Adapt and change your business

Learn how to pivot, adapt or transform your business when you need to respond to change.

Use our step-by-step process to discover if you should:

  • improve your business operations
  • develop new products and services
  • adopt a new business model
  • target new customers.

We've provided simple explanations, videos and templates to help you confidently prepare for changes in and around your business.

Step-by-step change planning process

Create a plan to manage change and save your business time and effort, improve outcomes and reduce risk.

Use our activities and resources to help shift or grow your business in good times, or when things get tough.

The tools included in this change process are used by businesses of all sizes around the world to respond to their changing environment.

Create your own change journey:

  • Work through the steps and activities in order and design a comprehensive plan for your business.
  • Focus on the essential sections in each step for the key stages of the change process if you have an outcome in mind already or have limited time and resources.

Change process overview

Step 1 – Prepare your business for change

Learn what you must do before you start adapting your operations.

  • Prepare yourself for change with the personal business model canvas.
  • Introduce your team to change with the storytelling canvas.
  • Prepare your business by completing the business model canvas.

Step 2 – Understand how to change

Understand what changing means for your business. Identify shifts and trends to guide your decisions.

  • Find out about external change with the context map canvas.
  • Learn about internal change and revisit your business model canvas.
  • Understand what decisions matter most with the design criteria canvas.

Step 3 – Manage change

Find out how to make the most from trends and opportunities while addressing weaknesses or threats.

  • Review your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with the SWOT canvas.
  • Prioritise changes with the trend canvas.

Step 4 – Make change happen

Start putting your change plans into action.

  • Create a change readiness plan.
  • Find support and resources to implement your changes.
  • Review a checklist for your journey so far.

This information is designed to raise the awareness of change and help small businesses better understand some fundamentals to prepare for, understand and manage change. It is not designed as a comprehensive change management resource or toolkit, and does not explore the capabilities, skills and leadership required to sustain change, ensure change delivers value, monitor or evaluate the change process. Such resources may already exist across a number of agencies/authorities, with templates and tools in place that assist with the process of managing and leading change.