Appetite for Change

What is your appetite for change and for progress? Or do you get caught in that trap of innovate or die, progress or regress, modernise or stagnate? All those are phrases that focus in on what you’re doing to move yourself forward and what happens if you don’t make changes. When is the right time to change?
 
Reading time approximately 2.5 mins.
Appetite for change
 
Many times we can be found sitting there trying to be clever, trying to do things that feel important but actually, we’re not doing anything different, nothing has changed, we’re doing the same things for the last two years or the last two months, maybe even the last 10 years. Consider the situation when in business, when in life. You’re getting frustrated and grumpy because nothing’s changing, nothing’s working, nothing’s evolving. So actually, according to the concept of innovate or die or progression and regression, you’re actually going backwards.
 
Look at numbers around inflation and its impact on wages – if you haven’t put your prices up in the last six months or in the last year then you will have in real terms reduced your prices. Consider the CPI price index being at 2% or 3% over a relatively short amount of time, without the need for an accountant to work it out, your prices are decreasing, because they’re not going up with what’s going on around you. Innovation and evolution is great, we need this to stay ahead of the crowd, to stayed engaged and enthusiastic and to prevent others overtaking or worse still, going backwards.
 
Let’s look at it from another scenario. For example, I’m watching a game of water polo at Coventry swimming baths, the big pool that was built in the 1960s, a 50 metre pool with a clever sand filtration system and 10 metre diving boards, diving pit and kids fun pool. I’m not sure of the spectator capacity but you’re probably talking 5000 in the stands, it’s been used for years as an Olympic training pool and for competitions. But it’s going to get bulldozed. Why? Over the years people have been fighting to save, perhaps due to nostalgia, because it’s part of Coventry history or they just don’t want change. But the reality check is, is the pool fit for purpose for the future? It is huge, in cubic volume of the site and size of the pool and sadly it has been declared not fit for purpose because it’s not economically viable to work. It’s time to build something new, refresh it and use that site for something else. It’s also let’s be fair, slam bang in the middle of a city centre and a large site that could be turned into a huge amount of housing or whatever other commercial demands and opportunities might be created.
 
Sadly for this particular pool, it has fallen behind with the demand for modern facilities and it’s out of date. The question we’re talking about is whether innovation or change is always necessary, not everybody likes change. But if a swimming pool must be ready and fit for the next generation, then it’s got to last.
 
The challenge here is to innovate or to risk going backwards. Let’s make this more personal about your business – your marketing or more specifically your website. You know the website, the one that hasn’t been refreshed for six months, two years, five years since you spent all that money on it only to let it turn into an old out of date shop window. Consider now your marketing point of sale material or brochures – it may cost to refresh and update but what are the negative costs if you fail to do this?
 
What about the training of your staff so they’re up to date in all areas of First Aid or mental health First Aid? These are just simple areas where if you’re not actually looking out for the people that are working with you and are part of your team, then you’re stagnating and going backwards. A client I’ve been working with recently has some great ideas and has created some incredible products and solutions. But nobody knows about them because their marketing tactics haven’t changed. They haven’t moved forward with marketing moving so comprehensively into digital and social media outlets. They’ve just stuck with the old school and sadly as a result of this stagnation nobody actually knows what they’re doing.
 
My challenge to you as a result of reading this article is really focusing in on what are you doing to innovate, what are you doing to progress, what are you doing to make sure that you are fit for purpose so that you are relevant, that people will find you, people will know who you are. Because if you’re not and you’re stagnating then think of the inflation rates and how the price consumer price index changes, and how you’ve got to move forward, otherwise you will stagnate and will go backwards and your money that was worth £100 last year is now worth £98 this year and next year it will decrease further again.
 
Time to take your head out of the sand and embrace the new millennium. It’s time to step up and make things happen. Good luck.