Dealing With Change in the Workplace:

1. Resilience Through Adversity Dealing With Change in the Workplace:

2. “THE ONLY CONSTANT IS CHANGE” -Heraclitus 500 B.C.

3. Objectives to Learn: • Why Some People Handle Change & Adversity Better • The #1 Core Personal Characteristic to Handle Any Change • What it Takes to Bounce Back • How to Break Free from Inner Barriers to Resiliency • Benefits from Learning Survivor Qualities and Abilities • The Strengths to Develop to Become Highly Resilient

4. Change • Change May Make Things More Difficult in the Short Run • Resistance to Change is Normal • Change Disrupts the Current Comfort Zone • Change Can Undermine Our Need to Feel Appreciated, Valued, and In Control • But... Change Is Also An Opportunity For Growth!

5. “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” -Winston Churchill

6. Response to Change/Adversity • Stressful, Adverse Conditions Can Result in Physical and Psychological Illness • Evidence Shows Not All Become Ill • Why is it that Some People, Going Through the Same Adversities, Do Not Show the Signs of Stress? • How Do Some Overcome the Adversity and Grow to Become Stronger?

7. Responding to Adversity • Based on your experience, • what is the difference between people who bounce back from difficulties with good energy • and people who can't handle an ordinary day very well?

8. Resilience Defined “The physical property of a material that can return to its original shape after determination that does not exceed its elastic limit” -Merriam-Webster dictionary .

9. Human Resilience “A Person’s Ability to: Absorb High Levels of Disruptive Change, Bounce Back, and Even Excel in Times of Change and Uncertainty, Without Acting In Dysfunctional Ways.” Al Siebert, Ph.D.

10. When We Use Resilience • To Overcome Past Obstacles • To Navigate Everyday Adversities • To Bounce Back From Life-Altering Events • To Grow to Become Wiser, Stronger

11. “I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning to sail my ship.” -Louisa May Alcott

12. Responding to Disruptive Change From The Resiliency Advantage, Al Siebert, Ph.D.

13. Levels Of Developing Resiliency • Maintaining Health, Emotional Stability, and Well-Being • Problem Focused Coping • Developing a Strong Inner Self • Developing the Resiliency Skills • Converting Bad Experiences Into Good

14. Level I:Restore Health • Stress vs. Strain Syndrome • Dr. Hans Selye: Pioneering Stress Research • We Differ in How Much We Can Handle • Take Responsibility to Problem Solve • Better to Focus Outward to Problem Solve (Lazarus) • Internal Locus vs. External Locus of Control Self-Motivated vs. Forces Outside (Rotter)

15. Level I:Hardiness Research • 1970’s Studies of AT&T Breakup • 2/3 of Managers/Execs = Stress Illnesses • 1/3 Remained Healthy and Happy…Why? • Commitment • To be successful and help others • Control • Believed They Had Influence • Challenged • Energized to Solve Problems, Face Difficulties

16. Level I: Healthy HabitsPhysical Resilience • Energy Management • Regaining (Energizing) • Releasing (Relaxing) • Regulating (Pacing) • Refocusing (Redirecting) • Enjoy Strain Like a Good Workout! • Strain/Pause/Breathe…(Repeat)…Relax

17. Know Yourself First, Then You Can Change • Understand the Recurrent Situations in which You are Least Resilient • Adversity: What Pushes Your Buttons? • Beliefs: Identify the Automatic Thoughts • Consequences: Feelings and Behaviors

18. “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” -Napoleon Hill

19. Level II:Problem Focused Coping • Problem-Focused Coping Leads to Resiliency Better than Emotion-Focused Coping • Emotional Reactions Drain Resources and Lead to Helplessness • A Waste to Assign Blame, Lament Misfortune and Play Role of Victim • Time to Rise to the Occasion!

20. Level II:Problem Focused Coping • Some Disengage from the Challenge of a Crisis by Overreacting Emotionally • In Contrast, The More Resilient… • Control Their Emotions in a Crisis • Engage the Problem Solving • Then ProcessFeelings Afterwards • (They Have ‘Impulse Control’)

21. Level II: Emotional StabilityEmotional IQ • Awareness • Acceptance • Alternatives • Action

22. Level II:Emotional Awareness • The Role of Emotion • Personal Information • Feelings as Signals • The Value of Understanding Emotions • Listening to the Language of Emotions Without Over-Reacting

23. Feelings as“Information Signals” Anger Loss of Control Fear Threat (Real or Perceived) Anxiety Vulnerability (the Unknown) Depression Loss

24. Emotional States • Positive Emotions Broaden and Build • Physiologically: Endorphins, Energizing • Mentally: Thinking and Creativity • Increase Resilience • Negative Emotions Narrow and Weaken • Physiologically: Draining, Illness Promoting • Restrict Cognitive Skills and Creativity • Impairs Ability to Bounce Back

25. Level II:Use “Intelligence” to Solve Problems • Analytical Intelligence • Logic, Reason, Abstract Thinking • For Familiar Problems • Creative Intelligence • Invent Unusual Solutions • For New and Unfamiliar Circumstances • Practical Intelligence • For Situational, Real-Life Problems

26. “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places.” -Ernest Hemingway

27. Level III:Overcoming Inner Barriers The Personal Gatekeepers to Resiliency: • Self-Confidence • The Way to Effective Action • Self-Esteem • Controls How We Feel About Ourselves • Self-Concept • Our Idea of Who We Are

28. Level III:The Roots of Resiliency • The Problem With the “Good Child” Upbringing • Identity Based on External Factors or Based on Values, Qualities and Abilities? • Constructed Self vs. Discovered Self • Job Description vs. Professionalism • Willingness to Dream and Be Creative

29. “What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

30. Level IV:Skills & Qualities to Strengthen • Flexibility - Comfort With Complexity Contradictory Personality Qualities Creative and Analytical Sensitive and Tough Cautious and Trusting Logical and Intuitive Calm and Emotional Serious and Playful Unselfish and Selfish

31. Level IV:Skills and Qualities to Strengthen • Constantly Learn from Life Experience – Be Changed by Them • Deepen Relationships with Friends and Family • Expect Things to Work Out Well • Copy - Learning From The Resilient • Community - Access Resources • Wide Range of Interests

32. Level IV:Skills and Qualities to Strengthen • Experience and Express the Range of Emotions • Read Others With Empathy • Practice Childlike Curiosity and Playfulness • Defend Yourself Well • Care For Others • Laugh – A Keen Sense of Human • Spiritual/Philosophical Framework

33. “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.” -Horace (B.C. 65)

34. Level V:Thriving • Converting Bad Experiences Into Good • Gain Strength from Adversity • Recover Faster and Emerge Stronger • Transformed by the Process of Surviving

35. “We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust our sails.”

36. Personal Review:Implementing Resilience • What characteristics of resilience do I recognize in myself? • What traits of resilience would I like to cultivate? • What can I apply from resilience as a part of my action plan?

37. How the EAP Can Help During Times of Change YOUR EAP CAN . . . . • Help You Deal With Emotional Conflicts Regarding the Change • Assist You With Coping Strategies for Dealing With Change • Be a Resource to Help You Make a Successful Transition

38. The Employee Assistance Service Is . . . . • Confidential • Available 24 Hours a Day • Available to You at No Charge • Available to You and Your Immediate Family Members

39. Your EAP is just a telephone call away • A counselor is available to talk with you at any time. • Referrals to local Employee Assistance Professionals