When I was working in Las Vegas, I had a friend coming to visit and no time to clean. My construction project was really busy and we were working 6 days a week. About 3 days before she arrived, I told my superintendent that I couldn’t come in the next day because I had to clean and get my house ready for my friend. He denied my request and told me to hire a cleaning service. It never occurred to me that there was a solution outside of me having to do it myself, but outsourcing this task was exactly what was needed. Why didn't I do that earlier? To be honest, I was afraid. Afraid I couldn't afford it, afraid they would break or steal things, and afraid they wouldn't be as thorough as me, but I bit the bullet and found a company that could help at the last minute. It turns out I had nothing to worry about and I ended up hiring the cleaning company long term for regular service.
Many businesses face similar resistance to change and there are a variety of considerations to make before committing to change. They’re afraid of down time during training. They’re afraid of the cost of implementing change. And they’re afraid of failure.
These feelings are similar to those I have encountered with clients throughout my career. One company CEO told me about how his teams spent days quarterly stuffing envelopes to send information to clients’ customers. These teams included highly paid account managers and developers. When I asked why they never purchased a mailing machine to do the manual labor, he shared that the teams bonded over stuffing envelopes and enjoyed working late and on Saturdays to get the work done. He even bought them lunch & dinner when necessary.
After much research by my team, we found a machine that fit within the CFO’s budget and had it installed. The first team that stepped up to try the new system was ecstatic at the time savings! What was originally a 2-3 day task now took 30 minutes, which meant no more missed family time or weekends.
The most hesitant team leader, and the last to adopt the change, was especially worried about the accuracy of the new machine. After using the machine for the first time, the team leader thought she found a mistake and that the machine had miscounted, however, after my team thoroughly investigated the matter, they found that the machine was correct and it was actually the team’s numbers that were off. In the long run, making this change, although it was met with resistance at first, ended up being the right decision because it not only saved time and money, but also increased accuracy of stuffing envelopes.
Increased efficiency and reduction of errors are just two benefits to implementing change within your business. With the right changes, your employee satisfaction will increase, as well as your cost savings.
Implementing change is difficult and seems impossible while you're going through it. There will always be a reason to keep the status quo. But the benefits will greatly outweigh the costs. You will save time, money, and sanity by implementing change. There will always be obstacles and excuses to overcome. Some employees will absolutely be upset about the change and potentially try to sabotage it. Keeping a positive attitude and demonstrating the benefits will go a long way to gaining agreement. And you can help ease these fears. Doing small tests of the change can help instill confidence. Bridging a financial gap could also help, if payments or other benefits will appear later than normal.
Don't be afraid of change that can help move your business forward. Standardizing your operations will identify areas that can use this type of help. Reach out to learn more.
