How to Deal with Change at Work

In one week, Kathleen’s professional world had totally changed. Her beloved manager whom she has worked with for decades was leaving, two of her team members were switching teams, and she was now left with a list of unanswered questions in her career. She had to deal with change at work…

As for Sarah, she had just received news of an amazing offer in the context of her side business, and was ready to transition full-time into entrepreneurship. All the while, Mary was getting ready to go on maternity leave, and had decided she would not come back after a couple of months, but instead take an extended leave of absence to stay with her baby at home.

These are just a few of the scenarios of change affecting so many women, and men, at work. In every career, business or professional endeavor really, if there’s one constant, it’s change. And now more than ever, we’re no longer apologizing for job-hopping, especially among millenials, as our priorities have shifted from being slaves to the cubicle, to looking for what really fulfills us as people. Which has translated in even more career transitions, changes and upheavals over time.

My own career has changed quite a bit from the days I started in Big Corporate, all fresh and new in my preppy Ann Taylor suit, not giving a thought to how things would pan out later. As a bit of creature of comfort, dealing with all the changes that naturally came, from changing jobs, to moving cities, to having children, took a toll I didn’t expect at first. I mean, it’s not like anyone pulls you in a corner on your first day and tells you: “Look, it looks great and all, you’ll be getting a paycheck, but in a few months/years/decades, things will change dramatically and it might seriously suck!”

The point is, we’re hardly ever ready for the changes, big or small, that come into our careers and/or businesses. Whether it’s the layoff, or the team change, or the sudden increase in hours and workload, it almost always seems to drop on you like a ten-pound weight. Even a promotion, or a great opportunity, is a change in itself, and can bring about effects we still have to manage.

So how do you prepare for change in your work or business, especially when it’s not easy or straightforward to plan for it? Do you just go with the flow, and roll with the punches as you go, and expect everything to fall into place? Or drown yourself in a tub of sea salt caramel Haagen Dazs ice cream when all hell seems to break loose?

Or do you take change as an opportunity to push yourself forward?

While you can’t always control the types, timing and impact of the changes that are bound to hit your career sooner or later, you can control what you do with it over time. You may have to pick up your face off the floor first, sit yourself down somewhere and have one more scoop of ice cream though…

Change almost always reveals something you need to learn.

You can bet on it. If there’s a skill you need to acquire, or something you need in your career or life arsenal, it’ll probably come to you in the form of a change request initially. Like when your boss suddenly leaves, and you need to learn to be more self-reliant and transition to a new style of management when someone else replaces them.

Or when you make a career transition of some kind, whether you decide it’s time to jump ship and become a full-time entrepreneur, opt for a job rotation, or decide to become a stay-at-home mom, and have to learn to adapt to a totally different life and career context.

A great mentor of mine once had this insightful tip:

“Whenever change happens, in your life or career, ask yourself: What am I supposed to learn here?” And go do your homework…

Tip: Take an inventory of the most critical changes that have affected your career in the past year or so. What did you need to learn? What have you learnt from these?

Change forces us to come up with solutions.

That’s the thing when situations get upside down, and shifts happen, in your career or life. You not only have to learn from them, and adjust somehow, but you also have to come us with practical solutions and actions.

I had to radically change my approach to my schedule when I needed to take and pass my CPA exam. After many (and I humbly mean, many) attempts at passing the certification, my back was against the wall, and something had to change, or else my career and life would suffer (in addition to my ballooning weight and that stress acne too). So I had to get the big guns action plans out, as in devise a realistic but effective schedule, and incremental steps to get me to cross that hurdle.

Tip: Consider the changes that you have or need to make in your career and life right now. Have you devised action plans to help you manage those changes? What steps do you have to take to do so?

Change helps you manage beat your fears.

You know how you get ready for work in the am, and start getting afraid of being late for the 9am team meeting…only to get on the highway and see all your fears materialize: it’s bumper-to-bumper traffic, and yes, you’ve effectively missed the 9am team meeting. And did we mention you were supposed to lead it?

I don’t know about you, but every time change is needed or happens in my career or life, it almost always brings to light a series of fears I had previously carefully packed away in the back of my mind.

It could be that a new manager is coming in to your team, and it brings out all your fears and insecurities about receiving feedback and being evaluated on new criteria. Or that you’ve been promoted to a new position, and you’re scared that you’ll mess up on the very first day.

And no, it’s not bad karma, or your first cousin’s old promise that you’ll be punished for flushing all their Halloween candy (stuff happens, ok). It’s a way of forcing you to face the very stuff you think you can’t face, and instead of going around it, actually do what it takes to beat it.

If it’s a fear of speaking up, and you’ve just been promoted to a position that requires you to let your voice be heard, you can practice by joining an organization like Toastmasters, or even forcing yourself to express your opinions more frequently.

Tip: Look at the last change that has happened at work for you. Did it bring out a fear/insecurity in you? Which one? What action can you take to squash that fear?

In Conclusion:

Identify the changes that have happened to you most recently at work or in life. Write them down somewhere and keep an inventory.
For each significant change, pinpoint at least one lesson it has taught you.
Identify at least three actions you have implemented, or will implement, to face each change.
Do a self-analysis and identify at least one fear or insecurity these changes have made you feel, and how you can manage to beat it.