Successful businesses are those who have figured out how to strategically and consistently control the process of change in their company. Most businesses don’t ever think about the process of change itself: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Business managers have to understand how change takes place within their business, which means taking stock of three things: where are we now, where do we want to go, and how are we going to get there. Nebulosity in any of these three areas will lead to “failure”.

It’s like an archer shooting at a target. First, You have to know where you stand. How far away from the target are you? Is the wind blowing and how hard? Are there any obstacles in the way? Are you even pointed in the direction of the target?

Second, there is the target itself. How big is the target? Where on the target do we want to hit?

Third, what are we pointing at the target? Is this a short recurve bow picked up from some local Cub Scouts or is this a heavy compound bow with sights? Are we shooting balanced flight arrows or broadtips? How many shots do we get at the target? Are we using an armguard? Have we even taken any archery lessons or practiced?

There are a lot of elements to successful business process change. Many managers get lucky because they get easy shots. The harder shots, however, are rarely made with luck, but are a process of careful planning and execution at an unmoving target.