Change in business is seminar topic

Times have changed, so companies must change.

But how can they get workers to buy into new ways of doing things?

Gayle Turner, managing partner at Catch Your Limit Consulting, a strategic management and marketing firm based in Florida with an office in Henrico County, will discuss "Initiating and Sustaining Change" during a program Friday.

"The biggest issue has to do with the emotional side of change," Turner said. "Until you can help people to feel what's involved and the sense of urgency required, and that change in some form has to happen, you will not have much luck."

Initiating change is easy, he said. "Sustaining change is what's difficult."

He will speak at the Retail Merchants Association's First Friday Forum program, to be held at The Westin hotel at 6631 W. Broad St. in Henrico.

Turner said he will teach a "tried and true process" for identifying desirable changes, getting buy-in from workers, managing the operational and behavioral aspects of change, and embracing the new behaviors.

One example of a change is a company may have more work to produce with fewer people because of the recession.

The breakfast meeting is from 7:45 to 9:15 a.m.. The cost is $25 for members, $30 for nonmembers.

Register at (804) 662-5500 or http://www.retailmerchants.com. Registration closes at noon Thursday, but walk-ins are welcome on the day of the event. - Iris Taylor