Change is good!

Don’t fear new systems, IT, or learning new things! If the past couple of years has taught us anything, it is that we need to adapt quickly to ensure our businesses keep going and to collaborate with others to ensure our sanity and connection.

“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.”
John C Maxwell

I’ve been with Gilligan Sheppard for over 15 years now and in various roles relating to leading the administration team, processes, and procedures. Part of those tasks has been looking after the internal IT for GS with the help of an external resource. 

As GS has grown and will continue growing, we constantly move the goalposts to ensure we are the best practice we can be. We also need to change, add, and evolve our systems, processes, and procedures to match.

As the dinosaur of our IT (although I didn’t know it), I was protective of what we had, how we used it and of how hard, time-consuming and costly moving to a new, innovative system would be. This was outdated thinking and didn’t fit with our GS values:

• the freedom to be real,
• the courage to imagine,
• the determination to excel together, and
• growing each other.

The team wanted to change and I needed to embrace it, facilitate it and be excited about it. 

“What good is an idea if it remains an idea?
Try. Experiment. Fail. Try again.
Change the world.”
Simon Sinek

Our latest change of software had one of the Partners taking the lead with a selected team from different business units within GS so that we could ensure we were making informed decisions. We went with recommended programs and researched demonstrations from other practices using the software already. We each had different tasks within the team and responsibilities to help spread the load. Collaboration and connection have ensured a successful implementation along with the excitement and hands-on learning with our full GS team, who has been impressive with the sharing of knowledge and practice of GS values.

So, MY lessons from this are – don’t fear change! Don’t hold on to the old just because it is familiar and comfortable! And like we often say, the journey is half of the fun!

“You don’t fear change. You fear the unknown.
If you knew the future would be great, you’d welcome the change to get there.
Well, the future IS great. Proceed.”
Joe Vitale

Let me know if your practice/firm is going through a change – big or small. We are happy to help and share our experiences.