Businesses must constantly evolve and adapt to meet a variety of challenges and while every organization handles change differently, one thing we can all agree is that there are many steps involved.
With the formation of the ADIS AUTOMOTIVE GROUP last year, the management team pulled on their decades of leadership experience and six sigma training to formulate a plan that would both encompass the uniqueness of each business within their collective umbrella, yet centralize their ethics and well-versed quality and production processes to ensure synergy across all brands.
According to Harvard Business School, “Approximately 50 percent of all organizational change initiatives are unsuccessful, highlighting why knowing how to plan for, coordinate, and carry out change is a valuable skill for managers and business leaders alike.” and it is with this in mind that co-founders Jeremy Svoboda and Marc Ammerlaan settled down to coagulate their perspectives into four key steps for success.
First and foremost before addressing any individual aspect of change, it is important to figure out the need for the change. By initially mapping and creating a thorough analysis of the current status of the organization, its skill sets, its production philosophy and its supply and distribution chains, they were able to reveal opportunities for the short, mid and long term, and map those with data to create a set of goals.
Once the need for change is identified, the second step is to prepare the business for change. By ignoring the impulse to simply hand out tasks, Marc and Jeremey were able to ensure their vision was transposed across the entire organization. A substantial part of this preparation for a cultural shift is ensuring every member of every team understands why the change is important to future success.
Once the planning and communication is complete, the change needs to be implemented. By breaking down tasks into achievable steps and following a SMARTER approach, the transition is smoother, the goals are seen to be getting completed and the wider picture soon becomes clearer. By monitoring progress closely, and anticipating roadblocks, Marc and Jeremy were able to constantly maintain morale and progress.
Once rolled out, the sustainability of those results is ordinarily a final fourth and final step - setting a new standardized approach so the new becomes normal. However, this status quo, as much as it may conclude the amalgamation of a group of companies, isn’t the end of the journey here. Both six sigma black belts, the words ‘continual improvement’ are embedded in the blood of these entrepreneurs, and therefore the next optimization or change is not far behind the last!
