Why do people have difficulty in dealing with change?
Change comes in a multitude of shapes, sizes, and under a variety of circumstances. From a workplace stand-point, change can be quite traumatic.
Sometimes a competitor successfully out maneuvers you. It could be a case of the business environment evolving beyond your capacity. Or, your job gets disestablished and you are made redundant. Change becomes inevitable when this happens.
Your ability to withstand the trauma of change at the workplace or even in life, and to turn it around to your advantage, will depend on how you choose to fix your existing thought processes.
As kids, the word "change" is mostly used on us as a caution statement. My father's favourite "threat" was to warn me that if I didn't change my attitude, he'd take some punitive action, or in his words "…you are going to be in trouble with me."
At work, bosses tend to use the word "change" in both explicit and implied terms, as a form of a warning. "If things don't get better, I am going to make some big changes in our office!"
Maybe this is why we are hard-wired to avoid change. It's almost always inconvenient, and difficult. And, it requires us to experience discomfort, and uncertainty.
There are situations where you have to change because circumstances have changed. If you face a personal loss, or a health crisis. But at workplaces, usually changes become necessary because of a lack of results, or if there is a need to re-invent or recalibrate.
It is difficult to embrace change while you get battered by its effects, However the reality is that change is being initiated because you are not producing the desired results. Change rarely happens when people are happily producing great outcomes.
Through my experiences as a management consultant, leadership coach, and just with my life experiences, I have realised that change is no fun, because everyone, including me, likes to stay in established comfort zones.
But being open to change is a necessary mindset for personal and professional growth. Once you start looking at change constructively, you will be amazed at some of the benefits that can follow.
Here are some ideas that will help you embrace change at work, and perhaps, in life too.
First, you must cognise and connect deeply with the notion that embracing change will help you grow, and develop. Changes will force you to adapt and adjust in ways that you have probably never experienced before. This is a major driver of personal and professional development.
You will find that when you accept that change helps you grow, your current mindset will be challenged. You will appreciate that you need to find new ways to articulate who you are, and what you believe in. The idea of repeatedly doing things the usual way, will no longer appeal to you. And, you will begin to use different approaches to dealing with your work-life.
Next, embracing change teaches you to be flexible.
Workplace flexibility is about changing or creating modifications to your thought processes to suit the new environment. Creating this personal workplace culture, means that you will be open to new ideas, and you will be able to work independently, or in teams, more effectively.
I can confirm without hesitation that many employers have shifted from single role jobs to rotating job roles. Many bosses now prefer flexible job descriptions. It is a sought after skill because it shows that an employee is able to adjust to changing customer needs, shifting business priorities, or even emerging technologies. No one likes a rigid and inflexible team member.
Finally, change offers you tremendous opportunities.
When you alter the way the way you think and work, new opportunities will open up. This will have a cascading effect by providing you with more options and possibilities.
If you are going through a change in circumstance and you do not waste your time resisting it, you will find that your mind begins to expand in ways that it was not able to before. You will be forced to quickly learn about what you can handle, and what you cannot. You will begin to understand your limitations. And, this realisation will push you to break through your own self-imposed limits.
Realising that change is inevitable and accepting it, will help you learn about yourself. It is the guaranteed way of figuring out better ways to manage your work-life. You will become open to the knowledge that what you did in the past might not work for your future.
I strongly recommend that you take change into your own hands by welcoming it, and learn to deal with it, especially at the work-place. In the end, you must want your work life to produce results that adds value to yourself, and to others. Embracing change will ensure this.