How to Adapt to Changes in the Workplace?

The most constant thing in our lives both personally and professionally is change. We may not like it but this brings about a lot of opportunity and in most cases we are more focused on resisting and declining not realizing how it can bring about a positive effect in our lives and more particularly to our careers. The only way you can accept it with a positive attitude is by maintaining an optimistic approach.

The better you know how to handle the different stages, the better you can go through the transition without encountering any hiccups. Here are the five stages that you need to face when changes happen in your workplace:

Denial. This is the most aggravated and challenging step. We all like things the way they are and occasionally changing the norm becomes something that we do not want to embrace regardless of whether it will work for the benefit of everyone else. This stage is characterized by anger, a lot of tension and resistance.

Anger. As an employee, you inevitably know that you cannot resist the adjustments that are taking place. However, you will do everything within your power to make this transition a slow pace. This stage is highly characterized by low self-esteem, insecurity and this can be chaotic in any workplace.

Dejection. This is very similar to rejection when it comes to personal life. Here you start to realize that as much as they would like to hang on to the fact that they want things the way they are, you basically have no choice. This is mainly characterized by despair and remorse and at this point, the attitude that translates in the organization is “come what may”. You embrace it whether you want it or not.

Acceptance. This is the final stage and actually the beginning of the positive effects. At this point, you now start to look at the benefits that it could bring and slowly embrace them and take it as a positive step instead of looking at the negative values.

We’ve come up with a few tips that can make you a proactive ambassador instead of a reactive one. Here are a few things that you should look out for when monitoring the changes that your organization is facing:

• The first and most important in managing the whole process is accepting that it is inevitable. Stop living in the past and always be proactive in terms of embracing new ideas and accepting these things have to take place.

• Since we’ve already established the groundwork of knowing the different stages, always try to evaluate what particular phase you are in. This will help you realize the best way to act in terms of being in a more proactive way to accept the rather than resist it.

• Maintain open communication channels. Don’t just sit back and relax in the transition through the process as it comes. Instead, be proactive about it and share your concerns and your fears with your managers. Try to implement with and suggest better ways of how you can go through the entire process. By being a proactive advocate of change you would be able to influence your peers and as a result, help the organization go through the transition in a more flexible and easier manner.

• Analyze yourself and ask what kind of opportunities it can bring into the organization. Is it a time for you to actually empower yourself with new skills and capabilities so you can differentiate yourself from your fellow peers? These are the aspects that you should put into consideration if you’re looking to embrace it proactively.
It is important to always focus on the benefits that it can bring and always look at the ways you can transform the negatives into positives. Remember that this cannot be achieved overnight and it’s a transition that takes place one step at a time. How you take these steps is what will determine the end outcome of the change that you’re going through.