Within my own personal life and experience of the retail industry, I have witnessed first-hand the speed of change, from the introduction of 24 hour shopping, Internet shopping and self service shopping, just to name a few. Why have we had to adapt and change? Simply to keep acquainted of our customer’s shopping habits and high expectations, as well as keeping ahead of our competitors. Who would of envisaged the discounters Lidl and Aldi having such a major impact on the once dominant large supermarkets, in the United Kingdom. As shown in (Fig 1) Chesters (2016).
“Bill Grimsey, a Former chief executive of Wickes and Iceland, makes a courageous statement, “In the next five to 10 years one of the Big Four could disappear”. We need to adapt to change; if Bill Grimsey is right, and organisations don’t change there in danger of not being in existence.
As a coach I believe it is very useful and advantageous to understand what my clients are experiencing when the ‘coachees’ are working through change. I certainly have had to change my limiting beliefs and life scripts about the new ways of working, getting used to new technology and the never ending way we have to do things now. Remembering how vulnerable and exposed I felt at times and not been given the time and space to change did not help.