How to Deal With Working for an Organization With Changing Values
Consider that even without dramatic change, a good business is always progressing incrementally, improving the way that it works, improving the delivery of services, improving the types of products it sells, etc., Realize that we all change...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Consider that even without dramatic change
Without such incremental progress and refinement of values over time, an organization risks stagnating.
As such, be prepared for some change as a constant, including small realignments of values and approaches. -
Step 2: a good business is always progressing incrementally
Would you want to be pigeonholed into one way of being over the decades? Or would you rather that people acknowledged the growth and changes that have constituted your self over time? Most people realize that evolution of both organizations and individuals is a healthy process provided it is an improvement in most respects. , Has the organization's values, ethics and future orientation changed so much that you feel out of your comfort zone and unable to adjust to the changes? It's important to give it some time before assuming that the changes aren't going to work for you.
However, if after several months of trying to adjust to the new way of thinking and doing things, you still feel adrift and disconnected, it's possible that the fit really is now an imperfect one.
If the difference between your values and those of the organization is too serious to overcome for you, it's time to leave.
If it's merely about the discomfort of change and a new emphasis on how to do things and how to approach old methods, then give it time.
Avoid challenging people using your discomfort; get on with your work and speak to someone who is able to listen to your concerns, such as a family member or a therapist.
The distance from the organization will make them sympathetic, neutral and less-entangled listeners. , If you have been used to implementing a lot of the actions and telling the organization how things are, and this is suddenly removed from you, it can be deflating and disorienting.
However, it can also be your next best challenge to grow and to start realigning yourself with the new values and the new thinking.
Are you up for that? , Sometimes the fear of what the values mean causes employees and managers to focus more on the perceived (and not necessarily yet realized) consequences and less on the substance of changing values.
Instead of worrying, do your research and learn as much as you can about what seems to be the new direction of your organization.
Apply your intelligence, your analysis and your future thinking to the new set of rules, guidelines, values and ideas and find ways that you can contribute to what's current.
Be supportive and keep your criticism to yourself. , Talk to people in generations above or below your own to see how they're embracing the changing values.
They may have useful perspectives that you can learn from.
Holding on to old values can be career limiting.
There is a difference between fundamental principles and simply old habits. -
Step 3: improving the way that it works
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Step 4: improving the delivery of services
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Step 5: improving the types of products it sells
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Step 6: Realize that we all change
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Step 7: including the workplace.
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Step 8: Consider whether you're now feeling out of your comfort zone.
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Step 9: Consider whether you're so tied up in your own sense of what is right that you have become rigid and unable to see when change is good.
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Step 10: Spend time learning about the changing values.
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Step 11: Get inter-generational.
Detailed Guide
Without such incremental progress and refinement of values over time, an organization risks stagnating.
As such, be prepared for some change as a constant, including small realignments of values and approaches.
Would you want to be pigeonholed into one way of being over the decades? Or would you rather that people acknowledged the growth and changes that have constituted your self over time? Most people realize that evolution of both organizations and individuals is a healthy process provided it is an improvement in most respects. , Has the organization's values, ethics and future orientation changed so much that you feel out of your comfort zone and unable to adjust to the changes? It's important to give it some time before assuming that the changes aren't going to work for you.
However, if after several months of trying to adjust to the new way of thinking and doing things, you still feel adrift and disconnected, it's possible that the fit really is now an imperfect one.
If the difference between your values and those of the organization is too serious to overcome for you, it's time to leave.
If it's merely about the discomfort of change and a new emphasis on how to do things and how to approach old methods, then give it time.
Avoid challenging people using your discomfort; get on with your work and speak to someone who is able to listen to your concerns, such as a family member or a therapist.
The distance from the organization will make them sympathetic, neutral and less-entangled listeners. , If you have been used to implementing a lot of the actions and telling the organization how things are, and this is suddenly removed from you, it can be deflating and disorienting.
However, it can also be your next best challenge to grow and to start realigning yourself with the new values and the new thinking.
Are you up for that? , Sometimes the fear of what the values mean causes employees and managers to focus more on the perceived (and not necessarily yet realized) consequences and less on the substance of changing values.
Instead of worrying, do your research and learn as much as you can about what seems to be the new direction of your organization.
Apply your intelligence, your analysis and your future thinking to the new set of rules, guidelines, values and ideas and find ways that you can contribute to what's current.
Be supportive and keep your criticism to yourself. , Talk to people in generations above or below your own to see how they're embracing the changing values.
They may have useful perspectives that you can learn from.
Holding on to old values can be career limiting.
There is a difference between fundamental principles and simply old habits.
About the Author
Joshua Knight
Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow home improvement tutorials.
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