Handling Change and Ourselves in the Workplace

I was reading an article by Adolf Coors IV, on ‘Changing your Course’ and he says “Sometimes life turns out to be a rat race; we go on doing the same things over and over again not knowing whether we are making any headway or going anywhere, whether we are fulfilling our potential. That was the way my life was. I read a poem that described my life at that stage. It went like this:

This is the age of the half-read page
And the quick hash and the mad dash
The bright nights with the nerves tight
The plane hop with the brief stop
And the lamp stand in a brief span
The big shot in a good spot
And the brain strain and the heart pain
And the catnaps till the spring snaps
And the fun’s done.

He says that he read the poem and realized that was how his life was going and decided to make a change. But he says that as he tried to make a change, he found it most difficult to bring about change in his life.

He says that he was reminded of a story of two ships that were out on a foggy night and it seemed like they were destined for certain head-on collision. The captain of the large ship signaled saying “Please change your course 10° west.” The reply came back through thickening fog, “You change your course 10° east.” The captain was very insulted and decided to pull rank on this person and angrily sent a message back saying “I am a sea captain with 35 years of experience and I’m on a large battle ship. Change your course 10° west.” Without hesitation the signal flashed back, “I’m a seaman 4th class. You change your course 10° east.” The captain became enraged and realized that they were rapidly approaching one another and would most certainly collide said, “I am on a battleship, I am a captain and I order you to change your course now.” And a simple message came blinking back, “I am the light house; change your course immediately.”

Sometimes we handle change like this. Maybe we know that we ought to change; maybe we are in the middle of change. As we look at what goes on around us in different organizations, change is such a buzz word. It’s happening all around us whether its mergers or takeovers, new bosses, new colleagues, new technology or even high attrition rate among employees. Change is happening all around us and sometimes we dig our heels in the ground and say, “I’m hoping this will go away and I won’t need to make any changes.” But maybe if we don’t make the changes, we could be heading into something disastrous like hitting the light house.

I wonder this morning if you are in that position, whether you are in the middle of change either initiating it or facilitating it or just being asked to change. I thought it would help to understand some of the dynamics that go with change.

John Maxwell in his article ‘The Art of Leading People through Change’ says: “We have assumed that change will occur if we can explain where we are trying to go and differentiate that goal from where we are now or where we have been. Wrong! Simply pointing the way from A to B may have worked in the past but does not work now because so many changes are behavioral in nature. Accepting change is not made on the basis of logic and good sense alone. Acceptance is based more often on people’s feelings, experiences and points of view.”

“Change doesn’t happen in one easy step. It’s a process that moves from facts to feelings to behavioral changes to influencing others.” That’s interesting! It’s a process; there are levels of change that we need to pass through, we need to help people realize.

• Starting with facts; new information, making sure that the information is accepted. This phase really deals with perspective which is shaped by receiving information, getting it out to the people. It’s the logical outcome of sorting through facts and information that is required before making a change.
• Then one moves to the adoption of a new attitude and this phase relates to feelings and how people about the proposal and the project changes. Attitude adjustments are important because attitude adjustments always lead to behavioral change which is what is needed when change is going to be embraced.
• The third phase deals with choices, actions and formation of new habits. No real change takes place until it shows in someone’s conduct or behavior.
• The final phase is when people begin to talk to other people about change, when they begin to be influencers for the change that is taking place. That’s the final – when there is ownership for change.

How do you find yourself in your workplace today? Are you coping with the change in a good way or are you digging your heels in the sand and refusing to change?

I came across an article by Stephen Warrilow entitled ‘Business: Managing Change in the Workplace’ and 4 key steps to incremental change.

1. Have clarity in all areas. Before going anywhere with a proposed change, you need to have pristine clarity with regard to business need for the change, the specifics of the change, the benefits of the change and most importantly, the impacts of the change.
2. Need for consistent leadership. Change management guru John Cotter suggests that for change to be successful, 75% of the company’s management needs to buy into the change. Convincing people that the change is necessary is extremely important. This takes strong leadership all the way down the line.
3. Constant communication. You need to be able to communicate the effects of the change, what people can expect of the change, why it is good, why it is happening.
4. Give people the capability and the resources to manage that kind of change.

I have thrown out stuff at you about change and maybe it is something that will help you in where you are or what you are looking at, or maybe it is happening in your company. But there are other things that go with change that happen with us. How do we react to change? What are things that happen to us when change occurs around us or we are being forced to change?

NASA put an article on ‘Initial Reactions to Change’ and these are some of the things that are associated with change. 

• Stress which may exhibit in any number of physical/emotional reactions
• Shock
• Disbelief
• Denial
• A sense of loss – because you are losing some of the things that you felt comfortable with
• Feelings of guilt: if only I had been nicer or a better listener or more helpful or more supportive
• Physical reactions including sleep disturbances, anxiety, tension, irritability, headaches, muscle aches
• Fear about job stability, the future
• Feelings of mistrust about co-workers, management, the organization on the whole
• Mixed feeling involving relie, anger or other emotions

These are some of the things that you need to be aware of as you look around you. Or look at yourself and see if these things are happening to you. Know that you need to be able to take care of these things.

How do you do that?

• Be supportive of coworkers,
• give yourself and others time to adjust to changes in the workplace;
• encourage coworkers to express their concerns;
• protect your leisure time. Make sure that you spend your after-hours doing activities that you enjoy.
• Refrain from alcohol, non-prescription medications during initial periods of stress.
• Try to eat well, exercise within your capabilities.
• Seek help if there are stress symptoms that don’t diminish over a reasonable period of time.

What am I saying to you this morning? I’m saying that change is inevitable. In our state of flux that we often find ourselves in, we are called to change. We initiate change. We facilitate change. Change happens all around us but we need to see some of the things that could cause trouble for us or our colleagues and be aware of it. Let’s look at ourselves, take care of ourselves but also have eyes for people around us. Let’s look for signs that they are not handling it well and then reach out help them with it. Change is inevitable but how you and I handle it and cope with it and help others is important.

I pray today that you would have eyes to see the things that you need to see around you.

May God Bless You All.