There’s no getting away from it. Change is everywhere right now – in business, finance and almost everywhere else. Eventful and unexpected changes like these are a reminder that nothing is set in stone. Yet many businesses are run on the mistaken belief that we can predict and control the future. So how can organisations get better at adapting to shifts in the marketplace?

In his new book, Survival is Not Enough, marketing guru Seth Godin argues for the importance of evolution in business survival. Far from being something that belongs just in classrooms or nature documentaries, evolution is vital to every successful organisation. It’s not simply a case of being open to change – it’s about constant development

Change – the only thing you can be sure of

In his book, Godin highlights how change is happening more and more quickly in our world. But businesses still resist it. This resistance is often built right into the way an organisation works. However, in unsettled times like these, set ways of working can become a serious barrier to success. As Godin points out, a business is not an isolated being. It’s an organism that interacts with many other organisms and which is affected by its environment. So we need to take a different view.

Evolution – the answer to a better business future

Instead of hanging on to tried and tested business strategies, Godin argues that evolution is the most powerful tool we have for dealing with change. And that means accepting – not fighting – change. His innovative approach, called zooming, is about training people constantly to make small changes. This in turn creates a more effective organisation designed to go with the flow of change.

Zooming, penguins, and the big idea

Penguins do it. Most businesses don’t. Godin argues that the majority of organisations are based on the assumption that we operate in a stable world, where we have some control over happens next. That’s why so many organisations fail to respond positively to change. But for the humble penguin, evolution is an everyday thing. They’re constantly adapting. Unlike most businesses, which get to a certain point where they’re satisfied with their successes. And stop growing. That’s when change leaves them behind.

Godin’s zooming idea is simple and very smart. Build in an overlying strategy to create a business that is so highly flexible and responsive that it is truly prepared for whatever might happen. Right now, are your people ready to adapt to the demands of the next few years or even months? How could embracing change help you stand out in your marketplace?

Change is here to stay. Are you ready for it?

Get your business better prepared for the future with a half day Change Management business training in Nottingham.

Timing, teams and resources – a project is a complex mix of these aspects in any setting. That’s why it takes the right tools to manage projects effectively. Microsoft Office Project Standard 2007 is a powerful resource for more successful projects. It puts you in control of the workload, the finances and the people. And it’s designed to work seamlessly with other Microsoft programmes. Now it’s been updated, Microsoft Office Project is even more equipped for getting projects done – from the first task to the final outcome.

Advantages for your projects include:

See the impact of change

Now you can see every potential consequence of change – before you make it. Change Highlights automatically points out all the items that move as a result of the most recent change you make.

Add eyecatching highlights 

Make your information stand out even more by changing the background colour of a cell or row with Background Cell Highlighting.

Get right to the source of the issue

Now it takes less time to work out what’s affecting your task dates. Whether it’s schedule date or holiday time, Task Drivers help you understand what’s behind the start date of a task. Any delays and you can track back and work out exactly what’s holding things up!

Look ahead for your project

Ever wished you could see into the future? Well, you almost can with Multiple Level Undo. It allows you to view the implication of every possible change to your project. Just by undoing and redoing changes to views, data, and options.

Stay in control of your money

We all want more control over our finances right now. With the budget field, you can easily assign budgets to projects and programmes. The new “Cost” resource type gives you a strong grip on your cost estimation and tracking. Other advantages include more predefined fields that map to financial fields in project accounting systems!

Create customised charts and diagrams

Get your point across with impact. With the Visual Reports feature you can create customised PivotTable views, charts, graphs, and diagrams based on Project information. This smart feature uses Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office Visio Professional to produce powerful visual information. You can also create your own customised report templates and share these with other Project users.

That’s a lot of advantages for better business or personal project management! And now you know the difference Microsoft Office Project Standard 2007 can make, why not boost the power of your projects with a short Microsoft Project 2007 training course?

Suppose you have some text which you want to convert to a table.

1. Indicate where you want to divide the text into columns by inserting separator characters (such as commas or tabs or choose your own). To indicate where you want to begin a new row use paragraph marks.
2. Select the text that you want to convert.
3. On the Insert tab, click Table, and then choose Convert Text to Table.
4. Under Separate text at, choose the option for the separator character that you used to separate your text.
5. Make sure in the Number of columns box, the correct number of columns is displayed. If not, you may be missing a separator character in the text.
6. Click OK.