by Merrilee KittelstadBusinesses are living organisms and evolve like any other living thing. That evolution is change, and it affects the employees of a business as much as it affects the business itself. How we, as employees, adapt to the change or resist it is all part of the evolution.
In order for a business to thrive and meet the needs of its employees, the needs of the organization must come first. Then, everything else falls into place. Naturally everyone resists change; it takes an educated and open mind to embrace change and not resist it—especially when it is imposed upon us rather than us choosing it ourselves.
I recently found myself in that very situation. Change was inevitable within my job. My role had to change, my duties had to change, my supervision had to change, and as much as it was needed I resisted it, nonetheless. The change was difficult to embrace.
The words of the sales manager rang in my ears: “The company’s needs come first. We take care of the company and everything else falls into place.” I firmly believe that the universe does not orchestrate events to benefit one to the detriment of another. Better put, what is good for one is good for all concerned, even though we as individuals don’t always see it that way. After time and in retrospect, typically we can see the brilliance of how things unfold, change and evolve—even though looking back before the change we couldn’t see or even imagine it.
As employees we have to understand that the company that employs us—if it is to survive in any economic climate—must change to grow. And that change will affect us. Sometimes it will appear to be to our benefit, sometimes to our detriment; sometimes it will not affect us at all. But, in order to be an integral part of our company’s future, we need to embrace the change as progress.
This change can be anything from moving your desk across the room, to being promoted or demoted, to even being fired. If we can see things from a larger perspective, if we can understand that nothing stays the same and change is inevitable, we can thrive—the alternative being that we resist the inevitable and make ourselves and everyone else miserable in the process.
No one is immune to the change of the organization that employs him or her. But, with a shift in perspective we can all change, all evolve, all thrive.
