Adapting to change

The famed British naturalist Charles Darwin, who developed the theory of evolution, believed that a species would evolve over a period of thousands of years to a changed environment. These changes occur so that the species can adapt and survive external forces that may threaten it. Species that do not evolve become extinct.

A May 1997 study in the journal Nature contradicted this theory with an experiment in which common lizards indigenous to Staniel Cay, a wooded Caribbean island, were introduced to fourteen islands in the Bahamas. Some of these islands were smaller than a football field and the terrain varied, with most of them treeless. The intent of the researchers was to study extinction—believing these lizards introduced into a new habitat would not be able to adapt, due to the lack of trees, and they would eventually die.

To their surprise, most of the lizard colonies thrived because their bodies quickly and dramatically made necessary adjustments to meet their new challenges. In only 14 years, the offspring of the original lizards were remarkably different from their ancestors and well adapted to survive in their new environment.

In theory, we should be able to change even more rapidly than animals because our minds can adapt faster mentally than animals can. However, in reality business owners seem to keep doing the same things they’ve always done in hopes that the situation will change back to the way things used to be.

If you are a struggling business owner—which seems to be the majority of the business owners on Saipan—you will need to learn to adapt to the economic, political, technological, socio-cultural, international, and competitive changes that are constantly occurring. Doing business as usual is a sure way to become extinct. So how can you make the needed changes to adapt to the new environment?

First, you need to be aware of your current situation and your present organizational habits. Notice and write down everything. Examine which habits are useful to help you reach your objectives and which ones should be changed or abandoned.

Second, determine where you want to be by measuring the profits you could expect to earn by better serving your existing customers along with the profits you might earn by creating potential customers that are most promising. Realize that you cannot be all things to all people (one of the quickest ways to join the dinosaurs).

Third, direct your marketing and sales efforts toward your highest value customers, and focus your operations to best serve them. A more narrowly focused effort should help you become more efficient and reduce some of your costs.

During this whole process, you should utilize a technique that will put your business on the evolutionary fast track. Take a moment, step back, and look outside your industry to learn what successful companies are doing and how they do it. One of the fastest methods to leap frog past your competitors is to adopt and then adapt the best practices from other industries. To only take a practice from a business within your industry means that any one of your competitors can easily do the same; thus, minimizing your competitive advantage. Here are a few examples from various industries that will help you think about ways to adopt ideas to your business:

Banks adopted the drive-thru window concept from fast food establishments to quickly serve their customers without them needing to leave their vehicle. Could your business also utilize this service for such things as film development, dry cleaning, video rental, etc?

Fast food restaurant cashiers have headset transceivers to quickly communicate orders and other information to people within the building. Consider using a similar device if employees regularly need to physically leave a customer to get someone in management to answer a question.

A hardware store offers free do-it-yourself booklets that explain how to do simple home repairs. This allows customers to get information and then purchase the needed supplies. Can you provide information that would encourage your customers to purchase more products? Two examples might be offering recipes at a food store, or car body repair information at an auto parts store.

Think of more examples you can examine, and then decide to adopt and adapt them to your situation. Take notice the next time you shop. Ask customers, employees, and suppliers for any interesting practices being used by others in different industries. Remember, just one simple idea is all it might take to keep your business off the endangered species list.

(Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They can be contacted at biz_results@yahoo.com)