Removing the reset button

As we exit the ‘noughties’ and prepare to enter an exciting new decade it seems an appropriate time to reflect on change, as this seems the only constant we can predict for the future.  Managing change is difficult.  People work to type and even though you can introduce new ways to do things it is hard to prevent old habits coming back and people reverting to the previous ways they did things.  I recall a friend once telling me that it is less about how you tell your child not to do something, and more about how often you tell them.  I guess this is a trait not limited to children and is part of the reason change is hard, and change management itself has developed into a discipline in its own right.  It is important to bear in mind that maintaining change can almost be as hard as enacting it in the first place, as often there are embedded reasons why things have occurred a certain way in the past.

The Egg and Spoon race growth strategy

I had the thought the other day that growing a new business is a bit like running an egg and spoon race. Everyone wants to run as fast as possible but the danger of running too fast is that you drop the egg.  So judgement has to be used in order to maximize speed but prevent the set back of dropping the egg, or worse still breaking it.  So who is in the best position to judge the speed at which you can run?