Business Lessons from The Walking Dead

Hello and welcome to Business Lessons from The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead is set in a world where an unknown plague has gripped the planet, turning most people into zombies, with only a few people left alive. Surviving is a constant threat for those left alive in an ever changing environment. . You can catch up on my previous entries in the series here, and avoid becoming one of Britain's zombie companies.

Too Far Gone was an episode that was action packed as it was ridiculous, with the slightly contrived story line leading The Governor to sitting outside the prison with a tank, with the two hostages of Michonne and Hershel, and a set of strangers backing him up.

Now, considering The Governor had a tank in his arsenal - a brute force approach to taking the prison seemed like the most obvious route, it packed the kind of firepower that our old group of survivors couldn't possibly match, and The Governors success looked all but guaranteed. But what is it right? Could he ever have won that route without leaving a trail of destruction that rendered the whole area uninhabitable?

No, quite honestly, it is very rare that change can be implemented with a brute force approach without unleashing some serious havoc. The most effective method will always people the approach that utilises the softly softly approach.

Human beings inherently dislike change, it scares us because we don't know the full implications of what the change means, and we worry that something might happen that we haven't considered. Therefore, when Rick was faced with a decision of change or no change and fight, the thought of change was so worrying he chose to fight rather than embrace the change that is now forced upon them anyway. He need priming with the idea to leave, so he could mentally prepare and consider the implications.

When you're dealing with customers that have been used to a certain way of doing things for a long time, you can't expect them to instantly embrace whatever changes you are planning right away, you need to give them advance notice of what is to change, and implement changes gradually so they continue to feel in control of the service. If possible you can give them a road map of the changes, so they can feel comfortable that they know what is to come.

The same goes for your staff, you're certain to encounter resistance when trying to change systems and ways of doing things which your staff might have grown accustomed to doing for years. On top of their usual stressful workload, they don't want the stress of not knowing if a whole host of extra stressful things could go wrong.

If you're concerned about how to go about implementing change at your business, then drop us a line and we can arrange a chat to discuss your options.