The Change Agent Blog:

How Things Change Without Us Noticing

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It’s the first day of school here. I remember with such fondness the excitement of those first days when our boys were in school. We made them stand on our front porch so we could take the annual picture and compare it to how much they grew from the last year. Here’s one of my favorite pictures of our youngest son Drew as he anticipated his start in Kindergarten. How those years flew by without us noticing . . .now our boys are both college seniors.

It seems like nothing changes when you are in the midst of living. Only when you step back, do you see how much has really changed. The same is true where we work. We often forget to consider the impact of our organization’s changes on our customers. So here are some tips to help you manage your customers through your organization’s changes:

• Obtain customer feedback on the change(s). Consider conducting focus groups or surveys of customers to gain their input on potential changes. Invite your key customers to be part of the change process. Ask your customers, “How can we better serve your needs as our customer?” If you ask for feedback, listen and be willing to consider the customer’s input.
• Help your customers understand the “why” behind the changes that impact them. Customers want to know, “What’s in it for me?” Share the benefits to the customer as to why you are making the changes. Capture the heart of your customer by being clear as to how your changes benefit them and you can win their loyalty.

Taken from my tips booklet: 93 Tips for Managing Change

Please check out the 42 new articles I added to my website in the pdf format. Feel free to use these articles in your organization (just give me credit please).

Make it a great week!