Building Resilience in Times of Change 

 We’re living in a time when the old adage, “The only constant is change” couldn’t be more true. This month Dr. Brandon Sullivan, Senior Director of Leadership and Talent Development in the Office of Human Resources, offers his insight on dealing with change.

Building Resilience in Times of Change

I learned a lesson about change a few months ago when my wife and I discovered that one of my teenage children had been texting their friends late at night. We looked at our records and saw that they had exchanged dozens of texts every night with their friends, adding up to thousands of texts in a month.

At first my wife and I were horrified that they sent so many texts. Then I realized that horror came from my frame of reference based on my own experiences—when I was young, the average teen sent zero texts. Being a researcher, I was curious what’s typical for teenagers today. So I Googled it. In 2019, the picture is very different. The Pew Research Center found U.S. teens exchange more than 90 texts a day, up to 4,000 a month!

The world is changing so fast. Think about the changes your department or unit is facing. We all experience a constant state of change. Naturally, we cling for dear life, unsure of where we’re going or whether our grip is strong enough to hold on.

During these seemingly chaotic moments, it’s human nature to ask three questions:

What’s going to happen? First, we want to know what’s coming over the horizon. We don’t like uncertainty because we assume the worst: budget cuts, job cuts, different responsibilities, less freedom and flexibility.

What can I do? Second, we feel a loss of control. We no longer know how to meet expectations for our job performance and contribution.

How will I get it done? Third, we want to know how we will get it all done. Change in the workplace often means more work, different work, or a different way of doing our work.

When we don’t get answers to these questions, we kick into a mode of high stress but the ways we try to cope typically won’t work.

• We dig in our heels and fight the change. The problem is, we can't keep it from happening.
• We plug our ears, crawl under our desks, and hope it will go away. The problem is, it won't.
• We don’t want to do anything without certainty. The problem is, in a world of change, we won't get it.

So what can we do to thrive and survive?

Building resilience is a skill that requires self-awareness and practice with the outcome of viewing yourself positively and having confidence in your strengths.

• Focus on what you can control. Work on making progress toward important goals and leverage your strengths to make progress.
• Assess your emotions. Emotions are contagious, so your stressful feelings will spread, as will your feelings of optimism and positivity.
• Practice empathy. Work to understand your employees’ motivators, goals, and preferences, and offer the right kind of support to help them to be their best.
• Take breaks. Leave your desk at lunch. Unplug at night. Set boundaries with your team about when to engage with work and when to disconnect—no emails on weekends, for example.