Are You Change Resistant?

Change in the workplace can be difficult, but inevitable, nonetheless. Technology and digitisation have dramatically impacted most workplaces, rapidly increasing the speed of change. Disruption and innovation are more buzzwords that ultimately mean one thing – change.

Leading change has different implications to having change thrust upon you. How do you react to that change? Do you embrace it, or fear it?

I don’t believe there is a right or wrong answer – we all are creatures of habit. We all, in some way, can feel overwhelmed when we need to adjust our day to day lives. But change – especially organisational change – is often necessary. Keeping ahead of competition, being proactive in your market and stepping out of your comfort zone is necessary for growth. It will take patience and perseverance –changes do not always happen overnight.

Whether change occurs professionally or personally, we are all familiar with the fear of the unknown. It could all go pear shaped. It will take up lots of non-existent time (who has time these days?) to learn something new and that is – quite frankly – terrifying.

I was once told ‘‘the anticipation is always worse than the event’’. Humans tend to only explore the scary what ifs. Embracing change is challenging yourself to remember there is also a flip side. What if you excel? What if it is one of the best experiences of your life? What if it changes you for the better?

Surely, challenging yourself to think there could be something better around the corner is a much nicer place to be than thinking everything will go horribly wrong. Which it won’t. After all, as the old saying goes, change is as good as a holiday!