There’s a reason an agile body and mind are so highly prized in competitive sports. Being able to change direction quickly and make good decisions lightning-fast and under pressure allows athletes to capitalise on unexpected opportunities. And, in doing so, to outsmart and outperform their opponents.
Of course, adaptability and responsiveness are just as much of an asset in business, and for similar reasons. They help you recover from setbacks and adopt new ideas, technology, systems and processes faster and more effectively. They drive innovation, efficiency and productivity gains, boost your competitive advantage, and increase resilience.
This article complements a recent SmartCompany vodcast and eBook, which delve into the why and how of change management. If you haven’t already, it’s highly worthwhile checking them out for a deep-dive into this very important topic.
In the meantime, here are some bonus insights from the vodcast panellists Rebecca Warren, Executive GM for Small Business at CommBank, Jane Robertson, founder of Millwoods Shoes, and Cam Grant, founder of Unyoked.
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Millwoods Shoes originally started out as a children’s brand, but when Robertson found out that women were clamouring for the same comfy, stylish and durable footwear their kids were getting, she decided to introduce a line for adults.
Robertson’s new range got a huge and unexpected boost from her participation in the Buy from the Bush Campaign. However, it was her commitment to quality that really set it up for success.
“I want to tell you that it was because I had an actionable plan, but sometimes opportunities just come up, and you just have to make it work,” she says. “I had built a really good product, and quality is really important to me, and I think our customer base knew that.
“When we said we were going to the market, their feelers went out. That’s when those key elements that I really have built our shoes around helped us.”
Grant’s business Unyoked rents out off-the-grid cabins just outside major cities, where people can go to enjoy the mental health benefits of immersing themselves in nature. It started in 2017 with two cabins, and now has 100 across three different countries, and there are no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
In the years since its launch, Unyoked has had to tackle its fair share of challenges and change—including the pandemic, bushfires, mouse plagues, and snake plagues.
“Change is to do with understanding what you can control and what you can’t control,” Grant says. “As a startup, that second list is generally a lot longer than the first… [and] if you’re not expecting change and adaptable to it, you are not going to make it through.”
From day one, he has worked hard to intentionally build a culture that embraces and drives change. So, every week, he pulls his team into a pain-point analysis meeting, where they map out:
“We’re constantly iterating on things because we know that the state of today is not where we’ll be tomorrow,” Grant says. “I think that planning and that desire to keep improving, that’s what makes us adaptable when things happen to us as well. [It’s] that same mindset of stepping back, seeing the big picture, moving some blocks around, and being like: ‘Okay, there’s the vision… How can we be flexible on the details to get there?’”
Warren explains that there is a big difference between reactive and proactive change management, pointing to COVID-19 as a perfect example of the former.
“If you think about change in that context, it was reactive, not proactive, [in that people] didn’t have a choice,” she says. “Businesses had to change overnight from having staff and customers that could come to them, to basically [being] in shutdown mode.”
An ability to roll with the punches is obviously very important. However, your organisation will really benefit in an on-going way by being proactive about change.
“When we see businesses really thrive, they’re proactive, choosing to change, and adapt, and be flexible and nimble to consumer changes, or economic changes,” Warren says.
She advises business owners to consciously cultivate adaptability and resilience, as she believes these are the two most important skills needed to successfully navigate change.
It’s about “ensuring that you’ve got the courage and conviction when you need it,” she emphasises, as well as having the emotional intelligence to be able to steady yourself, calm your nerves, and think reflectively.
Read now: Empowering staff supports sound change management
The Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) is one of Australia’s leading providers of personal banking, business and institutional banking and share broking services. With more than 15 million customers and a history spanning more than a century, the Group’s purpose is to build a brighter future for all. The Commonwealth Bank is Australia’s leader in digital banking and maintains the largest branch network across the country. For more information on Commonwealth Bank, visit commbank.com.au/business.
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