Spot Change From A Mile Off!

By Author: Mark Eyre
Total Articles: 8
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Change may be endemic in the workplace, but some changes are more significant than others . If you keep your eyes and ears open at work, it is relatively easy to spot when some sort of change is on its way. You might not know exactly what's coming, but at least you know that something is in the pipeline. Then you can prepare yourself for it, instead of sitting in shock when you find out late in the day that change is imminent.

Here are twelve early warning signals to look out for, that tell you change is on the way.

1. Work problems, when brought up, are not addressed at once - even though the solution looks obvious to you. Something unseen appears to hold things up.

2. Key work decisions are postponed without good reason, and projects previously seen as important are hit by delays.

3. Vacancies are left unfilled, without explanation. There is no official recruitment freeze, but nothing seems to be happening.

4. Decisions don't seem to make sense (or at least make less sense than they usually do!).

5. The rumour mill heats up, even when there are official denials that anything's ...
... going on. Coffee machine conversations become more frequent.

6. Outsiders start to tell you something is going on, e.g. in pub conversations.

7. You notice changes in the behaviour of key people in the organisation.

8. There's an increase in closed door or off-site meetings, and key people become less visible than they usually are.

9. People start dropping hints in your direction ('if you get my drift').

10. Unusual people start to visit where you work, and some of these 'different' people become regular visitors.

11. People start asking strange questions for no apparent reason.

12. Answers to questions become evasive (or more evasive than before).

If you notice more than three or four of these going on, it's time to prepare for change - and to try to work out what exactly is going on. The overall sense is that things go quiet before change, just as a flock of birds goes quiet as a bird of prey appears. The earlier you see these signals happening, the better your chances of avoiding becoming the prey of change.

Good luckand long life!
Mark is the owner of Brilliant Futures, at www.brilliantfutures.net. He is passionately committed to helping people develop to become the best they can be, have great careers, and hold their own power in work and life.