there is also some evidence that it is disruptive and affects productivity.
Many people – especially in the south of England – don’t see a reason to set the clocks back in October – but in Scotland we would be going to work in the dark AND more importantly children would be going to school in the dark (and there are other good reasons too). Sometimes people say it would align us with Europe (although maybe that idea is less popular now!) but that doesn’t really hold water as they change too!
Anyway – that’s not the point of my talk! It’s just a tenuous introduction to the theme!
It’s often said that nobody likes change.
And there are certainly individuals for whom that is undoubtedly true! You may know some of them?
However, we often need to change (think back to the start of the pandemic) when we didn’t have any option – we had to change! But change imposed on us is different to change we choose for ourselves and our businesses.
So why Choose to Change?
I talked in my Membership Club recently about the worst seven words in the English language
That’s the way we’ve always done it.
Don’t get me wrong – sometimes the old way IS the right way – but we need to at least be open to looking at new ways of doing things.
Unconscious bias
However, part of the issue is that we accept the status quo without even thinking about it, and we don’t challenge some of the established “norms”. It’s part of our “unconscious biased” mindset – we have certain attitudes that we have subscribed to all our lives (I mean everything – not just things like gender bias for example – we all have core “beliefs”. (Oh and the clock change thing might be one of mine)!
So – we need to recognise when things CAN and SHOULD be changed. (we need both)
Just because things CAN be changed doesn’t mean they SHOULD and equally those things that SHOULD be changed aren’t always possible! (now, yet)
Cop26 recently concluded in Glasgow – and there is still a long way to go for everyone to contribute to the change needed. And it may feel like this is being imposed – but we can still choose what and how to implement change to a certain extent. It is important to us as business owners to feel we are in control – which was a large part of the problem in the pandemic – we lost control – and we didn’t like it.
What Changes can YOU make?
But there are other changes we can make in our businesses and this is where we can start to PLAN for 2022.
Do you want to target a different market?
Do you want to develop new products
Do you want to deliver your products in a novel way?
Does that entail changing your business model?
Do you want to increase / decrease your team?
Do you need to ensure that your team (and your customers) know and understand what direction you are taking – and take them along with you?
Change isn’t easy – but recognising that change is required and making the decision to make the change is the first step.
So – looking forward to 2022 – what CAN and SHOULD you change in your business?
Get in touch if you’d like to chat about how I can help.