New Approaches Are Vital for Survival in Business

By Peter Barron Stark

“The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”

– Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock

Learning, unlearning, and relearning are important tactics to apply when faced with a major change. Depending upon how familiar you are with our work, you may know that we have three different ways of describing how people adapt to change. First, there are people that fight all change, whether it be organizational, societal and so on – we call them the dinosaurs. The second group’s responses are more moderate ones and while they will not actively fight the change, they behave like a rabbit in the road who is staring at upcoming headlights. Last, the third group of people are the ones who are able to accurately assess the future and possess the flexibility to adapt accordingly. We call them the dolphins. Dolphins are one of the brightest mammals in the ocean who possess the skills to adapt to any environment they swim in.

In these difficult economic times, life has been incredibly brutal to approximately 10 percent of the workforce by telling them, directly or indirectly, that there currently is not a need for their particular skills or service. Ouch! Almost every business has also felt the sting of the recession, some significantly like Circuit City and Linens ‘N Things. Many companies are facing an even greater challenge: surviving the recession while keeping up with their tech-savvy competitors.

One of these companies is Blockbuster who has historically been late to the game, specifically in comparison to their competitor, Netflix. NetFlix, a latecomer to the movie rental industry compared to Blockbuster, has a good grasp on how to use technology to suit the needs of a fast changing market and always seems to be one step ahead of Blockbuster. Last month, Blockbuster announced they are closing up to 960 stores and will be moving the business concept to a kiosk which will put them in direct competition with Redbox, a five-year-old movie rental company already operating nearly 12,900 kiosks. If each Blockbuster store has 15 employees, that will be an additional 9,000 people looking to realign their skill sets in a highly competitive and rapidly changing marketplace.

This world is changing and it is changing fast. Some industries such as the United States Postal Service, White and Yellow Page phone books, and daily newspapers are what we would call “dinosaurs” and are literally dying or are in significant decline as we write. The decline of these companies proves that it is crucial for business leaders and employees to embrace new technology and to stay informed on changing industries so that their businesses and skills stay one step ahead of the competition.

Just as Alvin Toffler said, learning and unlearning is important. This learning that he speaks of does not only involve incorporating new technology, but changing your ways of operating. The economy is not what it was even two years ago and this warrants implementing completely new approaches. These changes could (and should) include altering budgets, creating new marketing campaigns, acquiring new skills, and learning to get by with less – anything to help bring your company, and your position, safely through to the other side of this recession.

In working with many clients in multiple industries, we are seeing just about everyone learning to do a lot more with significantly fewer employees. Employers have had to learn what is really important, and how to do the important things a lot more efficiently. It is our belief that strong profitability is going to return to the balance sheets long before we see full employment once again. This recession, for some a depression, has changed everyone for a lifetime

While it may be difficult right now, we all know the economy will improve. It always does. What we don’t know is if employers will hire the same people back into the same jobs, and at the same employment levels we experienced in the boom times. Employees: Click here to read 10 tips for increasing your chances of long-term success.