8 Ways to Deal with Change in the Workplace

Change in the workplace is something that all of us encounter on a regular basis.  Our sales training partners in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria are always looking for ways to best deal with it.   Here are 8 ways that will help you navigate through the process of change.  Leveraging the benefit of just one of them can make a huge difference in your ability to adapt successfully.

How To Deal With Change

1.  Take a deep breath and stay open-minded.  It sure beats the opposite.  Stop for a moment and try to understand why this change is occurring.  It’s the first step toward accepting that what is happening may actually be positive for you in the long run.

2.  Feel with your Heart – Think with your Head.  This can be a challenge for passionate Salespeople who rely on emotions to create the urgency to buy their product.  Separating these two components allows you to break change into two parts.  Divide and conquer by knowing that your feelings are motivated by your heart.  Thinking with your head gives you the ability to rationalize.  While we all realize that both feelings and thinking originate in your brain, dividing the two helps you address both areas with a more calm and structured approach.

3.  Acknowledge your Feelings.  No one can deny you the right to feel the way you do even if you’re told that it’s not warranted.  Your feelings are as unique as your fingerprint.  Denial never leads to success.  Dwelling on your feelings doesn’t either.  Once you acknowledge how you feel ask yourself “How would I help a colleague at another company deal with the same issue?”  Then start the process of taking your own advice.  Why would your suggestions not apply to you?

4.  Respond.  Don’t react.  Emotions can cloud judgement.  When a doctor taps your knee with a small hammer, it reacts by extending your leg.  That requires no conscious thinking.  Dealing with change does.  Allow your head to think of the proper response – one that requires careful consideration to find the best way of dealing with the situation.

5.   Look at the positives – especially when you think there are none.  Even though you may not want to do this in the beginning, recognize that having the right attitude is the start of acceptance and moving ahead.  Since you’ve already addressed your feelings, now let your head do what it does best – think.  Great Salespeople instinctively know how to do this with their clients.  The same advice holds from the third point.

6.   Ask Yourself – “How important will this be six months from now?”  This is a great method to not sweat the small stuff.  Most of the change that you deal with is small stuff.  When you do this, you may quickly realize that your current situation is not really a big deal based on a larger scale.  Most things that seem like a big deal now will be a distant memory in six months.

7.  Keep your sense of humor.  Laughing is therapeutic.  Laughing at the situation puts you in a much better frame of mind to begin the process of moving on to adapt to the new change and settle into it.  There is humor and a light side to most things if you choose to look for it.

8.  If all else fails – Fake it until you make it.  Picture yourself accepting the change and making the most of it.  Then begin to play that out even though emotionally you may not be ready to.  Allow your alter ego to lead you to success.  The best Salesperson to help you through this change is you.

Change is Inevitable

In the end, we all realize that change on the sales floor is an inevitability.  It allows each of us to adapt and grow, learning from the experience.  Our perception of it becomes our reality.  It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you deal with it that makes all the difference.

Smart Salespeople make a consistent commitment toward developing their skill set.  It’s the sign of a professional.  If you’re an individual Salesperson looking for cost-effective sales training or Manager interested in training your Salespeople, check out our online program  The Sales Skills Incubator ($199 Canadian) or our book  SHUT UP!  Stop Talking and Start Making Money available on Kindle and paperback on Amazon.

Thanks!

Dave Warawa – PROSALESGUY