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Handling Change in the Workplace: Logical versus Emotional Reactions

Guest post by: Iris Barrow

Article Overview: People need time and support to adjust both logically and emotionally to change. This article explains how change can impact on staff and provides keys to help them adapt and settle into the new environment. Change can be positive if handled well or a recipe for disaster if handled poorly. Through the use of a case study, the pitfalls and negative impacts are discussed; then follows some pointers for managing change in the workplace and a practical method for accepting change on a more personal level.

Handling Change in the Workplace: Logical versus Emotional Reactions

Logical and emotional reactions to change

A man is promoted at work. He sees the promotion as being extremely good for his career and future prospects - he has worked for it, he is looking forward to it, and now finally it has occurred. Logically he accepts it wholeheartedly and welcomes it. Emotionally, however, it is another story. He swings from delight and anticipation, to doubt and feelings of insecurity. In the morning his feeling may be, "Great, this is just what I wanted. At last my work has been recognised and now my career path is all upwards." That evening he may experience a totally different reaction on the emotional level, and have feelings such as, "If they knew what I was really like they wouldn't have promoted me. I don't know if I can handle this. I am feeling pretty insecure about my new role; I doubt that I'm up to it."

This swinging of the emotional pendulum is perfectly natural and normal, and is in fact to be expected. However, if he doesn't expect that he will have wide emotional swings in the early stage of change, the experience can be disturbing. This particular man asked me, "Am I going nuts or what? I've been wanting this promotion for so long and am mentally prepared for it, yet now my feelings about it are jumping around like a yo-yo." What he needs to do is to accept that he is functioning on these two different levels. He will swing from positive to negative feelings until he adjusts to the change: it always takes much longer to adjust emotionally than it does logically. However, we do reach a point of consolidation when we are able to accept and adjust.

Allow time to adjust to change

Chris, the managing director of a wholesale distribution company decided to relocate the organization and undertake a major restructuring at the same time. Although an experienced businessman, Chris does not have a real understanding and grasp of how to manage people. He functions very well on the level of logic, but does not have much time for emotions; in fact when confronted with an honest display of feelings, he tends to become embarrassed and shy away.

It is little wonder then that when it was necessary for the firm to relocate and restructure, Chris did not handle the situation at all well as far as his people were concerned. While the financial aspects of the changes were thoroughly debated, very little time was spent discussing how all this would affect the 230 workers. When one of the managers expressed concern about this, Chris responded by saying they would just have to accept and adjust to it. He pointed out that some of them may be unsettled for a while, but most would see it as a positive career move as the restructure would involve some of them carrying extra responsibility and that could lead to promotions.

In the end, it was decided to give staff five weeks' notice of the move, but delay the announcement of the restructure until after the relocation. Staff were upset, worried and confused as they were given so little notice of the impending move. Some felt undervalued because they were not advised or consulted earlier, others feared their roles may change with the shift and became unsettled and anxious. Quite a number did not like having to travel further to work and started hunting for other work closer to home. The poor handling of the move and then the shock of the restructure shortly afterwards, led to some skilled and loyal staff leaving the firm. It took nine months of high stress before things began to settle. It also took a couple of years for the company to recover from the financial consequences of the poorly executed relocation and restructure.

Chris and his senior managers made a serious mistake in not giving people adequate time to prepare for these major changes on both the emotional and logical level. They should have been given ample time to ask questions, express their doubts and concerns, talk out their worries, and most importantly, have people in a knowledgeable position (perhaps the senior managers themselves) available to answer their questions and reassure them.

On the practical level, they were not given nearly enough information and support, and certainly did not have the opportunity of talking over their doubts and fears. People always need heavy reassurance and support during major change; this organisation committed a grave error in not providing for this basic human requirement. The consequences long-term were catastrophic because of their shortsightedness in this area.

Next, management totally ignored the emotional needs of the people whom these major changes would most affect. In ignoring this basic need, management paid a very high price indeed at a later stage in discontent, resentment, anger, reduced loyalty and motivation, and key personnel leaving. People need to be listened to and heard. They need to know that their feelings are understood and accepted. Above all, they need to feel they are a part of the change process, not just having it abruptly imposed upon them.

A practical method of accepting change

Once the consolidation process has occurred, we are usually able to let go of the old and accept the new. Providing our attitude is right, there is, at this stage, little difficulty in focusing on the future and letting go of the past.

The way in which we can speed up this consolidation process is by firstly accepting our feelings, and not getting uptight about them (this only adds secondary stress). We need to feed in self-talk messages such as "It's okay to feel the way I am, I'm just experiencing a perfectly natural response to change, so I totally accept my feelings." I'm not saying we have to like what we are experiencing on the feeling level; there is a big difference between liking and accepting. When we accept, we defuse the intensity of our emotions and therefore move to a point of peacefulness more quickly.

The second step is to express our feelings as fully as possible to somebody whom we can trust, and who will really listen to us. We need to talk out our hopes, fears, dreams, ambitions, joys and anticipation. Both pleasant and unpleasant feelings should be verbally expressed as fully and as often as is necessary. Talking them out once may not be enough; we may have to talk about our feelings a few times in order to speed the adjustment process. If we feel like crying we should allow ourselves to, as this will further move us to the point of consolidation.

Once the levels of logic and emotion have reached an equilibrium, we are ready to move on. At this point, it is important that we really focus ahead on the future, accepting the new and letting go of the past. We should avoid any temptation to look back with regret.

If we do not let go and focus ahead, we become like a person with a foot on two stools; there is a real danger of us falling into the gap between them. There is always a shutting of emotional doors needed when we move on, and if this process does not occur we are very much at risk from depression. The person who refuses to let go of the old and accept the new, and who keeps focusing on the past is particularly vulnerable to reactive depression. We cannot stay in a state of such confusion without putting ourselves at risk. So let go of yesterday, and accept the challenges of tomorrow wholeheartedly and without useless regrets.

It takes time for people to adjust to a new situation. It is especially challenging when staff are simultaneously confronted with two or more major sets of change such as in the case study described above. Sensitively handled, change can be made easier for people to cope with. It is also good management practice to provide ongoing support to people for a few months after major changes such as these in their working life.

Sensitively handled, change can be a force for good. Poorly handled, it can be a disaster.

Note: Case studies and examples are illustrative only and not based on actual organisations or individuals.

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Article Tags: anger, change, emotions, feelings, logic, management, motivation, promotion, relocation, resentment, restructure, staff, stress, workplace



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