Coping With Change in Your Workplace - Be Proactive, Not Reactive

Admit it, you like things to be constant. When things are constant you are in control. Being in control feels good. But sometimes there are external forces that put a jolt in our lives and shifts our normal practices, for better or for worse. Sometimes this could be traumatic, especially if it happens in our workplace.

There\'s an entire industry that helps people deal with coping with change in the workplace and includes best selling books on the topic like \"Who Moved My Cheese.\" Most self-help materials are reactionary, meaning that they help you deal with change issues after the change has already taken place.

But I think that the best way to deal with change in the workplace is to be proactive, not reactive. This could be done by brainstorming all of the possible change that could take place in your workplace and having a strategy plan to deal with the issues - ahead of time. Having a plan of attack will make any and all transition in your job or place of business easier to handle. You will know the solution to all of your issues as they arise. Great business leaders and managers do this all the time.

Take Andy Grove of Intel, for instance. He wrote a book called \"Only The Paranoid Survive\" in which he explains that one of his greatest strengths as a leader is that he is paranoid. For example, he always wants to know what his competition is doing so that he will be ready to react to any issues that face his business. Great business leaders are ready to react to change because they know exactly what to do when each and every change or problem occurs.

So, think about what could happen to you in your job and your place of business. The scope of this article is not to give you the solutions but rather to make you think about all the possible change that could occur in your workplace. From there you should develop your plan of attack, what you would do if that shift in your job were ever to take place.

Here are just a few examples of shifts in your workplace that could disrupt your control:\r

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• Your boss that you love resigns and is replaced with one that makes your life difficult

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• The year-end bonus that you count on will not come because your company is not profitable this year

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• You are falsely accused of stealing a colleague\'s ideas

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• Your company is re-locating to another State

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• You are a smoker and your company bans cigarette breaks

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• The radio that you have at your cubicle that helps you relax is bothersome to your new neighbor in the next cubicle

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• There are rumors of a pay-cut and you are stressing about how you will make your monthly mortgage payments if it comes to fruition

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• You are looked-over for that promotion that you were expecting in favor of someone else whom you believe is less qualified

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• You get fired
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Remember, be proactive and not reactive. Think of all the disruptions that can happen and you\'ll be better prepared to deal with change in the workplace.

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