Canon has uncovered a raft of insights and attitudes towards change amongst small business leaders responsible for change within their organisation and office-based workers not responsible for change.
Despite seeing the benefits of change and the role of technology, those who work in SMBs cited people as a major barrier to change, along with a lack of skills and the ability to communicate change. Surprisingly, over a fifth of small business leaders (21 per cent) cited their own lack of direction or leadership as a barrier, suggesting a skills gap.
Sixty-five per cent of SMB workers said that lack of trust in management direction might be a reason why people were resistant to change, perhaps providing further evidence of a skills gap amongst senior leadership.
On a global scale, only 29 per cent felt that Australian SMBs were more ‘open to change’ when compared to the rest of the world. When ranked in terms of actual ‘willingness to change’ compared to the global economic powers, small business leaders ranked Australia last, behind China, India, the US and Germany.