Change, Flexibility, Recognition

I just listened to a news story on the radio about General Motors. They have established brands and methods for producing those brands. Unfortunately for them, their marketplace is in a period of change. Their customers have changed their needs and GM has to adapt to the new conditions. This is not the first time this has happened. In the past, when companies have successfully adapted to a changing marketplace, it was because of flexibility. I hear many people saying that we need to be more flexible, too.

The news has a funny way of focusing on the bad. My memory of this type of story is that they follow this line: a series of plant closings; followed by business closure; followed by persecution of management in the media and the courtroom; followed by second-guessing on what could have been done from people peripherally involved who could have done something but didn’t. Rather than repeat that cycle, let us jump to the end and try to learn from it.

After the fact, everyone recognizes that the cause of the failure was a lack of flexibility. The company should have made smaller (bigger) cars. The company should have made more fuel-efficient (powerful) cars. The company should have made more family-oriented (sporty) cars. The company should have made what the market wanted when the market wanted it.

To their credit, most companies are in business today because, through serendipity or generally good business acumen, they made what the market wanted when the market wanted it. The trick to longevity is recognizing when the market has changed its mind and being flexible enough to change to producing what the market wants.

As an organization, we have talked about change. We have talked about how we need to be flexible. We need to let go of what our customers no longer need so we can target our energies on what they will need next. Letting go is hard, but we can all work together to accept it (denial, anger, depression, bargaining, acceptance). Wait a moment, though. Look back at the last sentence in the last paragraph. We are working backwards through it. There were three concepts that made up the “trick” in that sentence (in reverse order): change, flexibility, and recognition. We already talked about change and flexibility. They are hard things because we live with habits and like to have others tell us what to do. But, what about recognition? That is the key to the trick, but we have not talked about it.

Recognition for an organization starts when the individuals who make up the organization are in touch with and aware of the needs and wants of their customers and then they communicate those customer needs and wants freely, openly, and honestly to the largest possible audience. Share what you know, learn what you don’t.

How does all that happen? That is the easy part. All you have to do is ask.

Are you interested in weight lifting? There was just another successful Lift for Life. Go introduce yourself to one of the people involved and ask them about it. Learn about what they do and ask yourself if what we do helps or hurts their efforts, or is completely irrelevant. Communicate what you learn.

Interested in fine art? Go find one of the people involved in research on digital systems for detecting forgeries. Ask them about their research and ask yourself how we might make a positive contribution. Communicate what you learn.

Interested in earthquakes? There is a group of people studying the recent earthquake in China. Go talk to them about what they do. Ask yourself how they could benefit from what we can do. Communicate what you learn.

Find a faculty member, researcher, or administrator. Find a student organization that might be of interest. Introduce yourself and ask them about what they do. You do not have to sell them anything. You are trying to get in touch with our customers and become aware of what they do. That is the mission of the University. When we say we support the University that is what we mean. It is not support as in “Hello, this is Microsoft Technical Support.” It is “With the support of all of us, we can do what each of us cannot do alone.”

Get out of your office. Bump into someone you do not know and say, “Do you have a moment? Can you tell me what you do at the University?” Recognition, flexibility, and change all start with you.

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