Leaving the Comfort Zone without a Reason? Here’s a Healthy Approach!

No changes are done for the sake of just changing things, at least something has to be successful. Sure, you may recall the quote saying that leaving the comfort zone is game-changing, but is it really so in every situation? We believe that such activity will only confuse you, as you won’t be led forward by a formalised and understandable goal.

All in all, you don’t go camping without a tent, sleeping bag, and food supplies. So it is with changes in life and work that you must carefully prepare to achieve your goals. Plan your path to success, know what steps you need to take to overcome this path and the result will not be long in coming!

Let’s find out which sides of modern change management are good to know in 2020:

1. Focus on Constant Progress

While the classic theory of change management implies having a starting and end date of any changes, the modern business makes companies evolve all the time. For example, a company gets a new CRM system and implements it in practice. Once it’s implemented, everyone continues doing things in the old way, even not looking at the extensive benefits of the new system.

Now we are all sure that in business, changes have directions but no destination points. Do you remember the case of Amazon which introduce innovations literally every quarter? It is a great example of why businesses can’t be always successful without the constant evolution. Progress never ends. After ambitious goals are achieved, even more challenging ones appear.

Key takeaway: There are thousands of ways for improving your life and business. Don’t stop!

2. Set Realistic Goals for Every Effort

This hack is useful for those who want to improve their personal and business achievements as soon as possible. When we commented on constant progress, we didn’t mean changes for changes or your activities were so similar to make a fuss (like mice running wheel), you should know why you take action.

Define your goals. Start with global ones, break them down into smaller ones, and then into everyday ones. By the way, our material on productivity tips will help you with this. ;)

Also, if you want to know how the market leaders designate objectives that allow them to maintain the position of world’s best innovators, check out our article on goal setting!

Key takeaway: If you can’t see which goal will be achieved by your actions, put them off for later, and focus on the more important things here and now.

3. Find the Source of Changes in a Company

When it comes to the enterprise scale, it is recommended that companies have a top-level team for transmitting the strategy for changes. Actually, this model complies with the common company hierarchy, when all decisions come from the C-level, even being inspired by employees.

These are people who show the desired behaviour and speak out a new position, making others follow their example. They should also support subordinates on the way to success. When someone comes to a top manager with a query, the manager should know how to lead the energy and knowledge of that person in the right direction.

Key takeaway: If you start from the top, it will be easier to deliver downstream results.

4. Realise that People Are the Main Drives of Changes

First of all, if your planned changes involve others, keep in mind common resistance and their will to meet innovations. Everyone should communicate the importance of every participant daily. Not only leadership and management should be involved in serious business revolutions.

Employees are no longer secondary implementers, they are active participants. Do you remember the story of Toyota from our previous article? That’s it! Leaders should listen to everyone, not only to top managers and directors. Highly engaged people strive to help businesses develop and might offer innovative ideas that shouldn’t be neglected.

Key takeaway: Attentively listen to your colleagues and don’t miss out-of-the-box ideas.

5. Prepare for Unexpected Twists

No matter how well thought out your plan is, there is always the possibility of unpredictable external influences. Of course, planning includes all possible variables, but the world is changing so fast that every day new technology can turn your business 180 degrees.

Managing changes effectively means not only adhering to your plan but adapting to the environment shifts. The IT industry has been long dealing with this condition, having the Agile methodology at hand. The core principle of it is being able to make changes to the plan as quickly as required by the customer or the market in general. Sure, you and your company must have a detailed description of the global goal you want to achieve. Methods and small steps can vary depending on the circumstances, and that’s quite natural.

Key takeaway: Be ready to make rapid changes to your tactics while pursuing strategic goals.

6. Measure Change Efforts

To know whether you spend time and resources efficiently, measure what you do. Simply put, it can be even a comparison of what you had at the start, how much effort you dedicated to the change, and what you finally got.

If we turn back to the enterprise scale, measuring the success of every step on the way to innovation is extremely important. “Business” is about income and profitability, and no leaders will be satisfied by “somehow improving the workflow.” Operate numbers to show the impact of changes. Almost anything can be tracked, for example, an increase in profit margins, employees’ engagement, the quality of communication, the number of customers attracted, or the decrease in time spent for performing daily tasks.

Key takeaway: Numbers show how effective the change was and how the outcomes evolved. It’s no more a guessing game.

To sum everything up, we’d like to add that these hacks are not only things you should focus on while achieving ambitious goals. There are tons of peculiarities in each particular company, which influence the process of implementing innovation and the outcomes. So, constantly enhance your individual plan for changes.

By the way, we’ve already talked about the main stages and activities of implementing changes, so check out this article to start creating your plan right away! ;)