New Sheriff, What Happens When You Get One?
There is a new sheriff in town and now what will you do? Of course, this is a metaphorical expression. What happens when you get a new boss or what happens when your client hires a new buyer?
People adapt. We’re a species who has survived because of adaptation. We adapt to change, to the situation, or sometimes to survive.
Start a new job, and you’ll likely adapt. Get a new boss, and you’ll likely adapt. When your long-term customer retires or moves on, you’ll have to adapt.
Is it really that simple?
Small Business Scale
Many small businesses fail when they attempt to scale. The very small company might accel in a very small marketplace but when they try to expand, the world seems to collapse around them.
The same is true for your workplace culture, the lingo, buzzwords, and ways of doing things. It might work really well within the small environment, but expansion or new company ownership might be devastating
When you’ve adapted to what the boss wants, how she likes the information, or how he expects the behavior, you’ve survived. You know the routine and can perform it with or without a drum roll.
Does it scale?
The small restaurant with seating for a few struggles when they increase the seating to 50, or 100 people. Same food, but something has changed.
Not everything scales by keeping the product or service exactly the same.
It is true for your performance on the job and its true for the small business enterprise.
New Sheriff
Have you encountered a new sheriff?
The trick is not always doing the exact same thing in the exact same style or with exactly the same product.
If your boss changes you may need to do something different. If the company you’ve done business with for years gets a new buyer, you may need to do something different.
Whether you’re trying to scale or navigate something new, something different might be exactly what you need.
The assumption of, it worked here, now make it scale, isn’t always the answer.
-DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
