Change is one of those words that can send even the most seasoned manager or business owner into a panic.  Generally it means some level of disruption in your daily operations, or in your plans for the future.  However, it does not have to be that way.  When you really sit down and think about, you are dealing with changes, both large and small every single day in your business, as you deal with customer requests or issues, new product roll-outs, signing up joint venture or affiliate partners, creating new websites, and on and on - and that doesn’t even take into consideration all of the changes in your personal live that you have dealt with / must deal with every day.

If you really think about it, you are an expert at dealing with change already.  In this series of articles, I am going to break down the concept of change so that it will be even easier for you to capitalize on what you are already very good at, managing change.

As a leader you play an important role in developing an organization that is flexible to change. “Leading change” is defined as clearly communicating the need for change and gaining employees’ commitment to it.  Part of the process of leading change is demonstrating flexibility and willingness to embrace change, along with communicating candidly the impact of the proposed change on the people involved.

As a business owner whether in a traditional brick and mortar business, or as an Internet Marketer, you will be dealing with change.  Change can be upsetting to employees, suppliers, outsource partners, Joint Venture partners, or even Affiliates.

The change might be having a new boss, introducing a new product, fending off an aggressive competitor, dealing with hard economic times, or creating a new website.  All of these are changes, some you wanted, and some you probably did not.

Although most people would agree that change is essential if an organization or even a single owner business is to grow and remain competitive - it is also true that change often produces anxiety and resistance, even when it is perceived as positive.  To lead or deal with change successfully, managers or owners must take into account both the business impact and the psychological impact on the people responsible for supporting and implementing the change.  By understanding how each person is experiencing the change, you can help lead others (or yourself) successfully through the transition process.

Change must be introduced through candid and continuous communication.  For people to “buy in” to the change, they must see it as achieving a necessary and specific improvement, such as increasing productivity or client satisfaction.  People also must perceive in the change a clear personal benefit to them, such as making work more efficient or ensuring the financial health of the company, or generating more commissions.

Initially, the change process should be broken down into small, incremental pieces shaped around goals that yield tangible, measurable, short-term successes.  Then, after these initial gains are made, more ambitious goals can be set.  You greatly increase the chances that the effort will be accepted and successful throughout the change process by communicating and focusing on results, working with others to identify and overcome their resistance, systematically planning for the change, and monitoring and measuring progress.

This is the first in an ongoing series of articles on Change and Transition Management.  The next segment deals with one of the earliest and most commonly used models for managing change - Force Field Analysis, and why it no longer really works.

It is part of the overall series on Strategic Planning developed to help both on and off-line businesses to succeed in any economy, and in any market.