Adapting to change

Adapting to change

Life is constantly changing and after the pandemic, working in hotels feels like a constant change. In one of the biggest disruptions to modern life, a virus caused widespread disturbance to our lives as we know them.

During such a time, we were forced to change and adapt.

However, sometimes change is not so visible. It may be happening over a longer time duration. Say the telecom revolution or the electric self-driving car.

At your workplace, not everything needs to change. There may be a period when things are in transition. As an example, your boss moves to another job and a new person takes charge. This situation is not in your control. That is change.

Now after the new person joins, they expect things to move as per their ideas and vision. They will set up an internal process to adjust to the new way of working. That is a transition to a new way of working.

Both these situations can cause emotional challenges and you must learn to adapt to change so that you continue to grow and do well in your job.

To adapt to the change, accept the change and the transition that will happen sooner. The only thing constant is change. As soon as you accept it, you will quickly adapt to the new circumstance. Let go of your ideas and be open to hearing out new ways to do things. By keeping an open mind, you can adapt to the change when it happens.

Look at the positive situation. Often changes mean that there may be new opportunities. I know about a person who during the pandemic, took the opportunity to design the digital menu of their restaurant. Then the front office team asked him to create a concierge map. He realised that this is a new skill that he learned during the pandemic. He was the go-to person for all changes being introduced in the organisation. This willingness to change got him a promotion when the business picked up.

Focus on what you can control. There is a circle of concern and a circle of influence. Inside the circle of concern are all the things you are concerned about and worry about. The global warming, the long working hours, the work-life balance. Many of these concerns are things you cannot control. This is where the circle of influence comes in. What can you do and control to solve the issues? Maybe avoid single-use plastics in your daily life, or refer people to your hotel to fill out the vacancies. By focusing on what you can control, you can contribute to the big, hairy problems that scare you. The important thing is also that you divide all change into small tasks that you can control.

Set new goals. When things change, goals need to change as well. Goals give you a map and help you move forward. But the goals themselves must not become a problem. Discuss and make changes to the goals to reflect the new changes that are being made in your hotel. By fixing new goals that properly define what you want to achieve during the new change, you will give yourself better chance to succeed.

Speak to your manager about what you are scared of. Most often, you will get a new perspective on why the change is required. Your manager can also help guide you in setting a roadmap for the journey you are about to begin. Remember if something is changing for you, it will be the same for your manager as well. They will also need to support you to change so that the project is successful for them. So ask them to help you.

With these steps, I hope you can adapt to change in your organisation. If you can do that, you can have a fulfilling career that will see you rise to the top.