Mackay: Businesses need to embrace change

Liz Claiborne for years designed clothes for a company whose management disregarded her ideas that body types and style preferences warranted innovation in design. So in 1976, she started her own company.

Liz Claiborne Inc. became an industry leader, with versatile designs appealing to the growing number of women in the workforce. Her company sparked a major change in women's clothing options that continues to inspire and influence fashion designers today.

Smart retailers do not just react to change, or even simply profit from it. They make it happen, and as a result, they control it on their own terms. Resistance to change is perhaps the biggest threat to progress a business can face.

"When you are through changing, you're through," said Bruce Barton, the most famous advertising executives of his day and a former congressman.

Change, for most people, is an unnerving experience. But as the old saying goes, change is inevitable. It's one of the only constants in life.

I am in the envelope manufacturing business, an industry that has seen remarkable change in the last 20 years. Communication that used to be mailed in a crisp envelope now travels instantly through cyberspace.

Fax machines and the internet forced us to look to the future of our business. We are still constantly readjusting to accommodate and, in fact, thrive, in our increasingly paperless society.

Companies must change to grow and remain relevant. There are various ways to do this, from innovation to creating new opportunities and thus developing new skills.

Your organization's ability to change quickly depends on buy-in from your employees, so it is important to keep morale high. The best way to do that is to communicate your goals clearly to all employees. Everyone needs to be on the same page.

You must coach employees and show them how to adapt to the changes and build up their confidence. Offer additional training if needed to make changes easier to accomplish.

Encourage employees to ask questions. Soliciting feedback will give management a better understanding of how everyone is doing throughout the process. This helps everyone's comfort level.

And be open to changes suggested by your employees. An attitude of "we've always done it this way" discourages discussion of improvements that could be time-saving and profitable. Responding to advice offered by the people who are responsible for specific jobs will not only demonstrate that you value their input, but also are open to innovations and suggestions.

Even a century ago, a craftsman who learned his trade after five to seven years of apprenticeship would have learned everything he would ever need to use during his lifetime.

That would certainly not be so today. In today's world, any tradesperson or professional will have to acquire new knowledge every four or five years, or become obsolete.

To quote "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior" by Dan Millman: "The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new."

Mackay's Moral: If you can't make change, you'll never make money.