Secret 5 - Change is going to happen, Deal with it

Imagine if every day of your life you were walking around on ground that was in constant motion.

With every step you tried to take, the ground below your feet was spinning in a non-stop fashion completely out of your control.

Well of course, if you think about it rationally, this is happening to us all every day. The world is in constant motion, it’s completely out of our control and yet somehow we manage to walk upright, not get dizzy (most of the time!) and stay in control of our movement.

In any organization and in anyone’s life change is pretty much the only thing you can guarantee. Change is any movement away from what is currently the norm.

Now if this is the case and if change is inevitable – why are so many people so opposed to change!

Successful people not only learn to deal with change, they embrace and encourage it. Change means growth, change means development.

A business that is not changing has reached a plateau or is actually going backwards. A person whose life is not changing is not growing, they’re not learning from those around them and they’re certainly not making mistakes. Mistakes are the building blocks for learning and growth.

Here are some interesting changes I went through owning my real estate agency in Launceston, Tasmania:

- When we started our real estate agency we got a lot of business because we were small and boutique. When the company grew we were seen as a large dominating player - our marketing strategy had to change accordingly.

- When we were the first to do certain things in our area (advertise on television, have computer screen monitors displaying our properties in our front office window, have a higher level of membership to certain websites etc) we were copied. I learned to realize, so what! We took it as a compliment!

- Our major competitors when we started the business were completely different to the major competitors we had 5 years in. I took this as a lesson that nothing in business is certain. The firms we once vied with the most were reduced to tiny players and other new companies and new visions in older companies were now at the forefront with us.

- We started off with a tiny team (three people, all business owners) in one office. When I sold the company there was more than 50 people in 6 offices. Your systems obviously have to change to accommodate dramatic growth like this.

- Our legislation changed, licensing requirements changed, staff changed, we moved offices 4 times, change, change, change. Be prepared for the fact that you can’t be prepared for it all.

I once heard someone say that if you don’t like change you’re going to like extinction even less! Get used to change – and find ways to create change in your life.

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments