Based on an interview by Work & Family Life Newsletter with Barrie
Sanford Greiff, M.D., Psychiatric Consultant to the Harvard University Health Service and Visiting Professor of Occupational
Psychiatry at The Institutes of Living in Hartford, Connecticut. Reprinted with permission.
Change - constant, and often rapid - is probably the most
noticeable characteristic of life as we approach the twenty-first century. Life has changed considerably the past few decades.
Families get started later, and are smaller. Neighborhoods change, as older housing is restored or new homes are built.
People relocate, change jobs, go back to school.
Changes At Work -
With society changing so rapidly, it’s not surprising that companies are changing rapidly, too. Changes on the job may
take many forms. They could be new rules and regulations handed down by government agencies, new ways of processing paperwork, or
new uses of technology. Welding tools may be improved or a typewriter may be replaced with a word processor.
How Do You React To Change?
How do people deal with change? Their responses vary widely, whether the change is in their work or in their personal life.
Dr. Greiff described some of the most common human reactions.
Denial - This is probably the
least productive of human responses to change. It involves
convincing yourself that things change for other people, or in
other companies, but won’t change for you or in your
company. The fact is that changes occur all the time, and affect
everybody.
Lip service - This involves
talking a good game, trying to persuade others that you think change is fine, and that you are prepared to change. In the
meantime, you just go on acting exactly as you did before.
Not me - In this tactic,
people expect others to do the necessary changing, and to make any adjustments to change that have to be made.
Least resistance - This is a
sort of "go with the flow" technique, in which people simply accept change and make the least possible adjustment in
their behavior.
Sabotage - Some people try
everything from elaborate covert schemes to discredit or deflect change to simple passive resistance. It’s a strategy people
may employ when they are asked to learn a new skill - they appear to be trying to do so, but somehow they just can’t
learn.
Adaptation - With this
strategy, you adjust your behavior to cope with change. It means looking at change realistically, evaluating how it has affected
your circumstances, and determining what actions are called for.
Anticipation - This involves
seeing the change is coming and determining in advance how best to deal with it. It often includes planning an approach to a
problem or learning a new skill to enhance those you already possess, or one that you see will be very much in demand in the
future.
Why We Respond To Change In These
Ways -
How do we feel about all that change? Society gives us very mixed messages about change, so it’s not surprising that
many people find it difficult to sort out how they feel. On the one hand, we are assured that change is growth, and that no
progress is ever made without change - it’s the American way. On the other hand, society emphasizes that many things
should not change - human values, standards (whether for justice, or educational achievement, or morality), and religious and
political beliefs.
But change, whether or not it’s desirable, is usually
stressful. Changes almost always cause people to feel uneasy. And feeling uncertain or apprehensive about things in your life,
especially about big things, puts a great deal of pressure on you.
The uncertainty, which accompanies change, stems from our
inability to be sure if the change will be for the better or for the worse. Dr. Greiff notes that the Chinese symbol for stress
combines the symbol for "risk" with the symbol for "opportunity." Some people see only the risk, while
others see only the opportunity.
Dealing With Change -
Dealing with new situations - or with uncertainty - is difficult for virtually everyone. But Dr. Greiff points out that
there are things you can do to minimize the stress of change, and to emphasize the opportunity rather than the risk.
Minimizing the stress
- Talk to a trusted friend. Discuss your worst fears and best hopes, and talk
about how you might cope with the change.
- Find a physical activity you like and do it regularly. Exercise is a
wonderful stress reliever. But it’s important that it be something you like - otherwise you won’t do it for
long.
- Don’t give in to discouragement. Focus on the skills and abilities you
possess - they are your door to new opportunities.
- Don’t increase your use of alcohol or cigarettes. To the extent that
they relieve tension, they do so only temporarily.
Emphasizing the opportunity
-
- Don’t
think change won’t happen to you. No one is immune to change
- not the President of the United States, not the president of
your company, and not you.
- Don’t
fight change - deal with it. Look for ways to make it work to
your advantage.
- Be
realistic about what you expect. Don’t expect the worst - it
often doesn’t happen. But don’t have unreasonably high
expectations, either.
- Develop
skills in areas you see as having value in the future. When the
automobile came along, the world needed more mechanics and fewer
blacksmiths.
- Nowadays,
increasing emphasis is being placed on "transferable"
skills - those skills which can be used in many different
jobs.
- Maintain
your relationships on the job. Good working relationships can
help minimize the effects of change and help all concerned make
successful adjustments.
Finally, one thing you can do which both minimizes the
stress and maximizes the opportunities is to maintain an
optimistic attitude. Recent research studies indicate that
optimists not only feel better about themselves and their lives
but actually tend to manage their lives better, whatever happens
to them. They adapt more easily to change and are more likely to
turn changes into opportunities.
The studies found that optimists tend to respond to
disappointments like not getting the job they wanted or being
passed over for a promotion by making a plan of action and asking
others for help and advice. Pessimists are more likely to try to
forget the whole thing or to feel that there is nothing they can
do.
Change is occurring more rapidly today, but it has always
been a part of everyone’s life. You can’t stop change, but you can do something about its effects on you. Recognizing
that you will be faced with change in your job as you are in other aspects of your life is the first step to dealing with
change and making it productive for you.
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