Many of us think of “Change” as a negative experience. This does not have to be the case. If we change our way of thinking to “Change” this could open up many new possibilities for us. Change can be daunting if you are going into the unknown and sometimes we are thrown into a situation and we can feel overwhelmed and if you can stop and calm yourself you might actually be able to adapt to the situation and come out feeling that you have learnt something new and learning something new is always a great thing.
Sometime change is forced upon us and sometimes we choose to make a change
Here are some tips with handling change within our working environment:
Maintain a positive attitude – Think of all the new skills you will learn in the new department/role and also the people you may meet.
Recognise that change is constant – People will always want to move with the times and improve their business and therefore their workers must adapt to these changes. If these changes can improve productivity, then hopefully everyone involved will be a lot happier in their environment
Communicate with others to learn your new role – For an easier transition gain as much information before starting your new role/task as you can as this will make the change run more smoothly and less stressful
Be optimistic even though you might not be currently happy – Again we need to change our mindset to realise that change is not always a bad thing. Many of us get stuck in our ways and do not welcome change as this can be unsettling. Sometimes moving out of our comfort zone can be very rewarding in the end even at the time it does not feel like it
Ask as many questions as possible – Over communicate would be the best way to deal with change in your working environment and that would be to ask questions on a regular basis. We all feel better knowing the answer’s before we embark on our new role and task and this will hopefully reduce stress and anxiety. We can all be in a hurry to get the job done and sometimes completing a task without all the answers can result in negative feedback. Keep the communication channels open with all parties. Isn’t it better to get the job right in the first place rather than having to amend the error’s made from the first attempt of the task/job.
Look for ways to help others cope with change – Having procedures in place for set tasks and training manuals/tutorials can assist the worker in feeling comfortable within the new task/role. If the task/role has a thorough description and states what is required then I am
sure we would all feel more confident and relaxed about the situation.
We all make mistakes – It is inevitable that in life we make mistakes and this is in the workplace also. Instead of beating ourselves up about this, fix the error take note of how the error was fixed and move on. There is no point in dwelling on the error.
If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.
By Amanda McGhee