3 Proven Steps Most Managers Miss to Help You Conquer Technology & Change

Change is the ultimate fundamental in our world. Most business people pay little attention to it unless faced with a problem that change has generated. With this article, I want to share with you a little adventure I had while mountain climbing in Germany and how it profoundly relates to how I see change. In business, change can be a hard mountain to climb. In this article I would like to share with you 3 important secrets I use to help businesses take advantage of change (and not end up a victim of change). 

For several years, I worked for a successful manager who told those who worked with him regularly that business fundamentals do not really change and that the basics of business “are as old as the mountains.” In meetings, he would state that peripherals change, but not the fundamentals. 

While I agree fundamentals are important, things have changed. It is now important to be open to creating new fundamentals. The relentless hunt for a new edge is built into my protocols and has been critical to my results. Below I want to share three specifics of how I achieve this. 

You may be different, but I normally do not see a daily quest for change in most managers. Often I see fundamentals in place in businesses that are obviously obsolete. A manager asking for change and better performance is vastly different than a manager improving processes and fundamentals that lead to improved performance.  

How we process information as humans and act on that information has measurably transformed with new technology. When I look at manager’s actions, most ignore this fact in their daily routine. If your fundamentals do not at least take into consideration all of the new opportunities exploding on the market, then you are missing out on customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and bottom line business. While my old boss said fundamentals are like a mountain, never changing, the real fact is even mountains change.  

Look at the mountain behind my picture on my LinkedIn profile. That mountain is the Watzmann. It is in Bavaria and overlooks the village of Berchtesgaden and a crystal clear lake called the Koenigsee. With the help of an expert Sherpa, I climbed the east face of the Watzmann several years ago. At the summit, the views of the Bavarian German Alps, Berchtesgaden’s country side, and Austria were breathtaking. But something much more humble stuck with me on that climb. Embedded in the rock at the very top of the world, were hundreds of fossils. Immortalized in the stone were simple little creatures that once lived under the water thousands of years ago. It seemed impossible.

Life that was once was at the bottom of a sea was now at one of the highest points on the planet. While the amazing journey took millions of years, the undeniable truth in that experience for me was that change is the only constant. Change is the ultimate fundamental. 

Now imagine “mountains” in the business world that have risen at hyper speed. There is nothing new in telling you Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and more, have quickly become pinnacle institutions. If a Mount Everest suddenly grows in the business world everyone can see it, but very few managers today will invest the time to continuously and seriously study what is new and growing in their own backyard. Because of this, they miss important variables that are necessary in making optimal decisions in today’s market. It is human nature to take great comfort in the familiar, but the leaders we admire are the ones in a habit of breaking new ground. That is what makes them stand out.

Most change today is technology based. Think for a minute about your actual use and applications of those things that are foundational. Are you consistently updating, training, and improving your processes and protocols based on new technology that humans are responding to?

With most businesses, when processes are designed and codified, they are normally stored away after introduction. Those fundamentals and supporting action plans are like fossils stuck in stone. In too many cases they are only reviewed or see the light of day if there is a problem. 

The fact is those who design and build change into their business and operations every day are the ones who most often have the edge. They are the ones who consider and include the variables that others miss. In today’s world this is something you have to focus on almost every day or your business will be left behind. 

Never in the history of man have there been so many business opportunities come upon us so quickly. Never before has there been so much accurate data to study to help us improve. Those that have dynamic explosions in business, are those that stay atop of the latest, constantly changing data. So how can you manage and capture these opportunities? Here are three important actions you can start working on today that are proven to help organizations take advantage of change.

1)     Develop an academic environment – I use the word academic because encouraging everyone on your team to share constructively without reservation is key to growth. If your team is going to face challenges, it has to do so openly, honestly, and sincerely. To that end, every day set the example by ardently studying changes in your industry and other industries. Force yourself to study and search out germane material that you would not normally read. Every day ask for input and ideas from your people. Actually listen. I consistently encourage and reward my people for studying and researching new things that might give us an edge. Remind everyone there are no dumb questions. Not everything works but if you keep at it, the rewards are like proactive magic. The key is the team not the coach. As a coach, I am constantly sharing with my people what I have learned, and almost with evangelical zeal, I am trying to explore with them new possibilities. Keep it positive or no one will share. Be sincerely open and give people a regular forum to express their ideas. You will know you have built this special kind of environment when your people are in a habit of sharing and discussing dynamic possibilities for improvement. Finally, as your team finds gold, it is your responsibility to make sure the winning changes are put into place. Through a well-managed and supported academic environment, you can accelerate positive change in ways that will give your company a unique edge.

2)      Study people’s Acceptance and Use of Advancements & Technology First – While this should be true of anything new, digital improvements, no matter how brilliant, can be worthless unless embraced by the people who are keystones to your business. I have consistently seen millions of dollars wasted on new technology, social media, CRMs, and more, because end user acceptance was not there and no one took the time to ask. It is so easy to get caught up on what is new and shiny. Just because others are doing it, does not mean you should. Sometimes whoever you count on for great ideas in digital wizardry is not the main person you should be talking to. Many times their view is not the same as end users. If you put the people who will actually be using what is new first, you will know exactly where to spend your tech, marketing, and operational dollars. By building this rule into what you do, ultimately you will save your organization money and heartache. Just to punctuate, many times the most expensive, latest, greatest, number one answer to a challenge is not the best answer. Many times I have found technically the 3rd or 4th best option on a list might be the most profitable solution. Why? Simply because it has the best buy-in from the people who will be using it.

3)     Document and build protocols that are designed to evolve, with key stakeholder input, and with changes in your business. I will write more on this in a later article but simply put, your protocols are the detailed plans everyone follows daily to reach your goals. If done right, what you build should be a living document. Hundreds of people have asked me for written copies of my “protocols” because they have heard of their results. I always try to stress it is not just the protocols, or step by step manual, that generates the greatest results. There is an entire system that supports the people using the protocols and reinforces best practices. A high level of inclusion in the continuing development of those protocols makes a huge impact. Remember, when building your protocols, think of everything your people need, and how you can best keep it simple, relatable, and useable. In my case, I always try to include the following: (A) Update your protocols as quickly as change dictates. You will see a revision date on the top of all my protocols. It is an important symbol of our constant quest to update and improve what we do. (B) Provide all managers a to the point Daily Opportunity Report that breaks down, in abbreviated form, the last day’s performance numbers (and the total numbers month to date). (C) Develop carefully crafted onboarding processes, but more importantly, develop several complete training curriculums for both staff and managers. (D) Complete consistent, short team weekly meetings that are very to the point and showcase positive solutions. (E) Produce weekly Operations and Training Reports for staff that will constructively help your team with specifics to help them grow as individuals. (F) Complete consistent, short high impact “one on one” weekly coaching meetings where managers invest time with each individual on staff to positively strengthen their abilities (make sure your managers really hear their staff). All of this is documented and integrated into a complete process that is constantly being improved. The emphasis is to always be on point and provide real, pragmatic solutions to the challenges our people face. 

Let’s be honest, most managers do not invest much time in any of the areas listed above. One thing my managers are consistently trained on is how to make this happen. I call it coaching the coaches. If we, and I, do not do this extra work, we will miss the same variables that many others miss. While it is hard work, these are important foundations that give us the mysterious competitive edge that everyone is always wondering about.

Like the Watzmann, when I look at the top of a mountain, I know that the rocks that form the peak may have once covered the ocean floor.  Change is a constant and as old as the mountains, but things have accelerated in today’s business world. Keeping up is not easy, but my company and people have come to expect me to give them that competitive edge. Sure, there is more to it than I have room for here, but this is an important part of how I am able to consistently deliver on those expectations. 

By taking the first 3 steps above in your business, you are on the path to mastering change vs reacting to it. Best of all, you will start seeing happier customers, more productive employees, and give your business what seems like an unfair advantage in the market.