All businesses have to change over time. If they don’t then they inevitably disappear as they get taken out by a failure to keep up with technological changes, or customer preferences, or competitors with cheaper cost structures, or all three. Businesses that successfully anticipate changes and adapt and profit from them, are the ones that survive and grow. Actually implementing change, however, can be a daunting prospect for a business. Making changes can be disruptive to operations and potentially destructive to the social fabric of the organisation. We, as people, do not really like change, especially if it is unexpected, we don’t really understand why it is required and have litttle control over how it occurs.

It is possible to reduce the negative effects of change by helping people to stay informed about what is happening in the industry sector and markets in which they operate and what the company is doing to adapt to industry and market changes. This allows people to anticipate possible changes, and to think about what they might need to do to adapt to them. This allows a degree of control over events – something we all like to have.