How to mentally adjust when your company changes

When your company makes an unexpected change you can do what a lot of employees do: freak out. Or, as psychologist Daryl Conner writes in Managing at the Speed of Change, “You can learn to discipline yourself to use the forces of change to your advantage — like learning to turn into a skid rather than succumbing to the natural tendency to turn away from it when driving on an icy road.”

The second approach is often much harder. But it’s one worth cultivating as a manager for three main reasons:

• Things change frequently in today’s workplace. Failing to adapt means letting stress dictate the cadence of your life, making you miserable and, over time, damaging your health. For more, check out our Stress Management topic.
• You’re the face of the company — at least from your team’s perspective. If you freak out, your direct reports probably will, too. Once that happens, goodbye, performance; hello, drama.
• Changes present an opportunity to distinguish yourself and your team. Smart managers grab the chance to unite and motivate their teams during uncertain times. For more details, see our related articles How to communicate change to your team and How to guide your team through change.

So how can you gain the self-mastery it takes to get through challenging company changes, and even use them to your advantage? It may start with your mindset. Follow the tips below and use our Reflection guide: My response to a company change to improve your situation for you and your team.

1. Don’t rush to judgment.

Your mind is probably going to mess with you right after you hear about a surprising change. Why? There are a lot of potential reasons — some known and some still buried in the murky science of the human brain. But generally people are uncomfortable with ambiguity, which almost inevitably accompanies change. You may jump to the worst conclusions even if you only have a little bit of information to go on. (For example, you learn your team is merging with another one, and instead of thinking, “This could mean the opportunity to learn more and have a bigger impact,” you might think, “I could lose my job if the other team’s manager is better.”)

Self-awareness can go a long way toward keeping your premature judgments under control. If you know that your initial reactions to a change may be unreliable, you can:

• Pre-emptively head to a coffee shop, go for a walk or even take a personal day. This will keep you from over-sharing and potentially damaging your credibility.
• Prepare a neutral answer to questions about the change. That way you’ll be ready if others ask you what you think of the restructuring, the new CEO or the company’s plans to globalize before you’ve had time to form a reasonable opinion. A simple “It’s a lot to process, and I’m still thinking it over” could keep you from saying something you might regret later.

2. Prepare for the challenges of being caught in the middle.

As a frontline manager, you might feel caught in the middle when a company change hits. On the one hand, you weren’t responsible for it, and are as much a target of it as the rest of your team. On the other hand, you’re “management” to your team members, and by extension, the face of the change. That means you have to not only adjust to a change you had no part in initiating, but also deal with any blowback from your team.

In navigating this challenging situation you might feel obligated to either plaster a fake smile on your face and give lip service to everything associated with the change, or take an us-against-them stance. But there are problems with both of these extremes. Inauthenticity isn’t leadership, and as a manager, you are the “them” (i.e., “management”) in the us-against-them equation.

The best approach is often to manage your own emotions, maintain your sense of humor and perspective, and embrace uncertainty instead of looking for quick, easy answers.

3. Get support from friends, mentors and people who adapt well.

While it’s inappropriate to commiserate with your direct reports, that doesn’t mean you have to suffer in silence. Given how political some workplaces get during periods of change, your best bet for a sounding board is probably someone unaffiliated with your organization, such as a good friend or family member. A mentor who has gone through similar changes might be a strong option, too, because he or she may be able to provide some pointers. For more on finding a mentor, see our article I can’t find or engage a mentor.

4. Analyze your personal change preferences and history.

We all have personality traits that influence our responses to change, as well as tangled histories of dealing with it. Yanking this stuff out of yourself and examining it can provide valuable context.

Key factors to probe may include:

• Your typical approach to change. Do you have a history of initiating sweeping changes in your professional and personal life (and perhaps getting bored with them soon afterward) or are you more likely to make small, incremental changes that don’t threaten your routine? If you think of these two approaches as extremes on a scale, where would you place yourself? According to management experts Chris Musselwhite and Robyn Ingram, approximately 25 percent of people in the U.S. tend to be change “originators” (the first type), 25 percent lean heavily toward the change “conserver” side (the second type), and 50 percent usually fall somewhere in the middle (i.e., “pragmatists”). There’s no right or wrong mindset (each approach has pros and cons), and the categories aren’t meant to indicate a person’s ability to change. But considering your tendencies within this basic framework may help you make sense of your (and others’) perspective on change. For more, see this article by Chris Musselwhite.
• The number and scale of other changes you’re currently dealing with. What if a big change at work comes while you’re in the middle of a bad breakup, dealing with a longtime team member’s resignation or both? Your tolerance for the next new thing will probably be lower, that’s what. Change overload is sometimes the culprit when we resist company changes. See our article Too much change at once for more on this.
• Your past experiences with company changes. Past experiences with layoffs, new leadership, strategic shifts and other company changes can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, you can probably apply some lessons you’ve learned. On the other, it’s easy — and potentially destructive — to take the attitude of “Here we go again.” Make a list of the organizational changes you’ve experienced and ask yourself: How might these predispose you to either accept or reject any current initiatives?

After reflecting on your personal views of change, you’ll be better equipped to adapt. For example, if you suspect you incline toward the “originator” side of the spectrum (i.e., you often like the big ideas behind changes but sometimes get bored implementing the details), you may need to work harder to stay focused on implementing and measuring a new strategy over time. Or if you’ve been through a poorly handled round of layoffs at a previous company, it may help to keep your cynicism in check.

5. Fill in any info gaps.

Some organizations are better than others at communicating the thinking behind their latest moves. If you’re missing vital information, such as why a change is happening or how it’s going to be measured, don’t stew in silence. Instead, proactively go to your boss or someone else higher up in the organization and ask questions (nicely). Doing so might even tip leaders off to the fact that they need to improve how they communicate.

The key is to ask in a genuinely curious, upbeat and open-minded — rather than confrontational — way.

• Poor: “No one’s bothered to explain why we came up with a new mission statement. What’s the point?”
• Better: “I’ve been thinking about the change to our mission statement. I realized I don’t have a good understanding of what led to the decision, and knowing that could help me process it and apply it to my team’s future work. Could you tell me a little more about the thinking behind the change?”

What if your organization is so large or the change is so complex you can’t get the answers you’re seeking? In some cases, you might need to accept that you’ll never know. As experienced manager Michael Zippiroli explains, “When it comes to high-level strategic changes, you might not have access to all of the people you would need to fill in the gaps in your understanding. And even if you did, you’d have to have a very deep understanding of the markets, the financials, all of the business lines, and all kinds of other data that typically come together to create a big change. Sometimes you just have to trust the organization — and if you don’t, then that’s probably a whole other issue.”

6. Voice any legitimate concerns you have.

Many managers assume they have to endorse company changes (or at least remain silent and neutral) no matter what. But if you voice legitimate concerns in a positive, proactive way, one of two things might happen: You could learn something that invalidates or reduces your concerns, allowing you to get behind the change. Or, you might be able to change the change — and potentially save your team (or even company) from a costly misstep. After all, as a frontline manager, you and your team have a ground-level perspective that higher-level leaders might appreciate hearing about.

Admittedly, speaking truth to power can be a risky move. If you do it poorly, you can harm your credibility, and maybe even jeopardize your employment, so choose your battles (and words) carefully:

• Poor: “It’s easy for you to say we need to be more customer-centric, but my team of customer success reps is already working evenings and weekends to keep up with incoming tickets. How am I supposed to tell them they need to work even more hours when they’re already close to burnout?”
• Better: “I lead one of the teams handling customer requests, and before the company’s push to become more customer-centric we were each averaging a 60-hour work week. As much as we’d like to do our part, we’re struggling with the logistics. The service level the leadership team expects might not be possible with our current setup. Would you be willing to talk through some ideas I have for addressing this issue?”

For more tips, see our articles 17 ways to persuade, How to prepare to persuade and How to execute a persuasion plan.

7. List what you’ll be losing in the change.

When changes hit, there’s usually a lot of rhetoric flying around about staying positive and moving forward. Nothing wrong with that. But acknowledging what we’re losing is an equally important part of the change process. In almost every case, the reality of the situation is that there are both pros and cons of changing, and suppressing the cons can cause resentment to build up and potentially turn toxic.

Try listing what the change will force you to let go of. Some of these things might be obvious, such as a promotion lost to a restructuring. Others might be more subjective, such as the perceived loss of a promotion opportunity. List these subjective items, too, because they can be just as powerful in terms of their emotional impact.

Review your list closely. Is there anything on there that you want to try to preserve? If so, ask yourself what you might be able to do. And regardless, allow yourself to feel the emotions associated with the loss, knowing that this is part of the change process.

8. Envision your part in the future.

It’s one thing to participate in a change; it’s another to internalize it. Maybe you’ve moved to a new building, merged with a new team or been to your first meeting with a new department head. Technically, you’ve gone through the motions of change. But have you accepted it? Are you committed to doing your part to sustain it? Are you hopeful about your company’s future and your part in it? If so, your (and your team’s) chances of faring well in the new environment will probably go up.

To make that happen, it may help to write down how the change benefits you and your team (i.e., what’s in it for you and them), and refer back to this list in moments of doubt. Additionally, plotting a course that will get everyone on the team (including yourself) from point A to point B may provide both peace of mind and confidence that the change is attainable. For more tips, see our article How to guide your team through change.

9. If you can’t accept the change, make a change of your own.

Change experts call people who pretend everything’s OK but refuse to adapt “covert resisters.” It’s an unhealthy and unproductive position to take — not just for you, but also for your team and organization.

You don’t have to let things get to that point. The truth is you’re never powerless in the face of a company change, even when it isn’t one of your own making. Why? Because you can always make a change of your own.

If, after making a genuine effort to understand a company change and its implications, you decide that it’s truly misaligned with your goals and values, it might be better to pursue your career elsewhere. One good rule of thumb when making a decision of this gravity is to ask yourself: Am I likely to encounter this at another organization, too? If so, leaving might be the wrong choice; you could very well encounter a similar situation at your next job.

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