Change in the workplace is inevitable. It happens often, and quickly.  Some change is relatively minor – a process is tweaked, a product line is modified, a new policy is implemented.  We tend to adapt to these changes quickly and move on. 

But other changes are quite significant – your company is acquired, your pay structure is changed, your whole department is reorganized (and you have a new boss who knows nothing about you).  Layoffs are announced, job responsibilities change, and people that you cared about are no longer around.

How do you respond?  Minor changes may be a temporary nuisance, but big changes – psychologists tell us that we go through a grieving process much like we do when we experience the death of someone close to us.  The problem comes when we get “stuck” in our grief, and choose not to move on.

When we get “stuck,” often our job performance suffers.  We feel threatened, hunker down to resist the inevitable, allow ourselves to become disengaged, and then . . . performance slips.  Quality suffers, goals aren’t met, customers become dissatisfied and the next thing you know your boss is having a difficult discussion with you.

It’s natural to view major change as a threat and grieve what was.  But we can’t afford to stay there. We can’t dwell on the down side of change.  The better response is to focus on the opportunity of change.  How can you re-frame the change you are experiencing to see opportunity for yourself, your team, your business, your customers? 

“The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting for the old, but on building the new.”   Socrates