Having been involved in transition and change management for 20+ years I’ve witnessed every conceiveable excuse for why NOT to transition to new systems and business direction. The angle of approach for so many businesses around transition usually goes something like “Our systems/processes/marketing/people aren’t working as well as we’d like BUT it’s harder to make wholesale changes than it is to tweak the old method”. That’s like saying your 15 year old car will go forever as long as you change the tyres every 30,000 k’s. Sure, you’ll keep rolling but you won’t win any races and at some point you won’t make the starting line as other parts start to break down! When we look to businesses that lead in their field we see one common theme, that they are always in transition to better methods of delivery and management…..that’s right, ALWAYS.
To these businesses transition is easy because it is normal and a part of the process of everyday work. ie “We incorporate change and improvement into our monthly review cycle so it’s never a BIG SCARY THING” That doesn’t mean they are making wholesale changes to big systems all the time but when they do their people see it as a part of their role as it’s a regular discussion point. Lastly and importantly, one key element to change and transition management is due diligence such as setting clear goals for your outcomes post transition and comparing new systems against these benchmarks. Once the differences between your old and new system are exposed, transitioning is about managing the differences and not about being afraid of them. Happy transitioning!