Change is the only constant – right or wrong?

Indian footwear industry is growing at a healthy rate and it is an industry that has lots of potential and great future. Like most upcoming sectors this sector is also going through a paradigm shift both in terms of technology and working styles. There are some companies who have shown the grit to bite the bullet in terms of correction of systems and processes while some of them are still operating in old style.

I had an opportunity to work for a brief period in a footwear company and this brief stint gave me a complete insight into this paradigm shift. Interestingly I observed that there is a “will (Wish)” to change and come into the league of top companies. The company’s top management went on a spree to recruit people from across the industries.

The latest management fundas of lean management, TQM etc were floated… but some basic fundamentals were missed…..

Every “wish” must be backed by a very strong “will” to change…. Until this is done nothing will change; The History of company after company shows that “Change is the only constant” and the companies that have reached the pinnacle of leadership have undergone this painful process of revamping the systems and becoming people-oriented.

They have weeded out people who have not changed with time and got in new people who have helped the company to cruise through this change. Companies that get in new people but fail to weed out dead woods would never reach leadership positions and can only “wish” to reach there.

{Personal Experience}

Changing times have brought in another paradigm shift in the thinking process of successful companies i.e. after the industrial revolution the shift was from manufacturing to marketing. Footwear companies are still operating in the old funda i.e. all strategies are epicentre from production. Though they claim to be customer-centric in practice this is false… they fear the change and don’t want to move out of this comfort zone.

Tons and tons of data is generated on forecast vs. sales, lost sales, advance planning, EOQ etc… but again the basic fundamental is not corrected….will change…wish is there but the will is missing….

Because of these reasons, these types of companies have some common set of problems Vis:

Attrition…

Hero worship….

Politicking….

Low Team moral…..

Nobody views them as a long-term career prospect…..

No HR systems….

All the problems are self-made and only a strong will is required and nothing else…..

“ Victorious soldiers win first and then go to war. While defeated soldiers go to war first and then seek to win”…. This is the basic difference between wish and will……