By Rorry Harding, Senior Consultant with Larry Cote, Managine Director – Lean Advisors, Inc.
To stay competitive, small businesses need to embrace improvement, much like their larger counterparts. Yet, navigating change poses a significant challenge. With limited resources at their disposal, small businesses find investing in change particularly straining.
Small business owners may resist change due to the perception that it will demand excessive time and effort or necessitate new tools, administration, and equipment. Emotionally too, there are barriers; after investing significant time and money, there’s a sense of pride in what has been built, and altering operations can introduce stress.
In addition, often small business owners might not recognize potential improvements since their expertise lies more in their industry rather than process innovation. Concerns about employee resistance to change or discomfort with new technology or procedures are also prevalent.
Despite these issues, managing change effectively is essential for a business’s success or even survival. Committing time to implement improvements creates a conflict of priorities – what gets pushed aside to accommodate this investment?
A business owner’s first step is assessing the potential benefits of change in terms of cost, quality, and speed. A rapid and efficient method to gauge this is through Value Stream mapping exercises, which offer a clear depiction of the current process and develops a future state, highlighting areas ripe for immediate minimal cost improvements such as Visual Management Boards, 5S, or Mistake-Proofing.
An ideal outcome would be substantial improvements based on Value Stream Mapping without spending on new assets, technology, hiring additional staff, or expanding space.
The planning for the ‘Future State’ encompasses a timeline and scope for approximately two to three months, incorporating success metrics and resource allocation, allowing for progress tracking and making well-informed decisions.
Key to successful change is focusing on leadership style. Engaging basic Change Management principles is crucial, involving transparent communication about the necessity for change, involving staff throughout the process, providing needed resources, demonstrating the advantages of change to employees, progressing through manageable steps, and seeking expert advice in Change Management.
While small companies might not have an internal Change Management team, some existing expertise can be augmented by external Lean and Change Management professionals, potentially subsidized by grants.
Indeed, the apprehension related to change stemming from fears of the unknown, scant resources, employee resistance, comfort with the status quo, and lack of understanding, is a common sentiment.
Nevertheless, by fostering open communication, allocating sufficient resources, emphasizing the benefits, taking manageable steps, and acquiring expert assistance, small business owners can conquer these challenges and quickly propel their business into stronger growth, profitability, and overall success.
It’s a frequent notion that everyone is too occupied to tackle change presently and that delaying until next year could be more manageable. Improvements can be made painlessly and low cost. In today’s competitive landscape, you don’t have a choice — make positive changes or risk losing to your competition.
Contact us to discuss this topic or any other business improvement concepts of interest — [email protected].
