How to Navigate Organisational Change With Confidence

Research & Sources / Corporate Professional Growth

If you stand in the sea and fight every wave, you get knocked over again and again. A surfer does something different. They watch the waves, choose one, paddle at the right moment and ride it. The wave is just as strong. The surfer has simply learned to move with it. Organisational change is a wave. You can fight it or learn to ride it.

Change is constant

Reorganisations, new leaders, mergers, new strategies, new systems. In most large organisations, some kind of change is always happening. Each one brings uncertainty: Will my role change? Will my team stay? Will my work still matter?

Why change feels so uncomfortable

Change takes away the familiar. And it often comes with too little information. John Kotter studied why change efforts fail and found that leaders often under-communicate, sharing the vision far less often than people need to understand and believe it.¹ In the gap, rumours grow and worry spreads.

How to ride the wave

Find out what is really known. Ask your manager directly: what is decided, what is not decided yet, and when will we know more? Separating facts from rumours reduces stress.

Focus on what you can influence. You can’t control the reorganisation. You can control the quality of your work, your relationships and how you show up.

Look for the opportunity. Change opens doors: new roles, new projects, new leaders who need support. People who help make the change work often grow the most from it.

Stay connected. Talk with colleagues, but avoid endless rumour sessions. Support each other with facts and calm.

Look after your energy. The American Psychological Association describes resilience as something that can be strengthened through relationships, self-care and how we approach challenges.²

Be part of the solution

W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne found that people commit to decisions, even ones they disagree with, when the process feels fair: they were heard, the decision was explained and expectations are clear.³ If you have a chance to give input, give it constructively. If decisions go against your view, you can still choose how you respond.

When to think about your own move

Sometimes change shows that the organisation is going in a direction that no longer fits you. That is useful information too. Take time to reflect, talk to someone outside the company, and decide calmly rather than in the middle of the storm.

What this means for you this week

• Write down what you know for sure, and what is still unknown.
• Ask your manager one clear question about the change.
• Find one opportunity the change might create for you.
• Protect your energy with one fixed recovery routine.

The waves will keep coming. Learn to surf.

Sources

1. Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review. hbr.orgCommon reasons change efforts fail, from too little urgency to under-communicating the vision.
2. American Psychological Association. Resilience. apa.orgResilience as a process of adapting to difficulty that can be learned and strengthened, including through relationships and self-care.
3. Kim, W. C. & Mauborgne, R. (2003). Fair Process: Managing in the Knowledge Economy. Harvard Business Review. hbr.orgPeople commit to decisions they disagree with if the process was fair: engagement, explanation and clear expectations.