The Status Quo Never Leads To Wonderland

Sometimes people forget how much 365 days actually brings to their lives. They just wait years to do something new, to take risks, or to pursue a dream. They just settle. The same happens to companies… 

So, if you are starting a new chapter why not to use this new year to change, and to do things differently and better than before?

Embracing change can be good for your company

Unfortunately, to many people, change means something negative, something to fear. Change can be seen as something dramatic or painful, instead of something positive -an evolution.    

In many organizations, people are just afraid of change because it means shaking solid organizational cultures, procedures and behaviors. People might feel afraid of losing the power or the status they have achieved during the years they have worked for the same organization. In some cases, they might be afraid of losing their jobs or of being forced to do something very different.  

Customers' needs, economic and political situations in the country, market and industry changes, and even competitors' actions force companies to change. This means, changing is not an option but mostly, a need.

A change will bring more experience to your employees and to your company. It will help you to rediscover your potential and to see the business from a new perspective. A change will take you out of your comfort zone but, at the same time, will help you to explore new dimensions of your business, new opportunities.    

Picture: pixabay.com

So, you think you don’t need to change? Think twice.

There is not such a thing like a perfect company. This is perhaps the most common mistake we face in some organizations. We believe that everything is good and therefore, we want things to stay in that way -without risks. We can get used to certain conditions because those are quite OK for us. We believe that the status quo is good because we feel safe and comfy.

It is perhaps when the employees have been there for a while, without changes or surprises; or when the company has been selling regularly the same amount of products every year, or when the company believes that its relationship with its partners is stable. Those symptoms can make us settle. However, the truth is that settling can damage your company in the long term.

If you are wondering why to change if everything is fine in your company, let me tell you something, the status quo might be a comfortable status but, it is not enough for your company success. Most of the organizations need to adapt and change if they want to survive in the wild business environment that we are facing nowadays. 

If you're doing things the way you always have, you might be already obsolete or you might be losing a lot of opportunities to grow and to expand. Think about online selling, globalization, social media marketing, customer service, and digitalization. These are only few examples of things which have dramatically changed in the last years. No doubts those things are already affecting your business, right? 

The status quo and your employees

You are not the only one responsible for creating and maintaining the status quo. Your employees play an important role in creating and breaking it. However, it is your responsibility as a leader to choose and support your employees wisely.

Supporting the status quo is not good for your employees. When the employees get comfortable because everything is good, they get complacent with the status quo. They do the same things over and over again. If fact, they will resist changing due to the risks that change entails.

So, what should you do now? Well, it is time to review your employees' behavior. Despite of some managers' believes, a good employee is not the one who just do what is required to do without challenging him/herself or challenging the company situation. They might be good in their actual jobs under the actual conditions, but they will find challenging thinking outside the box, doing things in a different way or adapting to new conditions.

When focusing on the employees mentioned above and when giving all the credits to them for doing things "as we always have done", you might be pushing away your top performers or not using their real potential. Bringing new people to your organization will help you to break this status quo. (Of course, if you let them do their job). They will bring to your company new skills and new perspectives. Remember, it does not make much sense to try to change them and make them act as the rest of your people.

Change management and leadership

Challenging the status quo is not easy. Change is not easy.

Change management is all about persuading people to break with the status quo. As a manager, explaining to your employees why we need to change it is extremely important but, not enough to achieve the goal and to change. You need to create a realistic plan with tasks and activities to lead your company to the new direction. The activities and tasks can be small, too. This means that you could change step by step. You have to motivate your team and employees to support the change and all the change initiatives that are generated in your organization. You need to get them involved.

Unfortunately, most companies talk about change far more than they actually engage in it. So, as a leader, your most important task is to walk your talk. There is nothing more frustrating and confusing than having a manager that want innovation while exhibiting behaviors that endorse doing things as “we have done before”.

You have a new year, a new opportunity to break the status quo and take your company to a better situation. Make each day count.