Organizational life is rife with minute-by-minute changes that create uncertainty. At times you don’t have enough information about the changes and how best to manage and adopt to those new changes. It can be frustrating, to say the least.
Cats, for example continue to be studied to understand what motivates them, drives their behaviors and attitude. From that research, there are two things gleaned we can leverage and use the next time we are in the throes of organizational change.
1. Establish your environmental boundaries.
As we navigate changes in our organizations, we have to reset our personal boundaries with the new manager or new team or new organization structure. It’s no different than you walking into a strange home for the first time. You need to gain your orientation of your new surroundings, just like cats have to establish their new boundaries in unfamiliar surroundings. The boundary parameters expand over time as you become more familiar with your surroundings.
Use the element of time to make the appropriate adjustments. Cats take their time to adjust to their new environment and never rush. So take the time to get acquainted and familiar with your new manager or team members or new organization structure, because rushing to accept your new surroundings is a good way to set yourself up for failure.
2. Adopting new behaviors and attitude.
You can help marginalize the impact of any change by modifying your behaviors and attitude for each organizational change situation. Part of the reasoning is because people inherently resist change initially; attitudes can get negative and changing behaviors are on full display. This especially true when the change is not entirely understood by those impacted.
Cats like people know their behaviors and attitude drives how others will treat them and when they make those subtle, not radical adjustments of behaviors and attitude, adoption of the change is being realized.
Final Thoughts
The next time you are experiencing change; trepidation and anxiety of the change may weigh heavily on your mind. Think about how cats approach changes in environment and how they adopt to those changes to minimize stress and anxiety levels.
No one changes at the snap of a finger. People like cats, have to process what is changing, why is it changing and the impact change will have on their overall well-being. It can be easy to change your outside appearance like my cat above through adoption. Ask yourself these simple questions; Have I established my new personal boundaries? Have I adopted to the new organizational change and demonstrated commitment through my behaviors and attitude to thrive in the new environment?
Originally published at medium.com