Danger: If handled incorrectly, rapid change can result in entirely inappropriate moves. But when handled correctly, change can give your company a chance to take a more dominant business position.

STEP I – Take a look in the mirror – Evaluate your business as if you were an outsider taking an unbiased, neutral look at the business. You are NOT looking for people who are doing things wrong, you ARE looking solutions that will make things right.

Set clear goals at the beginning. Your business renewal strategy must be agreed upon by the decision-makers & then clearly communicated to all staff team members.

Example: A company tried to become too "mass appeal," which diluted its basic strength. The company lost its market "position" as a "special" attraction & evolved into another "me to".

STEP II - Develop a blueprint for success. Decide on what your company will have to look like to be successful. Focus on four elements:

A. The company's organizational structure
B. The systems, controls & procedures used to operate the 
     company
C. The culture within the company
D. The company's capabilities

These can be redesigned or changed to implement the company's strategy. Elements must be aligned with each other & with your established goals. Example 1: The company wants to increase sales 30%. It has selected 5 major customer target groups. To accomplish its goal, the company should be structured around its 5 specific markets, instead of around historical lines that are meaningless to the customer. In this example, management must learn how the company is structured now (around historical lines with poor customer orientation) & that its current culture is low-risk, status quo. Example 2: To capture more market share, the company will have to create a culture that accommodates some risk. Presently, the company has a low-risk, retrenchment mentality.

It's important to devise ways to measure progress. One way: Develop a survey of customers & employees to measure characteristics such as customer orientation, support for risk-taking & employee incentives.

STEP III - Identify critical gaps between the blueprint & the company's current profile. This is

where the company gets a clear vision of how it must change to meet its established goals.

Example: A company that once had geared its system to excellence thru product quality & service overreacted to a downturn in business by going on a "nickel & dime" binge, making cuts only for the sake of saving money, not accounting for how those actions affected customers.

The result: The company culture got a message that no one cared anymore, lost pride, team spirit. It was a culture & systems gap they had to close.

In other words: "EVERY TIME YOU CHEAT THE GUEST, IT COSTS YOU MONEY!"

STEP IV - Set priorities. Sort out the crucial gaps that must be closed first in order to achieve strategic success. An analysis might indicate 49 gaps, but only 12 are crucial. Don't confuse busy-ness with business (activity vs. taking action). Select key action areas and focus efforts to change on them.

STEP V - Develop a sound business renewal action plan. To effect change, a company must build a solid action plan for change. Key elements:

* Clearly defining the problems
* Brainstorm to create promising solutions
* A detailed game-plan listing steps to solving the problems
* A realistic order-of-events timetable
* A person who is accountable for the process

One of the main causes of unsuccessful change is lack of clear leadership. Helpful: Appoint a change leader - an executive whose job is to orchestrate the steps to change.

STEP VI - Implement your plans completely. Areas where implementation often goes wrong:

* Incomplete follow-thru.
* People get distracted, have other priorities & work, lose sight of
   the big picture
* Poor communication on the purpose of change
* Inconsistency between words & action

STEP VII - Monitor & follow-up - You must evaluate how effective change has been. Go back to your blueprint & measure how much gaps have been closed. A company that hasn't developed gauges won't know how much progress has been made.

Note: Parts of this outline were adapted from the "How To" process suggested by William A. Schiemann, whose company specializes in managing change.