Business Management Skills

Corporate executives excel in keeping an organization moving along doing the same things it has been doing. Nonetheless, business executives are also faced with the need to address organization change. It isn’t hard to ignore the fact that change is unavoidable. When the status quo appears to be working, why change it? The financial disaster threatening major corporations tells us why. Especially now, organizations must have the capacity to change. Why is it then that so many change initiatives fail?

This can be broken down into three reasons. First, there is compelling urgency to running the business. Exploring ways to stay competitive in the future will never take precedence over keeping current clients satisfied, given a choice. Not settling current crises can mean the loss of clients.

Reason two is that most executives began as managers. Their business knowledge is first, and foremost, about running rather than changing a business. Organization change was not a major compenent of their training. More often than not, they lack experience in running a change initiative. Change requires a level of mental energy that many leaders find difficult to maintain. There is inescapable risk in change. Change is a risk for careers and the business. Looking at the risks, change can look to be a fool’s proposition.

The last reason is that running the business is how most organizations are geared. Benefits stemming from run the business are usually more significant. It receives a higher degree of management attention. The tone employed with regard to the run the business matters tends to be much more serious. Of course, the prestige associated with run the business tends to be more significant. Everyone has heard of “Salesperson of the Year” awards. How many have heard of “Change Initiative Manager of the Year” awards?

The consequences of all of this can be severe, both for personnel and for the business. A constant stream of failed change initiatives can mean lost careers and a loss of competitiveness for a business. At the personnel level, it can create worker overload, loss of confidence, and cynicism about the ability of an organization to create effective change. There is simply no upside to a low success rate with change.

For organization change to occur successfully, leadership is the key. Changing a business is harder than maintaining the status quo. The burden for dealing with the abstract problems of change rests with the business leadership. Organizations are not structured to change naturally. Change is anathema to an organization because it is inherently chaotic and distracting. Without clear leadership, and consistent success, change initiatives can seem like a pointless or useless disruption to stability and security. Conflict will be the inevitable end of change. The manner in which leadership approaches change will often reflect the degree of conflict involved. There cannot be change without vision. Leadership must take responsibility for vision because uninspired leaders lead to uninspired workers.

For more information, please see our website: Organization Change