What do you do if your career change is causing conflicts with colleagues?

When facing conflicts due to a career change, openly communicate your reasons while actively listening to colleagues' concerns. Find shared goals, seek compromises, and consider mediation if needed. Maintain professionalism, focusing on constructive solutions. Continuously build positive relationships, demonstrating your commitment to collaboration and fostering a supportive work environment.

If your career change is causing conflicts with colleagues, it's important to communicate openly and transparently with them. Explain your reasons for the change and how you believe it will benefit both you and the team in the long run. Listen to their concerns and try to find common ground or solutions together. It's also helpful to seek support from HR or a supervisor if needed to mediate the situation.

In my professional journey, I've experienced career changes within the same team, be it lateral shifts or vertical promotions. Each transition offers a chance to celebrate your wins. Affirm your decision and consider how it aligns with your goals and org goals. Equally important is communicating with your team about the change and its implications. Open dialogue allows for clarity on what changes may occur within the team dynamics is helpful. Anticipate resistance to change and proactively address it with change management tools. Keep up regular check-ins with team members experiencing difficulties to provide guidance through the adjustment period. Change is a journey, keep providing tips to help team members navigate the transition.

In my experience, I recommend getting to know each colleague personally and professionally to reduce the uncertainty or concerns with your career change. Most of this stems from FEAR, false evidence appearing real so conversations and time will help remove the barriers and also let others know who you are and what your needs and interests are at work.

One thing I found helpful is to delay the need to meet right away when in conflict. It is best to come together when the heat of the moment has passed and you are able to use more rational thinking to get to a place where you can listen, have empathy, and make a informed decision together.

One thing that I found helpful in boundary setting is to also cover expectations. We all enter into relationships at home, work, or in any community setting with expectations. Others' expectations should not weigh so heavily to stymie or stifle our individual actions. That's where the boundary setting becomes important. Expectations tend to encroach the boundaries so it is important to make those known and clear.

In my experience as a conflict and culture coach for clients, setting boundaries is the best option for those in conflict because it allows the parties to manage and maintain control and limits. This balances power and affords both parties with an opportunity to say what will and will not work for them. In my business, I sale merchandise that says : Hold boundaries, not grudges and I use this in every mediation and training I give.

This is great advice because in my experience over the past three decades, workplace conflict comes from two primary places: personalities and behaviors and a perceived scarcity of resources which include things like knowledge, access, relationships, money, etc. A third party (mediator) can balance the dynamics by offering alternatives to the conversation like a listening ear, different perspectives, and creative collaboration.

If your colleagues are upset about your career change, ask them why they are upset. If they are upset because they will miss you or they love working with you and your contributions, let them know you appreciate are grateful for how they feel about you. Tell them why you've made your decision so they will understand and be happy for you. Ask for their support and tell them you are available to provide support for them and want to stay in contact. (Unless the reason for the career change is to get away from those colleagues.)

When professional dynamics change, it is natural for others to search for the risk associated with that change. This is a normal response connected with the part of our brain in charge of survival One easy step you can take is to understand their perspective and then specifically point out what will remain the same. Ask questions with curiosity to understand exactly what type of concern they have. This will allow you to effectively handle their concern and move forward productively.