Alan See

“I’ve been in this business for 30 years and I’ve never seen it like this.”

I can recall hearing that statement three times over the course of my career.  The first time I heard it I was in my 20’s.  My boss at the time had been a part of the Texas oil field service industry for over 30 years and the mid 80’s oil crash was taking its toll.  What once had boomed was now busting, stripper wells that had been profitable were being plugged and new drilling activity came to a virtual stand still.

I also remember the second occasion as if it were yesterday.  It was the early 90’s and I was at lunch with a co-worker who had just received their 30 year service pin from a major computer company.  The World Wide Web was just beginning to make the world a much smaller place, and Louis Gerstner stepped in to save IBM from going out of business.

A couple of days ago I heard the statement again.  Let’s just say that social media, digital marketing and mobile applications are proving to be major change agents for marketers in general.  Tracking that statement for three decades it’s obvious that change is timeless and cuts across all sectors of the economy.  How are you dealing with constant change?  From my perspective I can vouch for the following:

1.  Don’t try to ignore the situation creating the change because that will only keep you off balance.

2.  Getting angry doesn’t help and often makes it worse.

3.  The “good old days” never really happened, and wishful thinking is a waste of time.

More importantly; top management can’t hand out “grand plan” detailed answers to address the entire transition because all the information they need simply doesn’t exist.  Their new strategy in its full detail will need to evolve during the change process.  In short, top management doesn’t have all the answers because some of the questions keep shifting.  But that doesn’t mean they don’t need your support.  In fact, broad-based grassroots support of change can make the difference for every organization.

I recently attended a faculty meeting to kick-off the New Year. One of the presentations disclosed enrollment trends that did not surprise, but none the less disappointed some of my fellow faculty. An increasing number of students are enrolling in online as opposed to on-campus courses. In short, the online modality more closely matches many students desired method for consuming education. Although most of the faculty can teach both online and on-campus, their traditional teaching backgrounds creates a comfort level and natural desire to interact with their students in a class room environment. The shift from a class room setting to online just doesn’t feel right to some, and that can make it difficult to embrace change even when the data states the obvious.

Shifting business environments make change necessary, but it doesn’t mean it will be easy. In my role as VP of Marketing there are always struggles to keep new initiatives on track even when the data indicates that the change is not optional. Strong feelings to revert back to the old status quo are often lurking just below the surface. For example, a shift in our media planning recommendations away from traditional media products and into earned media programs at times creates fear, uncertainty and doubt within parts of our organization. You can just imagine the questions swirling:

·         What will our traditional customers think if we’re recommending media they’ve never tried before?

·         How will our competition, not to mention our media partners, react to our strategy changes?

·         How do we know for sure that these new media channels will deliver results?

Change has no conscience. It doesn’t play favorites, or take prisoners. In fact change ruthlessly destroys organizations that don’t adapt. So, from a leadership perspective here are three traits I intend to embrace this year:

1.       Take the initiative by putting my team in charge of problem-solving. If I make them (or let them) wait for hand-feed directions I’ll slow down the process.

2.       Take more risks and be willing to break with the past. I’ll ask my team to mitigate risk when possible; but make no mistake … both my team and I will need more nerve in 2010 in order to keep our new initiatives on track.

3.       Maintain faith in the new initiatives. As soon as change starts throwing off sparks, people become preoccupied with all the headaches, aggravations, and fears. I know there will be dark days; however, I’ll challenge my team to join me helping our entire organization look beyond the bleakness of the moment, and envision the possibilities of tomorrow.

I’m really looking forward to 2010’s opportunities and challenges. How about you?