How to accelerate change to adapt to the new reality?

The new reality forces us to change, companies adapt or die. The world changed, there´s no doubt about that, but our immediate world changed even more. The Covid pandemic has forced us to adapt to a new reality in all aspects of our personal, professional, and social life. From one day to the next, our daily way of working, socializing, shopping, learning, etc. had to adapt to a new environment of social distancing. For many years this crisis we are going through may be a reference to the before and after of contemporary society.

Faced with this scenario of uncertainty and desolation, we have seen how companies have had to adapt quickly to face the new reality. Companies that didn´t simply die, others are still dying. This article can be useful for those companies that strive not to disappear.

Heraclitus’s phrase is famous: “change is the only constant.” Yet few organizations are willing to change, either because they struggled to get to where they currently are and feel comfortable, or simply because they don’t know where to start.

Charles Darwin, in his theory of evolution, points out that “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one most adaptable to change.”. The same thing happens with organizations.

History is full of examples of powerful companies, well-positioned, leaders in their field that failed to survive the change, they simply didn´t know how to adapt. We live in a world that doesn´t stop, change is a constant, however, to change is not enough, perhaps it is more important to have a clear awareness of why we exist since the ultimate goal is to adapt to the conditions of the environment. The companies that survive are the ones that adapt the best.

John Phillip Kotter in his book Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility For a Faster Moving World (Harvard Business Review Press, 2014) quotes the English anthropologist and professor at Columbia University, Simon Sinek, who points out that most companies are clear about what they do, including some are aware of how they do it. However, few companies know why they do what they do. That is, only successful companies first ask why they exist and what their role is in society. Companies and people who have changed the world have something in common, they act thinking about the final reason for their actions.

The social change has been so vertiginous that many companies didn´t have time to react, others saw the changes coming and held out with the hope that it was only a temporary crisis, but no, the change is real and it is here. The new social scenario that Covid leaves us, new ideas and initiatives, technological progress, new patterns of social coexistence, competition between companies to survive and gain competitive advantage, pushes us as entrepreneurs and businessmen to a process of continuous change.

The important thing is to start now, get out of the amazement and forget that past times were better, the present calls us to action and the future is built day by day with a clear objective and constant small actions. In his book Accelerate, Kotter presents us with 8 accelerators, understood as strategic actions for you to carry out in your business, whatever its size, so that you can adapt it to a world that changes rapidly.

Kotter argues that leaders within companies must foster an idea of ​​urgency in others, align the energy and priorities of their teams to the new environment in order to provide services and products according to current needs. That process of adaptation, Kotter calls it “the great opportunity.”

Let’s reflect on these 8 accelerators that Kotter proposes:

First

Create a sense of urgency.

To initiate a change you must desire and foster a sense of urgency. This will motivate us to embark on the journey to successful change. The first step almost always starts with answering 3 simple questions: what, how, and why.

Second

Form the change team

It is important to convince that change is necessary, through the leadership and support of key people in the organization. Proposing a change is not enough, it must be directed efficiently towards the desired objective, therefore, it is essential to identify change leaders throughout the organization, they are not necessarily in the hierarchical line.

Third

Create the vision

When starting a process of change, many ideas and solutions will be raised, as well as doubts and fears. After careful analysis, we will select some ideas and discard others to develop a global vision in which all collaborators feel involved. It is essential that this vision is easily remembered. A clear, brief, and well-defined vision makes it easier for all members of the organization to know what their role is and what is expected of each one.

Fourth

Communicate the vision

The actions we take after we have created the vision are what determine success. Daily communication helps us convey why what we are doing is important and mark progress to keep the change team motivated. Communicating and establishing communication channels is very important to avoid distractions that take us away from our vision and to solve problems promptly. We must never forget that what we do is more important than what we say.

Fifth

Overcome the obstacles

There is no change without problems, the road to success will never be clear of obstacles. Problems are necessary, they challenge us and return to flexible, creative, and collaborative work teams, they allow us to identify aspects that we had not considered at the beginning and correct the course if necessary. It is important to consider how we handle problems. Obstacles are not failures, they are opportunities to correct and advance. If we keep the vision established from the beginning, each time an obstacle is overcome, the team becomes motivated and moves faster in the right direction.

Sixth

Ensuring short-term successes

Small victories every day. Moving in the right direction with measurable and visible results will always be an incentive for the work team, nothing motivates more than prospering in a stage of the process, it makes us feel that our effort and work has not been in vain.

Seventh

Grow on the change already generated

Many change processes fail because we impulsively accelerate changes, either due to internal or external pressures or both, this will only lead to rapid wear and tear and declare the change process finished prematurely, condemning it to failure. Effective change must be profound to be permanent. Each success provides an opportunity to grow, enhancing what has gone well and removing what stops or hinders us.

Eighth

Set the change in corporate culture

There is no true change if it is not part of the corporate culture. All members must be aware that the organization is in a process of change from which a renewed and stronger company will emerge, ready to face what the new reality demands. There can be no real change with a stagnant organizational structure. When a change process is undertaken, we must work continuously to promote new organizational habits according to our global vision to guarantee that change is seen in every aspect of the organization.

The decision is yours, change or die!