Beware the Water Cooler in Times of Change & Uncertainty

When organizations are going through change, uncertainty and chaos, it's natural for colleagues to find like minded co-workers to talk to about how we're feeling. We have this desire to learn about all the changes and how it might impact our lives. Hoping to learn the 'real' reasons why all this change is happening or to find ways to better position ourselves, we drift towards the proverbial water cooler and start digging for insights.

But does it help?

Sometimes.

But often, engaging in speculation with co-workers only fuels the worry, anxiety and the overthinking we have about the future...about our future...our job, our career and our life. About how we will fare in all the change.

Having been through a fair number of years in dealing with uncertainty and change in the workplace, I have come to the realization that while it can be helpful to have conversations with sympathetic co-workers who share in our desire to understand all the change, it often leads us down a misguided path.

This is because what we inevitably try to do is to predict what will happen in the future. Who's going to get what job, where we'll be relocating to, will there be cuts, who will gain control over what department, and so on.

All of this is just a waste of energy because no one can predict the future. Much of the speculation only adds fuel to the fire of anxiety already burning away.

Organizations are highly complex, especially large ones. Operating in highly uncertain, unpredictable, complicated and fast industries, organizations and the good people who work in them don't often act in predictable ways. Sure, it might look predictable when we look back but in our chaotic times, we cannot predict what will happen. (More on unpredictability, checkout: Fooled by Randomness by Taleb)

So what do we do? Just sit there and wait it out?

No.

I believe that in times of uncertainty and change, we must do 3 things to reduce stress and get back some semblance of control again.

1. Let go.

Let go of the past way of working, how good our last manager was and how good it used to be. Yes, there were the good old days. Some days were better than others but those days are gone. Let's get over it.

By learning to accept that we can neither control the change, nor can we stop it, we can begin to learn to live with it.

2. Stop spending time trying to 'figure it out'.

I have a slightly analytical side where I used to try to really understand the motives...the logic...the reason why change was happening and so fast. But the more I dug into data, facts and opinions of others, the further into the hole of paralysis I fell.

Once I learned to stop overthinking and stop trying to predict the future, I began to worry less and felt free to create in the here and now.

3. Get moving...forward.

There's nothing more debilitating than our own mind. But when we're focused on a goal and moving towards that goal, despite the chaos that is happening around us, we start to feel better.

Action gives us back control making us feel alive knowing that we are making a contribution to something. Moving forward on a small project, a task in front of us or a big goal can pull us forward through some chaotic times, giving us meaning.

I don't believe in easy formulas because everyone has a unique story.

But I do believe that when we're experiencing change and uncertainty in the workplace, the place to quench the thirst for trying to make sense of the uncertainty and change...and to find meaning in our job and life lies not in the water cooler but in the purposeful actions we take each day.

-Bob Miglani, Author, Embrace the Chaos

(all views are my own. Checkout my bestselling book: Embrace the Chaos)