Dealing With Change At Work
Photo Credit - Cottonbro Studio, pexels. Image shows a woman with dark hair wearing a beige suit and white shirt standing on an office desk surrounded by keyboards, monitors and empty office chairs. Papers have been thrown in the air and they are falling all around her.
Change at work is a major cause of stress and anxiety. Whether that’s management restructuring, cutbacks or expansion.
If you are deaf or have hearing loss, you may only catch part of the conversations where changes are being discussed. Lack of clarity about what’s going on just adds to the worry.
If you’ve been doing the same job for years and suddenly things change, you have to learn to manage doing things differently. If you have a different boss you’ll also worry about how they will treat you - will they be accepting of your hearing loss and make adjustments or will they be impatient with you?
We spend so much of our time at work, and depend on it for financial security, it’s impossible that issues or change at work won’t effect other parts of your life.
So how do you handle change at work?
Find out what’s really happening.
When everyone is in panic mode, it can make everything seem worse than it really is. Colleagues start to gossip about what may happen and things get blown out of proportion. Being surrounded by people worrying will make your own worry worse. Make sure you have all the facts. Ask for a meeting with your line manager or supervisor to clarify what’s going on.
They might not be able to tell you everything, but they might be able to put your mind at ease.
Avoid the gossips.
Uncertainty can bring out the worst in people, and those who love to gossip will be in their element. Unfortunately these are the same people who are more than happy to go over every detail if you didn’t hear what’s happening.
Ask where they got their information from. Was it gossip from someone else or an official announcement? Even senior managers can be guilty of fuelling the rumour mill.
Don’t get drawn in. Don’t say anything behind someone’s back, even if you trust the person you’re speaking to. It wouldn’t be unheard of for someone to get a colleague in trouble to save their own job.
Know your job role.
If your own job role isn’t changing, find out how it will fit in with the new structure at work. If you have new line management, will they have deaf awareness training? Are there improvements which could be made within your role or team? If you have some ideas tell your line manager. It shows initiative and shows that you’re a team player.
If your job role is changing find out about training opportunities within your company. They may do cross training in different departments or allow you to shadow a colleague for a few days to help you learn the new role. There might also be courses outside of work that could help you with the transition. This is especially important if you are taking on more responsibility.
Look outside your own job role and see the big picture for the company.
What’s their vision. Has it changed?
Do you still want to be a part of that vision?
If the worst happened, what would you do?
Much of the time we spend so much energy worrying about something happening we stop thinking realistically about what we could do and what we are capable of. You forget about your experience and skills, the fact that you’ve found jobs before, managed other changes, got through difficult times before, and you’re still here.
Make a list of all your skills and achievements. Update your CV and LinkedIn profile. Reminding yourself of all that you’ve accomplished so far will make you feel more positive about the future.
What are your options?
You could tell everyone what a bad idea the changes are, fight against it and hold things up. This is unlikely to change much apart from getting you a reputation for being difficult.
You can accept the changes, do what you can to help them go smoothly and see what happens. Being a team player and showing you can adapt to change are skills which won’t go unnoticed. This could be important if you’re interested in moving up in the company or looking for more responsibility.
You can start to look elsewhere for work. If the stress is starting to outweigh the enjoyment of the job, perhaps it’s time to move on.
Need some support?
Talking to a coach can really help you to see past the chaos and decide what’s right for you. Whether that’s adapting to change, looking for a new role or focusing on your wellbeing.
Being happier at work can have a huge impact on all other areas of your life too.
If you’d like to find out more, click below to book a free call with me.