Change: A Necessary Process

Source: Partner Insights

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by August Aquila.

If I fail to change, I will not produce different or better results, but only the same thing. This is extremely dangerous because the world around us — our clients, our employees, the marketplace — continues to change.

Is there a change process?

Yes. Weight Watchers™ is perhaps one of the best companies that have developed a change process for those who want to lose weight. Let's see what we can learn from its process.

1. The organization must have a plan/process for its people to follow.
2. Partners and employees need to be aligned with the change policy.
3. Change requires the firm and the individual to make investments. As mentioned above, the firm must create a process for people to follow. I often recommend the development of competency tables for every position in the firm.
4. Similar to Weight Watchers™ there must a personal development plan and a personal commitment to its outcome. We cannot force someone to follow the change plan.
5. If you join Weight Watchers™ it educates you on good eating habits and how many points a specific meal contains, and it makes you aware of what you did not know before entering the program. We must do the same thing with our people. Continual learning is key.
6. There is accountability in the Weight Watchers™ program. Every week people in the program weigh in. We need to create the same type of accountability programs in our firms.
7. Change is something that we do every day. It may be as little as spending five minutes a day reading or listening to an audio program or asking a client or partner some questions about the business.

For the complete article, read “Can You Really Change a Partner?”

From Partner Insights, Aquila Global Advisors, LLC, October 26, 2010, www.aquilaadvisors.com.