Keys To Using Disruptive Change To Your Advantage

From Judith:

You’re moving along in your current position and succeeding quite well. Then, all of a sudden, with no input from you, no warning from above, you are informed that your position has been discontinued, or your team has been reassigned, or you’ve been moved to a different department in a different building (perhaps even in a different city).

Whatever it is, disruptive change has control of your career, your professional identity, and your future. And at first, you feel totally out of control. You are in shock.

But, as soon as possible, the task is to figure out how to turn this seemingly volcanic upheaval into something that will work to your advantage, rather than leaving you permanently destabilized.

How do you do this (and/or help your team/friend/colleague do it)?

1 - Understand That “Life Is Change” - To be fully alive, you have to surrender to living in an ever-changing universe of options.

2 - Open Your New Universe By Asking Questions - Rather than assume you have all the information about the disruptive changes at hand, start asking everyone involved the most in-depth questions you can think of. Get your friends and family to help you think of questions you might ignore or take for granted. Play Sherlock Holmes during this time of exploration.

3 - Trust Your Best Hunch - Make choices about how to best go forward guided by all of the information you’ve collected PLUS your deepest gut-hunch for what will serve your personal and professional growth and expansion going forward.

4 - Know That Your Choice(s) Are Not Permanent - As you move forward you will continue to collect information, run into new challenges, and perhaps encounter opportunities you would never have imagined previously. You may choose to leave the company in favor of a new offer, but even that need not be seen as a permanent choice, perhaps only a stepping stone to something even better.

5 - Rise To The Occasion - Rather than allow yourself to feel defeated and/or victimized by the disruptive decisions that were out of your control, harness your specific inner strengths that can carry you forward with grace and dignity. You will be noticed and appreciated for your adaptability, your confidence, and your ability to rise to the occasion.

6 - Accept And Receive Recognition - Take in the praise, gratitude, and offers of help that come your way as you go forward. Let this input fertilize your growing identity and confidence. Allow it to help you build an even more solid platform under you so that the next time disruptive change occurs you will be better fortified for wht may be an even greater transformational opportunity.

As you read through this 6-part list of take-action steps, what is your reaction? Notice any attempt to debunk it as “rose-colored glasses” or even “blaming the victim.” Those are very common vehicles to avoid facing into the choices we all have when reality gets dumped upside down on our heads.

Yes, reality can be a bear! Yet, we all have choice points available—even if they’re not what you had hoped for—that can help us avoid feeling like a helpless tool in the tool box others like to “play with.”

Please share how your professional life benefitted from your positive approach to disruptive change.