Risk Management – A Shift in Thinking: The Shift in Thinking: Effects

Risk Management - A Shift in Thinking: Effects

Benefits of Undergoing a Shift in Thinking

When a business undergoes a shift (or many shifts) in thinking, they are able to gain an understanding of the causality regarding where losses accumulate, and gains are lost.

This knowledge brings with it an opportunity for the business to operate differently and achieve/maintain gains.

When a business successfully implements the necessary shifts in thinking they experience increased visibility and stability among the other desired effects of the change project.

A paradigm shift is necessary for successfully achieving a one-week install.

A one-week install (plus a few prep days) allows the implementation of a new system to be quick. This allows benefits to be dramatically visible, without the risk of misattributing results.

The shifts in thinking ensure that, when the consultant hands control back to you following the implementation of a change project, staff can operate in the new paradigm with long-lasting results.

When you focus on the pivot points, and measure results based on the correct KPIs, you are able to quickly find out whether the changes you have made are working; this gives you a fast leveraged effect.

Negative Side Effects

Sometimes, a business will experience negative side effects in the new paradigm because the benefits of the implementation are not aligning with common perceptions held by others who remain in the old paradigm.

Operating in the Old Paradigm Specifically, when a change in management or key workers occurs, there is a risk that the new employee is operating in the old paradigm and want to go back to ‘the old way’ of doing things. As these new people were not a part of the paradigm shift or implantation, they do not have the evidence that the new way has caused massive improvements in the business.

Potential Obstacles

When attempting to create a paradigm shift, people can be blocked by the existing policies and measures that are currently being used.

These policies and measures may lead to negative consequences (e.g. pressure from management) if not complied with.

Danger Zone Existing policies, measures, and associated consequences usually reinforce the status quo or ‘old way’ of thinking among employees. This is an obstacle because a new paradigm cannot be achieved in an environment where old paradigm behaviours are enforced.

Some Ways that Businesses Have Overcome This Are By:

Changing the business’s policies and the measurements (as mentioned in Preventing Reversion) to support the new paradigm behaviours.
Providing education to employees about the pitfalls of the current measurements and the benefits of the new measurements.