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Change is the constant - a refrain we have heard repeatedly till you read it and shrug your shoulders and move on with life. However, change is something we all must deal with; confront or learn to live with.

With work and the workplace, as we know, slowly but steady mutating into something we are not familiar with and we cannot possibly identify with, change is inevitable.

In our digital world where rapid advancement of technology and new business models are being introduced and business disruption is the new normal and society and technology growing at a faster pace than organisation and corporation. Where the survival of the fittest is the key as life span of companies are limited if they are not evolving will generate change in our workplace and the business.

The future of our work and workplace is going to be intersecting with automation technologies and artificial intelligence - deep learning technological advances which are incredibly meaningful and will revolutionize the commercial interactions and expand possibilities of new type of jobs that were unimaginable before the technology.

There is no escaping change, especially as the way we work is also undergoing massive change, where mobility and digital sophistication becomes a key requirement in the workplace and redefining how organization works commercially and culturally to deliver genuine customer experience

How we handle or tackle these changes will determine how we successfully adapt to change. True, we all have our own ways to handle change. Some of us handle it well and some of us do not handle it well.

Yesterday, I came across a presentation by Sundar Pichai  - CEO of Google and the 'Cockroach Theory' – it clearly demonstrates – its our attitude that determines change. You may want to view the presentation before you read on.

The presentation demonstrates two sets of reactions - one uncontrolled reaction and another a studied reaction.

My role as consulting manager for Project Delivery Services at Optum+, has enabled me to learn how to deal with change.  Every project we delivery - as it goes through its life cycle, every phase is a potential for a change in scope, schedule or budget. Every change that is introduced must be mitigated to reduce the risk of derailing the project. This change must be processed through a team that have competing interest. Overtime, I have developed a mental check list that I created by intuition to manage change:

  • Listen and observe more and react less – make notes of the finer details of the change and avoid thinking on the impact of the change.
  • Step back and take a deep breath - do not personalize change when you hear or are informed about a change initiative in the workplace.
  • Move under (stand under) the change - Study the change initiative & understand against the corporate background - the big picture – of the change initiative.
  • Research & Understand – what is happening in your industry that is driving these changes and the resultant corporate initiative.
  • Evaluate and look beyond yourself - identify what impact it has on your team (if you have team members reporting to you) or your client.
  • Consider – take positives from the negative- how this change initiative effects you professionally and personally
  • Communicate by focusing on others and provide info on demand- to your team and/or client about the change initiative - be positive and be convinced.
  • Lastly, empower others and leverage the trust you have built over time to ensure buy-in.

Change must be managed at the corporate, departmental and team level & managed from two angles: the tactical and the emotional angles, it can contribute and result in greater productivity, performance and ultimately profitability for all. Learn how to manage change - an antidote to our anxious times is to have a Learning Mindset. Be an effective change leader, develop emotional intelligence, a strong predictor of effective leadership is emotional intelligence.

On projects, change must be managed within the project and the change owned by the business. Graham Wilson in his article on LinkedIn - We need to change the way we develop our change and project leaders – indicates: …there is a massive myth going around at the moment that 70% of change initiatives fail. Change initiatives fail as they are not managed well, not that change is bad, Change is good.

To see how far we have changed, we must go far back in time. When we only consider what the work and workplace looked at present, it is easy to make the mistake of thinking of the work and workplace as relatively static. It has changed and will continue to change.

The AI Takeover Is Coming. Let’s Embrace It. The world has changed embrace it.  Yeah, embrace it, no use fighting it. Fight it and we will part of the debris it litters as change moves forward. Embrace it and you will experience a new breakthrough. There’s much to gain from embracing change.

Four fundamental workplace automation technology that is coming into the workplace is: The automation of activities; The redefinition of jobs and business processes; The impact on high-wage occupations and the future of creativity and meaning

To ignore to embrace change — to not plunge headlong into understanding it, shaping the outcome, monitoring it — might well be the biggest mistake we could have done. Yes, the outcome may be uncertain. Yes, it could be totally scary (or pleasant) , not what we expect, but we have a choice now - to change or not to.

What is your experience in managing change? What changes do you see happening in the work and the workplace? I would love to hear from you.

Philip Thomas is Optimizing Project Delivery Services; Workplace Experience Strategist; Design & Circular Thinking at Optum+.

Sparking conversation on “Disrupting the AEC Industry” and “The Untethered Workplace”.

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be presenting on February 15, 2017 on “Disrupting the AEC Industry” and on February 16, 2017 on “The Untethered Workplace” at the upcoming BUILDEX Vancouver conference!

This is Western Canada’s largest event for the Construction, Renovation, Architecture, Interior Design and Property Management industries with 14,000 attendees attending each year.

This event is held at the Vancouver Convention Centre West where I’ll be joining other speakers who are all committed to employing the best practices and keeping up with the trends in their industries. You can visit www.buildexvancouver.com for more info.

Hope to see you there!