Over the past several months have you noticed that some around you in the workplace seem to be breathing easier or expressing sighs of relief? Maybe you actually heard others or even said yourself … “Damn … we made it! We’re alive and kicking and now we can get back to business … real business and success!” Undoubtedly being on this end of the past 4 years is cause for the sigh … and celebration. Yet you KNOW it’s not over. In some ways the real task is ahead. What’s the real value of surviving if it can’t be sustained and return the organization to a solid and success-filled future?
Today I saw a thought-provoking infographic that speaks to this very well. One of the graphics asks “What’s the future of business? … changing the way businesses create experiences”. Or there’s another that says … “Those who do not respond to the new normal are at a greater risk of falling into difficulty”. (You can see the complete ‘sign’ here.)
Given the challenges facing businesses, the messages of the above referenced infographic play well to the theory of ‘Break-It Thinking’ that can help keep an organization alive and vibrant. It’s a concept that is described in the book “If it Ain’t Broke, Break it” and is based on the theory that when we continue to operate on the basis of what has made us successful yesterday, and, we are in a rapidly changing world … it very often marks the beginning of our downward slide. That the past few years are representative of and a catalyst for ‘a changing world’ is a gross understatement. Today, because your organization is here and alive, making the right choices to insure the success you want seems critical to making the vision of a bright future a reality.
‘Break it thinking’ has the potential of bringing about life-saving awareness to the organization. It seems that in the blink of an eye our approaches, products, methods or processes can become obsolete … almost overnight. Has the recent years of tsunami like conditions made change mandatory? Some questions to ponder might include …
- How are you marketing yourself and/or your product? Same old … same old or have you embraced the added … and FREE … reach afforded by blogging and social media?
- Are you certain that your customer base is still there with the same needs? Or … has it changed for they too, were on the wild ride to survive?
- What changes that you had to make in order to survive have you incorporated into your move-forward processes … because they just make sense while saving you cents.
Of course there are many areas to which you can apply break-it thinking. Of great importance is a willingness and a dogged determination to avoid the trap of ‘business as usual’ when it is clearly not. There is a new normal. We don’t have full control over that however we do and can control how we adapt to it. Change really does make the world go round … if we let it!
Mike Dorman
