Change Management

1. A necessary change 

I had been working a job that is comfortable and convenient but does not exploit my full capability career wise. I had made a plan to switch the job for a more challenging one which requires that I even change my residence. I am on the present timeline of this plan because I have been afraid of moving houses to be closer to the new job. The commuting is stressful but I imagine getting used to the new work place before changing the living environment will be easier to deal with. Effective change is gradual. I saw the need for change and acted on it. Change is not an easy thing to achieve but it is possible.

The degree of comfort in my past life was unmatched. I was so accustomed to the routine to a point where I find it easy to entertain the thought of going back to my old job when faced with challenges in my current one. It is easy to get used to old challenges that one already knows how to deal with while on the other hand it is more advantageous to take on change and move on to better levels. One should always acknowledge the possibility of achieving more with change in the future. Change is always refreshing and acts as an eye opener (Jocaby, 2015). When considering change in business, a business man will try a new market and get more profits while if they do not make more profits, they can always find a new source of stock. This means that change is never bad as long as the individual takes on change with an open mind.

2. The burning platform

The Burning Platform concept describes a situation that forces change by radically destroying the comfort zone of an individual or business. For instance, an individual may not have thought about changing jobs but one day they wake up to a retrenchment notification with the other option being voluntary resignation. This situation leaves the individual with no choice but to go out and find a new job. For a business, the Nokia Company is a good example of a business that failed to foresee a burning platform situation. Before Android and iOS took over the market, Nokia had a voice (Anthony, 2012). The management, however, was slow in investing in innovation that would ensure the continuity of the company’s market position. By the time they realized that it was necessary to invest in advanced technology, the company had already lost its standing in the mobile market. 

The pain of staying stagnated grows by the day when one realizes that the opportunity they passed up cannot be recovered. It feels bad especially when two people had an opportunity, only one took it and the change favoured them while the other one remains on the same spot every other day. The burning platform concept may sometimes be used to effect change in a person’s life (Problem Solving Techniques, 2015). For instance, when one gets married, they have to be better managers of their finances, they may have to move houses, find a better job and even buy a car. This change has been started off by the change which is marriage and can be considered the burning platform for change.

References

Anthony, S. (2012, November 11). How to Anticipate a Burning Platform. Retrieved from Havard Business Review: hbr.org/2012/12/how-to-anticipate-a-burning-platform

Jocaby, J. (2015). Does Change Have to be Pianful? Retrieved from Leader’s onBeac: www.leadersbeacon.com/does-change-have-to-be-painful/

Problem Solving Techniques. (2015). The Burning Platform. Retrieved from Problem Solving Techniques: www.prob;lem-solving-techniques.com/bruning-platform.html