There are a lot of people changing roles (or jobs) lately. Re-orgs seem to be happening everywhere. Those big changes, whether you wanted them or not, usually come with heaping loads of unknown. I have a bunch of friends who are experiencing this right now, as well as my family.
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What’s this new job going to be like?
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What’s this changing role going to be like??
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What’s this new team/org/business going to be like???
It can be exciting for some, and super uncomfortable for many. Where are you on that scale? Being in a state of transition from “what was” to “what is” can naturally bring up anticipation around “not knowing” and an anchoring feeling of nostalgia. We like Camp Certainty – it’s safe, it’s expected, it’s predictable.
What’s helped me?
3 self-coaching practices:
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“This is all invented.” – taken from the book The Art of Possibility, this cue helps me sort through assumptions I’m making that are telling me what I see/hear/feel and focusing on a frame I can invent that brings new possibilities. In short, what am I assuming that might not be true, and what’s a new way to think about this?
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“Learning beats knowing any day.” – if I’m able to learn something from this, or continue to learn because of it, this will be better for me. Learning starts with curiosity, so I try to stay in a curious mode.
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“How can I contribute?” – with a big change, I usually don’t *know* how to contribute (even though I think I do), so I need to ask the question to myself and then explore that by talking to others and giving myself some time to really think about it.
Here are a few resources I’ve enjoyed that are related, maybe you’ll find them interesting and/or helpful:
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With a new job, changing role, or a re-org, we have an opportunity to learn and understand our role (a new identity) as well as examine the work that needs to be done. We can use this to vote low-value work “off the island” as this HBR article talks about. (5 min read)
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We’re all brilliant at something. Some call it our Native Genius. Things we do easily and freely, without anyone asking us or paying us for it. When a changing role or new job comes our way, we can often forget about the little things that we do naturally that when combined create something larger and more impactful that just one big skill. (5 min read)
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Many call it Imposter Syndrome. Kevin Cokley calls it “Imposter Thinking” and he has an interesting reason for calling it that, in this episode of The Hidden Brain podcast. This kind of thinking can get turned up when we’ve shifted into a new role at work, or we’re suddenly thrust into a new team because of a re-org. (54 min podcast)
Are you interested in helping yourself through an adaptive change and working together? I would love to talk and understand more, just send a note and we can find time to talk.
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