Question the status quo

By The Standard | Jan. 15, 2017

I had some interesting conversations this week with a couple of brand managers on issues relating to their brands and the changes that are happening in the environment.

brand savvy with Stha Magida

I took a few lessons from these conversations as someone who is very passionate about brands. I, however, struggled with some issues that were discussed because these confirmed the one thing that I learnt in my strategy and change management courses. Generally, people do not embrace change easily and do not adapt to it as quickly as they should in order to remain relevant. This is the reason for the downfall of people and companies whose story would otherwise be phenomenal. I remember working in a transport and logistics company that was almost a monopoly if you cared for my assessment. This company celebrated 75 years of existence at some point when I was working for them. In all the 75 years of their existence and as late as way after 2004 they were still using the ms-dos package for their systems. Nothing was online.

I remember that there were few computers in the organisation and most of them were dummies controlled from one point. Reports were on photocopied report sheets. Looking back, I dread to even imagine the paper that was used in that organisation. There were archives and archives of reports that were a total waste of space, if again you cared to ask me. It took a change of management that late to then introduce the computer with a live connection on the intra and extra nets. Most of the workers there were so unhappy when this change came about. They were of the opinion that the new owners were an overzealous bunch. The level of frustration in the organisation was amazing. Very few workers embraced this change and were one by one frustrated out of the system. Several were retrenched. The organisation now needed a new set of workers who could embrace the change and run with it. The six sigma concept was introduced and the organisation started advocating for lean methods of operation. It is at this point that I read the classic fable on change management, Who moved my cheese by Spencer Johnson. In that book I learnt that if you do not change, you become extinct and that one has to smell the “cheese” so that you know when it is old and there is need to dispose of it.

What am I going on and on about then, one may wonder. In an environment like the one that we find ourselves in as a country, it is not enough to say to our clients “we communicated to our clients over a year ago that we cannot offer this service”, in an organisation where that particular service is expected. If after one year you still have not come up with solutions and innovations for your clients to help them with what they require from you as a business, then maybe you are not embracing change as fast as you should. This is especially true if you are in an industry where your competitors offer a service that you are not offering. The ordinary client will not understand the hurdles you may have to face behind the scenes to compete well with your competitors, but they may expect that you operate at par with them. A defensive attitude in dealing with clients and potential clients will also be a deal breaker. It is the creative business that will continue to soar in its pursuit of success.

Speaking of creativity and innovation, I read with great interest and great pride that a medical practitioner back in my homeland has established an in vitro fertilisation clinic, the first of its kind in Bulawayo and the second one in Zimbabwe. This is good news to those people who have challenges in the area of conceiving children. This means more and more people will be assisted in Bulawayo without incurring the costs of travel to Harare and to South Africa, as has been the case. Kudos to the medical practitioners concerned for another first for Bulawayo. Needless to say that if the people in the medical industry are thinking outside the box, how much more critical is it for the business brands?

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Till next week, keep reading and remain Brand Savvy.