I’ve been thinking about organizations and the subject of change. My experience has been that many organizations want to change, but they just don’t know how. Some begin the process only to discover that they are ill-equipped for the journey.

At Maximum Change we understand this problem and have developed a 4-step process for change. The first step is all about the analysis of the organization’s current state. We can’t change if we don’t know what it is we are changing to or from.

Change for the sake of change is most always a waste of time. Most organizations take little time considering their culture, personalities, leadership and structure and how they relate to the organization’s vision, mission, or even the goals before them. Understanding the organization holistically means that we are better equipped to effect the changes needed. We utilize the process of interview, observation, assessment, training and coaching to develop a clear picture of the organization’s current state. Our process considers the organization’s culture, leadership structure and individual personality profiles. This process illuminates the organization to its fullest, so that when we consider the desired changes, we are better equipped to make those changes in the current organizational environment.

Many organizations spend hours a year developing their yearly, three- and five-year plans only to abandon them to the shelves of their offices. Strategic planning is only the beginning of the process, not the end. What we need to understand is that strategic planning is nothing more than forecasting based only on what we know. We call this lag-thinking. Lag-thinking is the process of making decisions based on what has already happened.

Budgets and financial forecasts are typically based on this process of lag-thinking. Lag-thinking renders a plan useless within only a short period of time and must be updated constantly. Strategic plans based only on lag-thinking information are ill-equipped for the year ahead.