A Change in Perspective
I was privileged recently to be an attendee at a presentation given by a colleague to the members of a job search work group I facilitate. The presenter’s topic was on “The Future of Work.” The presenter is a veteran Human Resources professional who at this time happens to be, himself in job search. Much of it was from his own observations and research. Some of it was based on predictions of analysts on how we work is predicted to evolve in the next several years. Other portions were taken from what past analysts have said which has actually emerged in today’s world.
Change is often difficult to accept, particularly when we have been conditioned to expect things to be certain ways. For example, those of us who have worked for large companies, have expected things such as working in a brick and mortar building to which we go five days a week. There are work hours we are expected to be at that location. For many, the expectation has been we would work for that organization for many years. Often that employer would be our source of medical and dental benefits and other offerings around which we set our life. Obviously, for a growing number of individuals that model does not hold anymore, and frankly may never return.
Does that make what is occurring now wrong? Again, while I will again acknowledge that change is difficult to accept, it does not necessarily mean that which is happening in the world of work now is wrong, just different. When I moved on from my corporate job several years back, that model of work was all I knew. However, a lot has changed for me in the last several years. I have come face to face with those who either have their own businesses, or work for companies, but whose job it is to base their living on the production they generate for that company. There are others who prefer contracting out their services, and move from company to company and project to project. For some, their office is not a company building to which they go every day, but perhaps conference space which they rent out. There are more and more ways of “working” that don’t fit the model with which I was most familiar. While some models are not comfortable to all, they are ones that need to be considered when choosing what it is that you may be doing next in earning a living for yourself.
Near the end of the presentation that I was a part of, the presenter provided a number of different phrases. In one column he indicated a way of work or a term from the world of work that most of us 30 years of age or older had grown up with. In a corresponding side by side column he had a different way of expressing it. This “change in perspective” was not presented from a lecturing or a “must need to adapt approach,” but more from a perspective of providing a “sense of awareness.” While there are some of us who have a desire to “change the world,” most of us really have a choice of whether to adapt to the world around us, or fight what is going on around us. In my experience, while neither approach is easy, I have found adapting has the ability to move you from a perspective of conflict or discomfort, to feelings of first acceptance and ultimately even positivity in contributing and giving back.
Change is a constant in all our lives. If you are faced with change, whether it is in your job, your stage of life, your family situation or whatever else, take stock of yourself. In whatever it is that is changing, what is it that provides you the most charge in doing it? How might you be able to replicate that charge? A close confidant pointed out to me, that one of the reasons I love the coaching I currently do, is that in my first career I always received satisfaction from listening to staff members, providing them guidance and being there to help them through. Although I no longer do that for people under my direct supervision, I have transferred the same approach to my clients. What is the “change in perspective” that will help you to move on to that next chapter in your life?
