ANN/THE STAR – Numerous individuals used to spend their whole workday in the same routine.
Today, however, digitalisation may imply that your working environment is always changing due to the introduction of new software, revisions to procedures, and reorganisation of teams.
An employment without new difficulties may become monotonous, thus this can provide much-needed variation. However, when it happens too quickly, when structures are unable to stabilise, or when it just gets to be too much, change may also be debilitating.
Professor of industrial and organisational psychology at the University of Erlangen in Germany Cornelia Niessen stated that “changes in the world of work unsettle many employees”.
Changes might be seen as constructive challenges, according to Niessen. Many individuals, however, feel frightened and fear they will be unable to handle the increased obligations and may even lose their job.
Fear, however, can set a disastrous spiral in motion: “If you are afraid, you don’t learn as well and you are less able to adapt to a new situation,” said Niessen.
Uncertainty is often accompanied by a feeling of being at the mercy of things, of having to go along with changes without being allowed to help shape them. But even if the management makes decisions without involving the employees, passive waiting and antsy avoidance are the worst courses to take, said experts.
“A positive approach to change must be visible and tangible, otherwise you’ll be blocked by your subconscious, which unfortunately is not keen on change at all,” said career coach Martina Nohl, who advises people who feel stuck in professional change processes.
But how is that supposed to work when you are already struggling in the face of unfamiliar new tasks – not to mention that invitation in your mailbox to attend training for the new digital tool?
“The best way I know is to voluntarily face challenges of change again and again in your private life,” said Nohl.
However, you shouldn’t make it too easy for yourself, the coach added. A little “flutter in the stomach” is important: “With this experience of self-efficacy, you can then also tackle professional change projects. The principles of change are always the same.”
TALK TO COLLEAGUES
It can also help to talk to colleagues who give you the impression that they are coping well with change, said Nohl. How do they manage to remain open to new things and retain the desire to learn?
The problem with many change processes is that those in charge are very busy themselves, are constantly in meetings and are hardly present. “In the worst case, the team is left to its own devices,” said the psychologist Niessen.
This can set negative processes in motion in different directions: Either the feeling of insecurity welds them together, while also intensifying anxieties and a sense of rejection.
Or those who are less able to cope with the innovations are sidelined.
“However, it is crucial for success that the individual feels that he or she is in good hands in the team, that everyone is pulling in the same direction,” said Niessen.
This does not automatically mean that everyone has to be able to do the same thing.
Rather, it is important to “initiate reflection in everyone as to where the right balance could be”.
There is a persistent prejudice that older people have more problems adjusting to new things and continuing their education. But studies show no direct connection between age and adaptability, said Niessen.
Nevertheless, it happens that team members are no longer offered training because of their age: “That is discriminatory”. In any case, a positive learning climate that makes people want to continue their education is crucial, especially in the face of continuous change, she stressed.
And what if, despite everything, you feel that you are no longer in the right place, and that you can no longer escape the overload?
In that case, seeking a new job can of course make sense, said career coach Nohl: “However, don’t forget that you always take yourself and your actual range of change competences with you.”
