Are the leaves changing yet in your neck of the woods? I live near the coast, so what we lack in fall colors we gain in mild winters.
But the fall colors always put me in a frame of mind to think about change. The world quickly transforms from one thing to another in the fall. Although humans aren’t typically as demonstrative as trees when we are changing, it is a dramatic internal process.
Change can be beautiful and exciting: a new relationship, a job promotion, or the successful completion of a project. Change can also be fear-inducing: the restructuring of a department, budget cuts, or an empty nest.
Whether you are excited for or fearful of an upcoming change, your body typically responds by releasing adrenaline, norepinephrine, and cortisol. This process is also known as…stress!
Changes at work can be hard. Stress rises because you fear the unknown, you may not understand why it’s happening, or you may not have a choice in the matter. In these instances, you need to take active steps to control your reactions to the change.
5 Ways to Welcome Changes into Your Work
- Alter your perspective on the issue. Make a pros and cons list. Brainstorm how to enhance the pros while mitigating the cons.
- Ask for help from others. Confess your fears to a trusted colleague. Ask them for their feedback.
- Be like congress. Attach a pet project of your own onto a larger change initiative. Take advantage of the fluidity of the moment to enact some ideas you have had.
- Seize the opportunity to create process documents, templates and other infrastructure-building tools that are so hard to get done normally.
- Decide to become the poster child for the change. Be supportive in your words and actions. Your thoughts will quickly follow suit.
Once you’ve laid out the red carpet and welcomed the change, you’ll have to sustain your motivation. I wrote an article on my blog with tips that may help.
Seasons change. People change. Situations change. It is part of a natural cycle. We cannot stop the leaves from falling, but we can control how we respond it.
Happy fall, y’all.
Video Tip: Why Are People So Resistant to Change?
The only constant thing in business today is change. However, few people like — much less love — changing. In this video, Dr. Melissa Gratias outlines the phases that people go through when confronted with changes at work and describes what a change champion can do to influence others to get on board.
