Top Tip for Managing Change!
I’ve been working recently with a large group of employees undergoing change. Like so many people at the moment they just don’t know what the future holds and that’s difficult. How can you start dealing with things if you don’t know what ‘things’ are? How can you manage change?
Self Esteem and Change
When we find ourselves in a state of change (over which we have no control, like a major reorganisation) our levels of confidence and self esteem can drop. In a Gallop poll on what makes for a good workplace ‘knowing what my job is and what’s expected of me’ came out as number one.
During periods of change we rarely know what’s expected of us, or what our job will be. And that leads to a fall off in productivity, less work satisfaction, and a loss of self worth. And this loss of self worth occurs just at the time we need to feel on top, to be on the radar for new roles!
Change Exercise
Here’s an exercise to try out to boost your confidence. It is crucial to remember that you are much, much more than the job you do. You have multiple skills and qualities gained over your life. Some you use in your current role; some you have probably forgotten that you even have.
Take a sheet of paper, draw up four columns headed ‘work’, ‘home/life’, ‘hobbies’ and ‘other’. The columns are just for guidance so don’t get bogged down with them.
Now list every single skill or attribute that you can think of. You don’t have to be an expert, just have some knowledge in it. It’s simply knowledge you could share if asked.
For example, you may have experienced some life events that you’ve never actually evaluated, like a divorce. The increased knowledge and experience from this will be massive but you’ve probably just absorbed it into your life without fully appreciating the experience gained. It will have included managing finances, managing loss, forging a new life, new friends, maybe helping children and family come to terms with the change, possibly involvement through the courts. Take time to think about it.
Maybe you have acquired a qualification while working, or childrearing? Perhaps you have run a charity stall? Maybe you bake cakes? Perhaps you’ve walked the Pennine way? Help out with a kids’ club? This is really a very wide ranging exercise and anything goes. It doesn’t matter how long ago; those skills, attributes and hard won knowledge are still there, accessible to you if you choose. Hopefully once you actually start the ideas will keep flowing and you will get at least 20 things down. Yes, I do mean 20. Get a friend to help if possible. Better still, do this exercise with a friend.
Now look down your list. Know that you are much more than the job you do. You’ve gained a lot of experience and skills in your life; they make you who you are. This experience of change will add to those skills and qualities. You will be stronger. You will survive.
If you are undergoing change at the moment, you may find this post on Does Change Make You Feel Stressed? helpful.
And if you are managing staff through a change process, I can send you a free ebook, simply email me.
Photo Credit: Boris Peterka
Does Change Make You Feel Stressed? (Free eguide for Managers)
We were having a discussion about change on my RenewYou course the other day (there’s a lot of it about at the moment!) Women come on RenewYou when they want to make changes in their life so I was delivering a session on the psychological impact of change on individuals, (more on this here in Are You a Fox or a Hedgehog?)
Individuals and Change
I was making the point that, when we as individuals decide to make a significant change, for those close to us or who work closely with us, our decision to change is a change in their lives over which they have no control. And when we feel we have no control over change we instinctively want to resist it.
If we don’t let the appropriate people in our lives know what we are doing then we can expect them to be potential saboteurs of the change we want to make. They may not even realise they are doing it. But one thing is for sure, if you don’t give them information, communicate with them, they won’t be allies.
Change in the Workplace
Our discussion then became more wide ranging and we began to discuss our experiences of organisational change. Why, asked my group, do senior managers start well but then stop communicating with staff?
I suspect it’s because they themselves are also going through the change process as change may be imposed on them (as in redundancies because of the economic situation) and they are coping with their own feelings. Also, we expect senior managers to have the answers, to know what is going on.
Having been on both sides of the equation I can tell you that they often don’t know what is going on! They know the end result required, i.e. saving money, but the route may be far from clear. Fearful of giving the wrong answers they go to ground and give none; they stop communicating. Bad move, as nature abhors a vacuum and it will be filled! Often with misinformation and rumour.
BBC
Coincidentally, this discussion was almost mirrored on the BBC this morning as they talked to two experts on organisational psychology and change and why change caused us so much stress. A recent survey has shown stress to be the biggest cause of lost working days. Lack of communication was cited as the top reason. Why, asked the interviewer, does knowing more about what is going on help keep stress levels down?
The experts didn’t have much time to respond but this is the answer. Once we have the facts we can take back some control, we can decide how we are going to react. When we’re not told what is going on we’re being treated like children. And guess what? Treat adults like children and you’ll get some childlike behaviour back! Not knowing makes us stressed as we imagine so much worse (magical thinking) and feeling stressed lowers our immunity to the usual bugs and ailments doing the rounds. Even if we think we’re coping well the chances are, if we’re stressed, we’ll end up taking time off for a minor complaint when in normal circumstances we’d womanfully struggle on!
Free Guide for Managers on Change
I have written a guide for managers who have to manage staff through change; I run change seminars within organisations for both managers and staff (any gender!) who are undergoing change. I also worked as project lead for two organisations undergoing huge change: the book is a result of my experiences but, knowing how busy managers are, it’s a short, easy read yet contains everything you need to know!
If you’d like a free copy, and you are a newsletter subscriber, simply go to the contact page on my site and let me know. If you are looking for support within your own organisation, or personally please call on 01761438749, or also use the contact page.
Are you in the midst of significant change? How is it for you? If you’re a manager do you feel you have sufficient support and information? If you are an employee what’s it like for you? Do you know enough about what is happening and why? If you run your own business what’s the biggest problem you face? Please do share your stories!
Also, here you can find a free fact sheet on work related stress from CIPD but you’ll need to register – it’s free.
Photo Credit: Omacaco
Two Questions to Ask Today!
Just for today, why not try and have an Appreciative Inquiry day?
- Appreciation means to recognize and value the contributions or attributes of things and people around us.
- Inquiry means to explore and discover, in the spirit of seeking to better understand, and being open to new possibilities.
Put the two together and this means that by appreciating what is good and valuable in the present situation, we can discover and learn about ways to effect positive change for the future. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Of course it’s not quite that simple, especially if we have got stuck in another way of behaving. But if you practice it does become easier, I promise!
Have a go at it for the next 24 hours. Think of it as your Pollyanna personna!
Your two questions for today are:
- What is working well in my life, what is good?
- How can I do more of it?
That’s it! Just two simple questions. Give it a whirl and let me know how you get on. No negativity allowed all day…
Photo Credit: Andrejs Pidjass
Women in Business – How are you with change?
It’s a pretty unpredictable business world at the moment. To be honest, for most of my adult life it feels like it’s always been a pretty unpredictable business world; this time around the stats are telling us that women in business are getting the worse end of the financial crisis, (somewhat ironic in light of a new book published on neuroeconomics, highlighting how if women had been in charge we probably wouldn’t be in a downturn!)
However, we are where we are and our attitude to change will be a significant factor in how we survive.
How do you React to Change?
There are two ways of responding – try to ignore and resist it and adopt the ‘if I stay quiet it won’t notice me and will go away’… stance. Of course, it won’t go away and you will feel weak and powerless and a victim of circumstances. This victim mentality will not help you deal with whatever life is throwing at you. Although for a while it can be a comfortable place to be as we rant and rave at the powers that be, frequently quoting how different it might be if women had been in charge! Be warned, the apparent comfort of moaning is a terrible trap to fall into….it won’t help and it may harm you.
And the second option? Don’t give away your power. Life throws rubbish at us from time to time but we always have a choice – recycle or drown in garbage. Recycling is so much better!
Keep the End in Mind
It might not be exactly what you want because you’re making it from what you’ve actually got, not what you’d choose, but it’s better than the alternative! Even when times are tough there are solutions, you just have to look a bit harder.
Don’t stop looking ahead and making plans for your future. Don’t stop investing in your career. Perhaps you can’t afford a course but you could could get a good career relevant book or an on-line course. Tap into all your resources., including friends and colleagues and give back too.
Know where you want to be ultimately, even if for a while circumstances mean you need to do a bit of fancy footwork. and make some compromises. If you can keep those longer term aims in sight it makes the interim stuff much more bearable. See it for what it is, a deviation on your route which might mean the route takes longer. Keep your eyes fixed on the end goal and one day you will be doing just what you want to do!
Photo Credit: Dieter Joel Jagnow
Feel The Fear…& Beyond by Susan Jeffers
Feel the Fear …and Beyond is Susan’s follow up book to her highly successful and widely read Feel the Fear. It’s published by Vermillion and currently costs less than £6. Money well spent!
I would recommend that you read her first book before picking up this one though. The first book establishes the principles and the second gives you some great exercises to try out to reinforce your learning.
Here’s an extract from ‘….and beyond‘:
” Thankfully none of us have to stand alone in this big wide world. Your friends can be an important part of your support system and it is one area of most people’s lives that needs cultivation. But what kind of friends do I mean?
I’m not talking about the kind of friends that try to keep you from moving forward. I am talking about the kind of friends that say, ‘Sure you can do it. Go for it.’…And so on. I like to think of those who hold you back as Lower-Self friends and those who support your growth as Higher-Self friends. And it’s important to pay attention to the difference.”
There then follows a practical exercise with space for you to list friends that fall into those categories. I must have had that in my head when I wrote my ‘Radiators & Drains‘ post.
Susan Jeffer’s aim is to remove any fear we may have about embracing life and living it to the full. She encourages you to make positive change in your life and gives you a useful toolbox to hold your hand while you do! It’s definitely worth having this book on your shelf!
If you’ve read either of the ‘Feel the Fear’ books I’d love to hear what you think of them.
Change – How To Survive Tip 4
What is your attitude to change? Can you change your attitude to change….?
Before you can do the latter you need to be clear about what you think. Ponder these questions:
Change Questions
- How do you feel about change?
- Do you regularly initiate new things, have new thoughts on old subjects?
- What’s your instinctive reaction when you hear something is changing?
- How do you feel when you visit an old haunt where all has changed?
- How do you feel if the office furniture gets moved?
- What things in your life do you believe to be sacrosanct i.e. must never be tampered with?
- What things can you let go off easily?
- What changes can you see on your horizon over next 6 months?
- How does thinking about future changes that make you feel?
Now write a paragraph to yourself describing how you feel about change- it’s just for your eyes! Did anything surprise you?What changes (if any) would you like to make in your response to change?
This is part of a series on managing change. If you want to be certain of getting every post you can sign up for them simply by putting your email address in box at top of this page. And of course you can unsubscribe at any time.
