The Need For Speed

Cost Removal is one of the hardest kinds of change initiative. Yet some of the new thinking on change may go some way to helping companies transition to lower-cost business faster, with less pain than before.

As the economic crunch bites, so does the need for companies to cut costs. Cost removal is one of the toughest kinds of change initiative. For one thing, when you are downsizing, successful implementation can't rely on positive engagement and buy-in (although they help). For another, implementing a change that you did not choose and do not want is the very definition of a forced change. And as we saw in the recent Bloomstorm change survey, the defining characteristic of most forced change projects is that they fail.

But there is light at the end of this tunnel. Unlike in previous economic downturns, thinking and practice in change has evolved. Many of us are better equipped to handle cost removal better than we have been before.

And of the many lessons we have learned, one of the most important is the need for speed. This applies to systems, to reorganisations, to workflow redesign - and to cost. In almost every case, it is better to implement something quickly and adjust it, than delay in the vain pursuit of perfection.

So as we think about the changes we need to make to remove costs from our business, we need to think hard about what we can do to make things happen straightaway - in the next hours, not the next months. You can do more faster than you think.

Mike

(Photocredit: Flávio Takemoto / sxc.hu)