Change is constant
There are many quotes about change, starting from the most famous one by Heraclitus “The only constant in life is change”
Change will be there in personal life, as well as professional settings. Some changes are good, some are bad, but as Benjamin Franklin put it: “When you are finished changing, you are finished”.
Therefore there is no reason to spend energy trying to avoid changes. You can try keeping the status quo for a while, but at some point someone, or something, will make a change which affects you. Your time and energy is much better spend trying to predict the impact of the changes, and adjust accordingly.
Types of changes
Changes comes in all forms and sizes, some are broadly announced, while others just happens and you eventually find out that a change has happend.
The way I often look at changes is by assesing the impact radius of the change in a work setting. This goes outwards from direct impact to me, impact to my team, impact to my other colleuges, impact to my department, impact to my location, impact to the company. There is a clear cut-off barrier for me about what changes I need to directly handle and address, and how much influence I have of how the changes are precieved.
Everything within my department is something where I am likely to be the (or one of) the communicators of the change and what impact it may have. Everything further out is something where communication is likely to happen at a different level, and my main job is to help best support handling the change, and asses any potential fallout if the change can be viewn as ‘negative’.
Driven by fear of the unkown
The human nature mainly has two modes, fight or flight. This also applies when handling changes, you either view the changes as a potential oppotunity where you can maybe get more influence, or implement some change which aligns with your own direction. Or you become fearful of how this change will affect your work, future carrer options etc.
It is natural to be careful around the unkown, and when we don’t understand the impact of a change, our natural reaction is to fear the change, until we start getting an idea of what related changes will come.
A change never comes alone
Changes are like ripples in the water, they spread, and the bigger the change, the more smaller waves of changes are going to follow. Its not always easy to asses the size of the change. Some changes may seem small to you, but will seem big to others, this can in turn lead to other potentially larger changes for you. Its always a good idea to think of who will be impacted most by the immidiate change, and what their initial reaction will be.
Change management framework
The mental model I use for a change mangement framework follows a few simple steps.
1. Discovery
The first step is how the change is discovered. Did it spread through coffee machine talks, or was there a clear communication about it before roumers started spreading? Is it relayed as a positive or a negative impact change? Where did the change originate from?
This step helps you understand the initial reaction to the change, try to view the change from both a negative and a positive angle, to better unstand the intend behind the change.
2. Impact assesment
- Grief
- Related changes
Examples
Wrap up
Some changes will have a positive nature, like announcing a new customer for your product, while other changes will feel massive, like your company aquiering another company. Most changes can be seen as both good and bad at the same time. For the customer example