While some days may feel like chaos, the ability to accept the challenge of change can empower you as a leader. Much as we may not like it, change is a part of the workplace and will continue to be one.
You want to make sure the change does not distract you or hurt your focus when you need it most. That can compound the difficulty of dealing with a new or unexpected situation.
When I worked in TV news, there was a ton of unexpected change. It was a constant and your ability to deal with it played a big role in your success and mental health.
Consider these tips to help you and your team engage better with the challenge of change:
Control
Think about what you can control in your situation. If your budget has been cut by 25%, you don’t want to spend all of your time mourning the loss of money. It’s not a great situation but once the decision has been made, there’s not much you can do to change it.
What you can control is your reaction. From our example, put your focus on figuring out how you’ll make the reduced budget work.
Accept that a change has happened, you may not like it, but you need to move on. The sooner you can let go, the faster you can move toward solutions, some of which might actually improve things. That skill can be a game changer for your career
Learn Something New
A change may give you a gentle shove into learning that thing you’ve been meaning to study. Maybe it’s time to revisit your service contracts and see if there are better options in the marketplace.
This may be a case where an employee needs to learn a new skill. We live in a time when training is available in many forms.
Putting your energy into learning something can distract you from the discomfort of a change. It’s funny how often we put off this kind of improvement until we’re forced to do it.
The Challenge of Change and Worry
While it sometimes can help with the brainstorming process, much of the time you spend on worrying about a change will not help you.
Think about if the change had not happened, what would you be worrying about? That might be a better place for your energies.
For example, in our budget cut scenario, before the announcement, you may have worried about getting new customers.
Attracting new customers should still be a top priority. Don’t let your concerns over the smaller budget keep you from doing sales outreach.
Worry about things you can change. Your productive time is not an unlimited resource. Invest it wisely.
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