With unrelenting change a fact of the modern business world, HR should be preparing employees to maintain high levels of performance during turbulent times. Stuck in the rut of “we’ve always done it this way” employees need training to develop resilience to change.
Change. It’s such a scary word for many people, and yet we are all born with an innate ability (or a baseline resilience) to deal with and adapt to change. Change is an essential part of life. As children, change is a natural part of growing up. We accept it and we certainly don’t fear it. As we grow older and go through life, we unconsciously develop greater levels of resilience through experience.
It seems strange, then, that the longer we spend in the business world, the more difficult it becomes for us to deal with change. We become stiff over time, concerned that we’re making the right decisions and solving the right problems. We lose flexibility as we gain experience because we’re not sure how to apply our experiences to the changes we find ourselves dealing with.
Employees need to learn how to “consciously” develop resilience to change. Organizations are relying on employees who have the ability to deal with and respond to change. And these same organizations are also recognizing the need to help employees become more effective at managing change in order to reduce stress-related absences and improve employee morale and retention.
