"Who Moved My Cheese?" Strategies for Dealing With Change

‘Designing Strategies’ Newsletter

November – December, 2011 Volume 3 — Issue 43

A fellow business consultant, Jim Sybert, once said that when an organization is dealing with change of any type, they have two options. They can either to do things differently, or to do different things. Just think of those two simple options when change is necessary, even thought it might seem insurmountable.

Remember that definition of insanity? As the saying goes, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different outcomes is just plain insanity. If something wasn’t helping your situation last year and isn’t helping now, odds are that it’s not likely to work as you move into the future. Committing to change isn’t easy, but sometimes it just has to be done to improve your situation.

As we continue through this turbulent economy, I am reminded of a useful book on the topic of change: Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, MD. Back when the book was hot off the presses, our ASID national board read this book in preparation for our strategic planning. The theme of the book is change, and how individuals react differently dealing with change that occurs in their lives or businesses.

Four main characters in the story are two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two little people the size of mice, Hem and Haw. They all lived in a maze and each day would set off into the maze to find their Cheese. A big supply of of wonderful cheese was located in Cheese Station C. Day in and day out, they would all rush into the maze to Station C to enjoy that cheese. The mice nibbled on the cheese while the little people gorged themselves on this delicacy.

This went on day after day until one day, they arrived at Cheese Station C to find the cheese was gone. Not a crumb was left. The mice had noticed the cheese supply diminishing each day. They were not all that surprised when none was left. When that fateful day arrived, they immediately took off into the maze, sniffing and scurrying, in search of more cheese.

The little people, however, never noticed that the pile of cheese getting smaller. They had just kept eating, assuming the supply would always be there. After all, they were entitled to it, weren’t they? They never had to do anything for it, it was just always there at Cheese Station C.

Hem and Haw, stuck around for days, angry that ‘their’ cheese was gone. They expected the supply would soon be replenished. One day they finally noticed the mice weren’t around any more. Figuring the mice had gone in search of more cheese, they acknowledged the cheese was probably not coming back. Hem and Haw decided maybe they, too, should strike out in search of new cheese.

So, like the two mice had done, Hem and Haw ran up and down one hall and down another. If they found nothing at the end of the passage way, they would turn and go another direction. Using this trial and error approach, they were finally rewarded by finding a new supply of cheese in another Cheese Station in another part of the maze.

Small Business Strategy for Dealing With Change

Not one person, company or industry has gone through this recession unaffected by some type of change. Maybe a job was eliminated, a home lost, customers disappeared, or suppliers went out of business. Everyone has felt change over the past several years. Like it or not, savvy small business owners should be dealing with change strategies by now.

What have you done to stay ahead of your diminishing supply of cheese? Hopefully, you have not, like Hem and Haw, decided to stick to your same processes and routines, assuming a strong economy would be ‘right back’. Ideally, you did not continue to do what you had done for the past decade or more.

A better course of action would be to follow in the footsteps of Sniff and Scurry, those two little mice. Instead of waiting for things to return to ‘normal’ you could look for something different. A better strategy would be investigating things you could do differently, or different things you could do. That action would be useful to keep your head above water and your doors open.

If you have changed nothing yet, stop procrastinating, hemming and hawing. Look at new strategies to get you through our new economic situation. There is no time like the present to investigate new products or services you can offer. Look for new customer bases or internal changes to systems, policies and procedures to prepare your organization for the change that is our new reality. One thing we can always count on: change. Take a strategic approach to identify things that you can change to strengthen your company, your workforce and your client base.