Change Resilience at Work- How to Help Employees Better Handle Change

Change Resilience at Work vs. Change as a Threat

To many people, organizational change feels like a threat to the current company culture.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could increase the levels of change resilience at work to minimize the threats and help people persevere through difficult and important organizational changes?

What Employees Report Being Most Afraid of During Times of Change
Change-induced threats typically come from a fear of losing things like control, turf, authority, knowledge, relationships, certainty, resources, power, competence, and routines — a pretty powerful list.

Change is the New Normal — Right?
It seems reasonable that the status quo would seem more comfortable than a changed and unknown future. But change is inevitable and the rate and pace of change continues to grow. And the better we, and our teams, handle organizational change, the more effective we can be at staying ahead of the competition and creating a healthy and aligned corporate culture.

Resilience Improves Change
What does it take to get better at organizational change?

Change management consulting experts say that it takes resilience. Resilience is defined as the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. The ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity.  The good news is that if you or your organization don’t have change resilience, you can learn it.

How to Create More Change Resilience at Your Organization
If you want to create more change resilient people to better handle organizational change, make sure they follow lessons learned from our change management simulation:

1. Have Support
   Help them build relationships with family, with colleagues, with friends — anyone in their sphere who can be counted upon to help when there are obstacles to overcome.
2. Define Themselves in Multiple Ways
   Help them find self-worth in many avenues.  When one identity is lost (say through a job loss), resilient people find their self-worth in their other roles.
3. Understand That In Every Life Some Rain Must Fall
   Help them gain perspective that life, and work, is a roller coaster.  There will be failures. They should focus on accepting and learning from challenges and then moving on.
4. Re-Frame and Forgive Past Hurts
   Help them adopt a glass-half-full attitude.  Teach them not to dwell on the past and encourage them to forgive those who have harmed them.
5. Keep Their Eye On The Prize
   Help them know where they are headed and why.  Teach them how to persevere through challenges toward their ultimate vision for change.

The Bottom Line
The better we, and our teams, handle organizational change, the more effective we can be at staying ahead of the competition and performing at their peak.  Are you helping your people prepare for and adapt to change?

To learn more about how to be a better change leader, download A New Way for Leaders to Think about Change at Work